Preparing the next generation: The Weizmann Institute and the ORT Network are launching an AI program in middle school

How to prepare the young generation for an era of machine learning and artificial intelligence is now the new burning issue for education systems around the world. Still in their infancy, several countries are already rolling out rapid steps to start teaching these new innovative topics. Their emerging curricula cover relevant content, skills and values at three levels and target audiences: basic usage for all, specific implementation within disciplines (science, literature, etc.), and advanced understanding for future developers of AI.

Global organizations are beginning to create shared standards. The OECD’s “Future of Skills” initiative is taking the rigorous path of comparing human skills measured by PISA with those of AI, with the aim of upgrading and updating the PISA framework. UNESCO is convening a global workgroup which will present its recommendations in September 2024, and many other institutions, scholars, and high-tech companies are collaborating to prepare shared educational standards. In Israel, the national AI initiative, approved by the government, has not yet focused on education.

Nevertheless, in 2021, the Weizmann Institute decided to take the lead and launch an innovative program to teach artificial intelligence as a five-unit track in high school. In agreement with the Ministry of Education, the program operates on an experimental basis, reaching 700 students, mostly from the best schools in central Israel. The content includes advanced topics such as linear algebra and logistic regression, code vectorization, and programming assignments for deep neural networks.

Teaching such advanced topics requires unique expertise and therefore most of the conceptual learning in this program is executed through Andrew Ng’s Machine Learning e-courses from Stanford University. The Israeli high school students learn online, while their local teachers serve as tutors after being trained by the Weizmann Institute. Insights so far indicate that students need a strong foundation in mathematics at the five-unit level, and that teachers of physics may be the most suitable to teach the program since it requires deep and practical scientific thinking.

In our exploration of this emerging topic, we approached the Weizmann Institute to gain a deeper familiarity with the program and learn from the lessons they have accumulated. During our dialogue, the Weizmann Institute shared its intention to plan a preparatory program for middle school. The target audience for middle school would be students in excellence classes who constitute the potential pool for the five-unit tracks in mathematics, physics, computer science, chemistry, and biology in high school.

The plan is to integrate UNESCO’s latest conceptual framework for AI competencies with school students and develop curricular material and digital learning aids. The content will be introduced at increasing levels of difficulty. It will start in 8^th grade by teaching the students to understand the concepts and mathematical models of how computers learn and how to teach the machine. This phase will also involve addressing and discussing emerging ethical dilemmas such as covering bias, fake news, etc. In 9^th grade, the level of sophistication will elevate, as the context for learning will include issues in science. Students will be expected to apply AI techniques to identify patterns in datasets from physical, biological, and environmental systems.

The Weizmann Institute is planning to join hands with the ORT school network for the implementation. Physics and computer science teachers from 20 ORT excellence classes will be trained by the Weizmann Institute and subsequently they will teach a 30-hour course over two years. The 20 teachers will then participate in an ongoing professional learning community, as well as in conferences and workshops for additional teachers interested in joining the program.

* The text above shows the grant as approved by the Foundation’s Board of Directors / Grant 552