What is artificial intelligence? How is artificial intelligence going to
change our lives?
"Alexa, play my favorite song! Alexa, shut the garage door!" Imagine a
world in which you simply call out a request while sitting in your
living room and have a small computer comply. Suddenly, the driving beat
of your favorite song fills the air while in the distance you hear the
grind of the garage door coming down.
This scenario is no longer science fiction! Our world is becoming
increasingly inhabited by machines that can talk to us, listen to us,
perform as asked, and even solve problems with no direction from humans.
A machine with artificial intelligence is one that can perceive its
environment and change its computing and behavior to reflect that
environment, while using tools at hand to solve problems or reach goals.
In Artificial Intelligence: Thinking Machines and Smart Robots with
Science Activities for Kids, one of four titles in the Technology for
Today set, readers ages 10 to 15 learn the early definitions of AI and
discover how these definitions, and the tests that are applied to
determine whether a machine has AI or not, have changed as machines have
grown increasingly competent in unexpected ways. Through a combination
of science activities and student-paced learning, readers discover the
AI machines of today and their uses in various fields, such as
entertainment, the military, and health care. Includes 25 STEAM
activities that encourage the development of important skills, including
comparing and contrasting, looking for detailed evidence, making
deductions, and applying critical analysis to a wide variety of media.
What about the future? How will AI affect the way we understand and
integrate with technology and with each other? How can AI improve our
lives? Is there anything dangerous about AI? What are the ethical issues
surrounding the use of AI? Essential questions such as these promote
critical examination of issues from all sides, while primary sources and
science-minded engineering activities, such as experimenting with the
programs Sound Net and iNaturalist and making a model of a neural
network, let readers have a blast learning about the age of thinking
machines we're in right now.
In the Technology for Today set, readers ages 10 to 15 explore the
digital and tech landscapes of today and tomorrow through hands-on STEAM
activities and compelling stories of how things work, who makes them
work, and why. Titles in this set include Industrial Design: Why
Smartphones Aren't Round and Other Mysteries with Science Activities for
Kids; Big Data: Information in the Digital World with Science
Activities for Kids; Projectile Science: The Physics Behind Kicking a
Field Goal and Launching a Rocket with Science Activities for Kids; and
Artificial Intelligence: Thinking Machines and Smart Robots with
Science Activities for Kids.
Nomad Press books integrate content with participation. Common Core
State Standards, the Next Generation Science Standards, and STEM
Education all place project-based learning as key building blocks in
education. Combining content with inquiry-based projects stimulates
learning and makes it active and alive. Nomad's unique approach
simultaneously grounds kids in factual knowledge while allowing them the
space to be curious, creative, and critical thinkers.
