As governments around the world create AI strategies for the decade ahead, many are seeing an urgent need to address the large gap between how AI tools are already impacting jobs and people’s lives, and making sure young people have the chance to gain the skills and knowledge to keep up with this rapid pace of technological change. This gap is larger still when it comes to opportunities for educationally underserved communities.

That’s why we’re excited to share how Experience AI, our AI literacy programme, is helping organisations around the world create these much-needed opportunities for young people.

The value of a global network

Experience AI was co-developed in 2022 by us and industry experts at Google DeepMind with a clear mission: to equip teachers with free, accessible, easy-to-use classroom resources that build AI literacy from the ground up. The programme offers a suite of materials to help students understand real-world applications of AI, the basics of machine learning, and the ethical considerations around these technologies.

In 2023, we started building an international Experience AI network by collaborating with a group of our existing educational partners. We saw a huge amount of interest and received very positive feedback, and through our partnerships we reached an estimated one million young people. In late 2024, with support from Google.org, we tripled the size of our Experience AI partner network to 21, with new organisations joining from across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. In this way, we aim to reach an additional 2.3 million young people by December 2026, helping them to gain the knowledge and skills to confidently engage with AI in an ever-changing world.

Each partner in the Experience AI network is a unique educational organisation looking to create lasting social change. Through their local knowledge and networks, we can present Experience AI to educators and students in a way that is engaging and relevant for local communities. 

Partners help us to adapt and translate our resources, all while making sure that the core pedagogy and design principles of Experience AI are preserved. Just as importantly, these organisations train thousands of teachers on how to use the materials, providing educators with free support. With their work, they reach communities that otherwise may have never had the opportunity to learn about AI.

We asked some of our partners to share their insights on the impact Experience AI is having on the teachers and young people in their communities.

Building communities

The Latvian Safer Internet Centre (LSIC), an initiative of our partner, the Latvian Internet Association (LIA), is dedicated to helping young people protect themselves online, and to preparing them for a fast-changing digital economy. As an Experience AI partner, they aim to train 850 teachers and support 43,000 students to build a strong foundation in AI literacy through the programme.

“We hope to spark a cultural shift in how AI is […] taught in Latvian schools. Our goal is for AI literacy to become a natural part of digital competence education, not an optional extra.”

Based in Riga, the team is travelling to 18 different regions across Latvia to bring in-person professional development to teachers, including those in rural communities far from major cities. By meeting teachers where they are, the LIA are creating invaluable networks for learning and support between communities. Through hands-on training, they are also supporting teachers to bring Experience AI into their own classroom, creating examples which are suited for their learners.

“We chose an in-person training model because it fosters a more collaborative and engaging environment, especially for teachers who are new to AI. Many educators, particularly those who are less confident with digital tools, benefit from direct interaction, real-time discussions, and the chance to ask questions in a supportive setting.” 

As an Experience AI partner, the Latvian Internet Association is not just delivering content but working to strengthen digital competency across the country and ensure that no teacher or student is left behind in Latvia’s AI journey. 

One teacher shares: “The classroom training was truly valuable: it gave us the chance to exchange ideas and reflect on our diverse experiences. Hearing different perspectives was enriching, and I’m glad we’re shaping the future of our schools together.”

“AI is for everyone”

EdCamp Ukraine’s mission is to unite educators and help them to grow. Operating from their main base in Kharkiv, near the Eastern border and the frontline of the ongoing war in Ukraine, they see AI as both a tool for new technological breakthroughs and as something that can help build a fairer, more efficient, and resilient society.

“We firmly believe AI should not only be an object of study — it must become a tool for amplifying human potential. AI should also not be a privilege, but a resource for everyone. We believe the Experience AI programme can truly transform education from the bottom up.”

Within their community of 50,000 teachers, EdCamp Ukraine ensures that every educator, regardless of their living conditions or where they work, can access high-quality, relevant, and accessible support. For the organisation, the ongoing situation in Ukraine means being flexible with planning, preparing for a range of different outcomes, and being ready to pivot delivery to different locations or to an online setting when needed. These same considerations apply to EdCamp Ukraine’s teacher community, who need to be ready to adapt their lessons for any scenario.

“Recognising these war-related challenges helps us see the bigger picture and always have contingency plans in place. We think ahead and develop flexible scenarios.”

This year, the team piloted Experience AI through their community of trainers, who, when they’re not training, are busy teaching in the classroom. Teacher Yuliia shared how her students valued the opportunity to be creators, rather than just users of technology:

“One student, who is an active AI user, kept silent during the lesson. I thought he wasn’t interested, but during the reflection he shared a lot of positive feedback and expressed his gratitude. Other students said it was important that they weren’t just told about AI — they were using it, creating images, and working with apps.”

EdCamp Ukraine plans to roll out training for Ukrainian teachers this autumn, reaching 2,000 teachers and 40,000 young people by the end of next year. 

More countries, more classrooms 

Two new partners in Nigeria are about to join the Experience AI network, and there are many more organisations in more countries coming soon. As our partner network continues to grow, we are excited to reach more communities and give more young people around the world the chance to build AI literacy skills and knowledge. 

You can find out more about Experience AI on the website. If your organisation is interested in partnering with us to deliver Experience AI, please register your interest and we will let you know about opportunities to work with us.

The post Bridging the divide: Connecting global communities with Experience AI appeared first on Raspberry Pi Foundation.

“Educators have been struggling to find resources and support to teach young people about AI.”

This is something I’ve heard a lot when delivering Experience AI teacher training through Parent Zone’s partnership with the Raspberry Pi Foundation. 

Our partnership with the Raspberry Pi Foundation

Experience AI is an artificial intelligence (AI) literacy programme, co-developed by the Raspberry Pi Foundation and Google DeepMind, that teaches students aged 11 to 14 about AI and machine learning. Thanks to funding from Google.org, Parent Zone has partnered with the Raspberry Pi Foundation to provide free training to UK educators, equipping them with the skills they need to effectively deliver the programme in their settings.

The Experience AI resources help educators, including those from non-technical backgrounds, to deliver impactful lessons on AI and machine learning. Lesson resources span technical elements (e.g. data-driven models, bias) and practical elements (e.g. careers, safety).

Our face-to-face and virtual training sessions show teachers how to use the programme resources, as well as helping them feel more confident in the subject matter.  

The sessions also give me an opportunity to hear from teachers about how AI is being used and taught in classrooms, and the opportunities and challenges it’s creating.

Curiosity and experimentation

AI has a major presence in many schools now. 

Teachers tell me they’re seeing students use AI to support their homework. One teacher spoke about a student using a chatbot to help break down a maths problem, describing it like “having a tutor at home.”

Teachers are also using AI themselves to assist in their work — for example, to plan lessons, generate activities, and get ideas on how to explain complex topics more clearly. 

Openness to experimentation is clearly there. 

Addressing concerns

For all the benefits of AI, teachers also have concerns about it. 

Some have told me their students have no idea how easily these tools can be used to mislead or manipulate, through disinformation and deepfakes, for example. 

This is why Experience AI resources are meeting educator needs. Not only do they explain how AI and machine learning actually work, but they also address many pressing concerns around AI, from responsible usage and media literacy, to how data bias can affect the final output.   

Positive changes

In all the workshops, what stands out to me most is how ready teachers are to engage. They want to understand more. They want to help their students make sense of AI, and use it positively. 

They’re grateful for practical, grounded training and support that doesn’t assume they’ve all got computer science degrees. After one of our sessions, a teacher said:

“The better we educate ourselves, the better we’re able to help young people. It’s important because it’s affecting their day-to-day lives. We can help them navigate AI platforms, but in a safe way.”

Join a network of AI-ready educators

If you’re a UK secondary school teacher, you can sign up for free training from Parent Zone, with dates available until November 2025. You can choose from:

• Full-day sessions at the Google AI Campus in London 
• In school full-day sessions
• Remote, online workshops (full and half-days)

For more information about Experience AI, visit our website.

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As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to reshape industries and redefine how we work and learn, it is essential that Kenyan educators are equipped with the knowledge and skills to introduce AI concepts to their learners.

In Kenya, the education system has taken significant steps towards digital literacy through the Competency Based Curriculum (CBC), which has introduced young learners to coding using Scratch and laid a foundation for tech skills. However, AI is yet to be formally integrated into the curriculum. This has presented an opportunity to prepare teachers to integrate AI into their lessons and inspire the next generation of innovators.

How Experience AI has increased digital literacy

Our partnership with the Raspberry Pi Foundation has been a vital element in the retooling of Kenyan educators. Using the Foundation’s Experience AI resources, which they co-developed with Google DeepMind, we have equipped 441 teachers with practical AI and machine learning skills through hands-on training sessions in five counties: Mombasa, Nairobi, Taita Taveta, Meru, and Nakuru.

Our work to empower young learners with coding, robotics, and AI skills has positioned us as a key driver of digital literacy in Kenya. The Experience AI materials have helped us take key next steps — we’ve scaled up AI education, reached more teachers, and further democratised access to emerging technologies, supporting our goal of ensuring that no child is left behind in the digital revolution. 

To make the delivery of our training sessions as smooth as possible, we’ve joined hands with county governments and local education authorities like the Teachers Service Commission (TSC). In all the counties we’ve been working in, the TSC are actively promoting digital literacy among teachers and have made sure we equip teachers with the understanding and skills to use AI effectively. 

Through our expert trainers, we’ve been able to offer hands-on introductions to AI concepts, provide opportunities for practical problem-solving with machine learning models, and expose participants to real-world AI applications. A great example of the work we’ve done is the training we gave to teachers in Meru County, where they learned to create an AI model that recognises certain food types in supermarkets. Later, in group sessions, participants developed their own diverse and innovative AI models. One group, for instance, designed an AI model for dishwashing that detects dirty dishes and automates the water removal process.

Feedback from training

Through the Experience AI training sessions, many educators gained new confidence and skills, and have already started to integrate AI into their classrooms. 

“I am grateful for the invaluable skills gained through the Experience AI training. The knowledge I’ve acquired will not only enhance my ability to conduct research but also empower me to teach my students how to effectively use AI. This is just the beginning. I look forward to building on this foundation and exploring even greater possibilities with AI.” — Mr. Githinji, Meru, Kenya

In any aspect of life, learning is about shifting perspectives, nurturing curiosity, and embracing new possibilities — this is what drives innovation. The Experience AI training in Kenya has exemplified this, transforming how we think and approach technology.

“I am glad that my county has been considered in this training. I challenge the teachers here to make use of these useful resources to spice up learning in the classroom. I was once a mathematics teacher and I wish I had technology to teach. Thank you Tech Kidz Africa, Raspberry Pi Foundation and Google DeepMind for empowering these teachers.” — His Excellency Andrew Mwadime, Governor Taita Taveta County

The overwhelming enthusiasm from educators and learners is evidence that the Experience AI lessons have been highly impactful. Teachers have expressed a strong desire for more training opportunities to support them in equipping students for the future. Many of the teachers have also expressed how the training has demystified AI, enhancing accessibility and giving their daily teaching added relevance. In addition, there is a clear call to scale up these efforts to reach more teachers across the counties in Kenya to ensure that AI education is widespread and inclusive.

Experience AI is bringing a unique AI experience to teachers, helping ease fears that AI might render them obsolete or take away their jobs. Educators are excited to explore how AI algorithms work and how they can train them for the benefit of both themselves and their students. They recognise that AI can help create an equal playing field, offering tools worldwide that can showcase and accentuate their talents, capabilities, and skill sets.

If you’re interested in finding out more about the Experience AI resources, visit the Experience AI website.

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The Experience AI resources

The Experience AI resources are designed to help educators introduce AI and AI safety to 11- to 14-year-olds. They consist of:

• Foundations of AI: a comprehensive unit of six lessons including lesson plans, slide decks, activities, videos, and more to support educators to introduce AI and machine learning to young people
• Two standalone lessons:
  • Large language models (LLMs): a lesson designed to help young people discover how large language models work, their benefits, and why their outputs are not always reliable
  • Ecosystems and AI — Biology: a lesson providing an opportunity for young people to explore how AI applications are supporting animal conservation
• AI safety: a set of resources with a flexible design to support educators in a range of settings to equip young people with the knowledge and skills to responsibly and safely navigate the challenges associated with AI

We also offer a free online course, Understanding AI for educators, to help educators prepare to teach about AI.

International expansion

The launch of Experience AI came at an important time: AI technologies are playing an ever-growing role in our everyday lives, so it is crucial for young people to gain the understanding and skills they need to critically engage with these technologies. While the resources were initially designed for use by educators in the UK, they immediately attracted interest from educators across the world, as well as individuals wanting to learn about AI. The resources have now been downloaded over 325,000 times by people from over 160 countries. This includes downloads from over 7000 educators worldwide, who will collectively reach an estimated 1.2 million young people.

Thanks to funding from Google DeepMind and Google.org, we have also been working with partners from across the globe to localise and translate the resources for learners and educators in their countries, and provide training to support local educators to deliver the lessons. The educational resources are now available in up to 15 languages, and to date, we have trained over 100 representatives from 20 international partner organisations, who will go on to train local educators. Five of these organisations have begun onward training already, collectively training over 1500 local educators so far.

The impact of Experience AI

The Experience AI resources have been well received by students and educators. Based on responses to our follow-up surveys, in countries where we have partners: 

• 95% of educators agreed that the Experience AI sessions have increased their students’ knowledge of AI concepts 
• 90% of young people (including young people in formal and non-formal education settings and learning independently) indicated that they better understand what AI and machine learning are

This is backed up by qualitative feedback from surveys and interviews.

“Students’ perception and understanding of AI has improved and corrected. They realised they can contribute and be a part of the [development], instead of only users.” – Noorlaila, educator, SMK Cyberjaya, Malaysia

“[Students] found it interesting in the sense that it’s relevant information and they didn’t know what information was used for training models.” – Teacher, Liceul Tehnologic “Crisan” Criscior, Romania

“Based on my knowledge and learning about AI, I now appreciate the definition of AI as well as its implementation.” – Student, Changamwe JSS, Kenya

The training and resources also support educators to feel more confident to teach about AI:

• 93% of international partner representatives who participated in our training agreed that the training increased their knowledge of AI concepts
• 88% of educators receiving onward training by our international partners agreed that the training increased their confidence to teach AI concepts
• 87% of educator respondents from our ‘Understanding AI for educators’ online course agreed that the course was useful for supporting young people

“It was a wonderful experience for me to join this workshop. Truly I was able to learn a lot about AI and I feel more confident now to teach the kids back at school about this new knowledge.” – Nur, educator, SMK Bandar Tasek Mutiara, trained by our partner Penang Science Cluster, Malaysia

“This was one of the best information sessions I’ve been to! So, so helpful!” – Meagan, educator, University of Alberta, trained by our partner Digital Moment, Canada

“The layout of the course in terms of content structuring is amazing. I love the discussion forum and the insightful yet empathetic responses by the course moderators on the discussion board. Honestly, I am really glad I started my AI in education journey with you.” – Priyanka, head teacher (primary level), United Arab Emirates, online course participant

What are we learning?

We are committed to continually improving our resources based on feedback from users. A recent review of feedback from educators highlighted key aspects of the resources that educators value most, as well as some challenges educators are facing and possible areas for improvement. For example, educators particularly like the interactive aspects, the clear structure and explanations, and the videos featuring professionals from the AI industry. We are continuing to look for ways we can better support educators to adapt the content and language to better support students in their context, fit Experience AI into their school timetables, and overcome technical barriers. 

We value feedback on our resources and will continue to highlight the importance of AI education in schools and work with partners across the globe to adapt our resources for different contexts.

Get involved

If you would like to try out our Experience AI resources, head to experience-ai.org, where you can find our free resources and online course, as well as information about local partners in your area.

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Last year, we had the opportunity to pedagogically test the new three resources on AI safety and see first-hand the transformative effect they have on teachers and students. Here’s what we found.

Romania struggles with the digital skills gap

To say the internet is ubiquitous in Romania is an understatement: Romania has one of the fastest internets in the world (11th place), an impressive mobile internet penetration (86% of the population), and Romania is leading Central and Eastern Europe in terms of percentage of population that is online (89% of the entire population). Unsurprisingly, most of Romania’s internet users are also social media users. 

When you combine that with recent national initiatives, such as

• The introduction of Information Technology and Informatics in the middle-school curriculum in 2017 as a compulsory subject
• A Digital Agenda as a national strategy since 2015 
• Allocation of over 20% of its most recent National Recovery and Resilience Fund for digital transition

one might expect a similar lead in digital skills, both basic and advanced.

But only 28% of the population, well below the 56% EU average, and just 47% of young people between 16 and 24 have basic digital skills — the lowest percentage in the European Union. 

Findings from the latest International Computer and Information Literacy Study (ICILS, 2023)  underscore the urgent need to improve young people’s digital skills. Just 4% of students in Romania were scored at level 3 of 4, meaning they can demonstrate the capacity to work independently when using computers as information gathering and management tools, and are able, for example, to recognise that the credibility of web‐based information can be influenced by the identity, expertise, and motives of the people who create, publish, and share it.

Furthermore, 33% of students were assessed as level 1, while a further 40% of students did not even reach the minimum level set out in the ICILS, which means that they are unable to demonstrate even basic operational skills with computers or an understanding of computers as tools for completing simple tasks. For example, they can’t use computers to perform routine research and communication tasks under explicit instruction, and can’t manage simple content creation, such as entering text or images into pre‐existing templates.

Why we wanted to pilot the Experience AI safety resources

Add AI — and particularly generative AI — to this mix, and it spells huge trouble for educational systems unprepared for the fast rate of AI adoption by their students. Teachers need to be given the right pedagogical tools and support to address these new disruptions and the AI-related challenges that are adding to the existing post-pandemic ones.

This is why we at Asociația Techsoup have been enthusiastically supporting Romanian teachers to deliver the Experience AI curriculum created by the Raspberry Pi Foundation and Google DeepMind. We have found it to be the best pedagogical support that prepares students to fully understand AI and to learn how to use machine learning to solve real-world problems.

Testing the resources

Last year, we had the opportunity to pedagogically test the new three resources on AI Safety and see first-hand the transformative effect they have on teachers and students.

We worked closely with 8 computer science teachers in 8 Romanian schools from rural and small urban areas, reaching approximately 340 students between the ages of 13 and 18.

Before the teachers used the resources in the classroom, we worked with them in online community meetings and one-to-one phone conversations to help them review the available lesson plans, videos, and activity guides, to familiarise themselves with the structure, and to plan how to adapt the sessions to their classroom context. 

In December 2024, the teachers delivered the resources to their students. They guided students through key topics in AI safety, including understanding how to protect their data, critically evaluating data to spot fake news, and how to use AI tools responsibly. Each session incorporated a dynamic mix of teaching methods, including short videos and presentations delivering core messages, unplugged activities to reinforce understanding, and structured discussions to encourage critical thinking and reflection. 

Gathering feedback from users

We then interviewed all the teachers to understand their challenges in delivering such a new curriculum and we also observed two of the lessons. We took time to discuss with students and gather in-depth feedback on their learning experiences, perspectives on AI safety, and their overall engagement with the activities, in focus groups and surveys.

Feedback gathered in this pilot was then incorporated into the resources and recommendations given to teachers as part of the AI safety materials.

Teachers’ perspectives on the resources

It became obvious quite fast for both us and our teachers that the AI safety resources cover a growing and unaddressed need: to prepare our students for the ubiquitous presence of AI tools, which are on the road to becoming as ubiquitous as the internet itself.

Teachers evaluated the resources as very effective, giving them the opportunity to have authentic and meaningful conversations with their students about the world we live in. The format of the lessons was engaging — one of the teachers was so enthusiastic that she actually managed to keep students away from their phones for the whole lesson. 

They also appreciated the pedagogical quality of the resources, especially the fact that everything is ready to use in class and that they could access them for free. In interviews, they also appreciated that they themselves also learnt a lot from the lessons:

“For me it was a wake-up call. I was living in my bubble, in which I don’t really use these tools that much. But the world we live in is no longer the world I knew. … So such a lesson also helps us to learn and to discover the children in another context, – Carmen Melinte, a computer science teacher at the Colegiul Național Grigore Moisil in the small city of Onești, in north-east Romania, one of the EU regions with the greatest poverty risk.

What our students think about the resources

Students enjoyed discussing real-world scenarios and admitted that they don’t really have adults around whom they can talk to about the AI tools they use. They appreciated the interactive activities where they worked in pairs or groups and the games where they pretended to be creators of AI apps, thinking about safety features they could implement:

“I had never questioned AI, as long as it did my homework,” said one student in our focus groups, where the majority of students admitted that they are already using large language models (LLMs) for most of their homework.

“I really liked that I found out what is behind that ‘Accept all’ and now I think twice before giving my data,” – Student at the end of the ‘Your data and AI’ activities.

“Activities put me in a situation where I had to think from the other person’s shoes and think twice before sharing my personal data,” commented another student.

Good starting point

This is a good first step: there is an acute need for conversations between young people and adults around AI tools, how to think about them critically, and how to use them safely. School is the right place to start these conversations and activities, as teachers are still trusted by most Romanian students to help them understand the world.

But to be able to do that, we need to be serious about equipping teachers with pedagogically sound resources that they can use in class, as well as training them, supporting them, and making sure that most of their time is dedicated to teaching, and not administration. It might seem a slow process, but it is the best way to help our students become responsible, ethical and accountable digital citizens.

We are deeply grateful to the brave, passionate teachers in our community who gave the AI safety resources a try and of course to our partners at the Raspberry Pi Foundation for giving us the opportunity to lead this pilot.

If you are a teacher anywhere in the world, give them a try today to celebrate Safer Internet Day: rpf.io/aisafetyromania

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As our lives become increasingly intertwined with AI-powered tools and systems, it’s more important than ever to equip young people with the skills and knowledge they need to engage with AI safely and responsibly. AI literacy isn’t just about understanding the technology — it’s about fostering critical conversations on how to integrate AI tools into our lives while minimising potential harm — otherwise known as ‘AI safety’.

The UK AI Safety Institute defines AI safety as: “The understanding, prevention, and mitigation of harms from AI. These harms could be deliberate or accidental; caused to individuals, groups, organisations, nations or globally; and of many types, including but not limited to physical, psychological, social, or economic harms.”

As a result of this growing need, we’re thrilled to announce the latest addition to our AI literacy programme, Experience AI —  ‘AI safety: responsibility, privacy, and security’. Co-developed with Google DeepMind, this comprehensive suite of free resources is designed to empower 11- to 14-year-olds to understand and address the challenges of AI technologies. Whether you’re a teacher, youth leader, or parent, these resources provide everything you need to start the conversation.

Linking old and new topics

AI technologies are providing huge benefits to society, but as they become more prevalent we cannot ignore the challenges AI tools bring with them. Many of the challenges aren’t new, such as concerns over data privacy or misinformation, but AI systems have the potential to amplify these issues.

Our resources use familiar online safety themes — like data privacy and media literacy — and apply AI concepts to start the conversation about how AI systems might change the way we approach our digital lives.

Each session explores a specific area:

• Your data and AI: How data-driven AI systems use data differently to traditional software and why that changes data privacy concerns
• Media literacy in the age of AI: The ease of creating believable, AI-generated content and the importance of verifying information
• Using AI tools responsibly: Encouraging critical thinking about how AI is marketed and understanding personal and developer responsibilities

Each topic is designed to engage young people to consider both their own interactions with AI systems and the ethical responsibilities of developers.

Designed to be flexible

Our AI safety resources have flexibility and ease of delivery at their core, and each session is built around three key components:

1. Animations: Each session begins with a concise, engaging video introducing the key AI concept using sound pedagogy — making it easy to deliver and effective. The video then links the AI concept to the online safety topic and opens threads for thought and conversation, which the learners explore through the rest of the activities. 
2. Unplugged activities: These hands-on, screen-free activities — ranging from role-playing games to thought-provoking challenges — allow learners to engage directly with the topics.
3. Discussion questions: Tailored for various settings, these questions help spark meaningful conversations in classrooms, clubs, or at home.

Experience AI has always been about allowing everyone — including those without a technical background or specialism in computer science — to deliver high-quality AI learning experiences, which is why we often use videos to support conceptual learning. 

In addition, we want these sessions to be impactful in many different contexts, so we included unplugged activities so that you don’t need a computer room to run them! There is also advice on shortening the activities or splitting them so you can deliver them over two sessions if you want. 

The discussion topics provide a time-efficient way of exploring some key implications with learners, which we think will be more effective in smaller groups or more informal settings. They also highlight topics that we feel are important but may not be appropriate for every learner, for example, the rise of inappropriate deepfake images, which you might discuss with a 14-year-old but not an 11-year-old.

A modular approach for all contexts

Our previous resources have all followed a format suitable for delivery in a classroom, but for these resources, we wanted to widen the potential contexts in which they could be used. Instead of prescribing the exact order to deliver them, educators are encouraged to mix and match activities that they feel would be effective for their context. 

We hope this will empower anyone, no matter their surroundings, to have meaningful conversations about AI safety with young people. 

The modular design ensures maximum flexibility. For example:

• A teacher might combine the video with an unplugged activity and follow-up discussion for a 60-minute lesson
• A club leader could show the video and run a quick activity in a 30-minute session
• A parent might watch the video and use the discussion questions during dinner to explore how generative AI shapes the content their children encounter

The importance of AI safety education

With AI becoming a larger part of daily life, young people need the tools to think critically about its use. From understanding how their data is used to spotting misinformation, these resources are designed to build confidence and critical thinking in an AI-powered world.

AI safety is about empowering young people to be informed consumers of AI tools. By using these resources, you’ll help the next generation not only navigate AI, but shape its future. Dive into our materials, start a conversation, and inspire young minds to think critically about the role of AI in their lives.

Ready to get started? Explore our AI safety resources today: rpf.io/aisafetyblog. Together, we can empower every child to thrive in a digital world.

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Whether you’re from the UK or not, it’s a good read, setting out the opportunities and challenges facing any country that aspires to lead the world in the development and application of AI technologies. 

In terms of skills, the Action Plan highlights the need for the UK to train tens of thousands more AI professionals by 2030 and sets out important goals to expand education pathways into AI, invest in new undergraduate and master’s scholarships, tackle the lack of diversity in the sector, and ensure that the lifelong skills agenda focuses on AI skills. 

This is all very important, but the Action Plan fails to mention what I think is one of the most important investments we need to make, which is in schools. 

“Most people overestimate what they can achieve in a year and underestimate what they can achieve in ten years.”

While reading the section of the Action Plan that dealt with AI skills, I was reminded of this quote attributed to Bill Gates, which was adapted from Roy Amara’s law of technology. We tend to overestimate what we can achieve in the short term and underestimate what we can achieve in the long term. 

In focusing on the immediate AI gold rush, there is a risk that the government overlooks the investments we need to make right now in schools, which will yield huge returns — for individuals, communities, and economies — over the long term. Realising the full potential of a future where AI technologies are ubiquitous requires genuinely long-term thinking, which isn’t always easy for political systems that are designed around short-term results. 

But what are those investments? The Action Plan rightly points out that the first step for the government is to accurately assess the size of the skills gap. As part of that work, we need to figure out what needs to change in the school system to build a genuinely diverse and broad pipeline of young people with AI skills. The good news is that we’ve already made a lot of progress. 

AI literacy

Over the past three years, the Raspberry Pi Foundation and our colleagues in the Raspberry Pi Computing Education Research Centre at the University of Cambridge have been working to understand and define what AI literacy means. That led us to create a research-informed model for AI literacy that unpacks the concepts and knowledge that constitute a foundational understanding of AI. 

In partnership with one of the leading UK-based AI companies, Google DeepMind, we used that model to create Experience AI. This suite of classroom resources, teacher professional development, and hands-on practical activities enables non-specialist teachers to deliver engaging lessons that help young people build that foundational understanding of AI technologies. 

We’ve seen huge demand from UK schools already, with thousands of lessons taught in UK schools, and we’re delighted to be working with Parent Zone to support a wider roll out in the UK, along with free teacher professional development.  

With the generous support of Google.org, we are working with a global network of education partners — from Nigeria to Nepal — to localise and translate these resources, and deliver locally organised teacher professional development. With over 1 million young people reached already, Experience AI can plausibly claim to be the most widely used AI literacy curriculum in the world, and we’re improving it all the time. 

All of the materials are available for anyone to use and can be found on the Experience AI website.

There is no AI without CS

With the CEO of GitHub claiming that it won’t be long before 80% of code is written by AI, it’s perhaps not surprising that some people are questioning whether we still need to teach kids how to code.

I’ll have much more to say on this in a future blog post, but the short answer is that computer science and programming is set to become more — not less — important in the age of AI. This is particularly important if we want to tackle the lack of diversity in the tech sector and ensure that young people from all backgrounds have the opportunity to shape the AI-enabled future that they will be living in. 

The simple truth is that there is no artificial intelligence without computer science. The rapid advances in AI are likely to increase the range of problems that can be solved by technology, creating demand for more complex software, which in turn will create demand for more programmers with increasingly sophisticated and complex skills. 

That’s why we’ve set ourselves the ambition that we will inspire 10 million more young people to learn how to get creative with technology over the next 10 years through Code Club. 

Curriculum reform 

But we also need to think about what needs to change in the curriculum to ensure that schools are equipping young people with the skills and knowledge they need to thrive in an AI-powered world. 

That will mean changes to the computer science curriculum, providing different pathways that reflect young people’s interests and passions, but ensuring that every child leaves school with a qualification in computer science or applied digital skills. 

It’s not just computer science courses. We need to modernise mathematics and figure out what a data science curriculum looks like (and where it fits). We also need to recognise that AI skills are just as relevant to biology, geography, and languages as they are to computer science. 

To be clear, I am not talking about how AI technologies will save teachers time, transform assessments, or be used by students to write essays. I am talking about the fundamentals of the subjects themselves and how AI technologies are revolutionising the sciences and humanities in practice in the real world. 

These are all areas where the Raspberry Pi Foundation is engaged in original research and experimentation. Stay tuned. 

Supporting teachers

All of this needs to be underpinned by a commitment to supporting teachers, including through funding and time to engage in meaningful professional development. This is probably the biggest challenge for policy makers at a time when budgets are under so much pressure. 

For any nation to plausibly claim that it has an Action Plan to be an AI superpower, it needs to recognise the importance of making the long-term investment in supporting our teachers to develop the skills and confidence to teach students about AI and the role that it will play in their lives. 

I’d love to hear what you think and if you want to get involved, please get in touch.

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What is the AI competency framework for students? 

The UNESCO competency framework for students serves as a guide for education systems across the world to help students develop the necessary skills in AI literacy and to build inclusive, just, and sustainable futures in this new technological era.

It is an exciting document because, as well as being comprehensive, it’s the first global framework of its kind in the area of AI education.

The framework serves three specific purposes:

• It offers a guide on essential AI concepts and skills for students, which can help shape AI education policies or programs at schools
• It aims to shape students’ values, knowledge, and skills so they can understand AI critically and ethically
• It suggests a flexible plan for when and how students should learn about AI as they progress through different school grades

The framework is a starting point for policy-makers, curriculum developers, school leaders, teachers, and educational experts to look at how it could apply in their local contexts. 

It is not possible to create a single curriculum suitable for all national and local contexts, but the framework flags the necessary competencies for students across the world to acquire the values, knowledge, and skills necessary to examine and understand AI critically from a holistic perspective.

How does Experience AI compare with the framework?

A group of researchers and curriculum developers from the Raspberry Pi Foundation, with a focus on AI literacy, attended the conference and afterwards we tasked ourselves with taking a deep dive into the student framework and mapping our Experience AI resources to it. Our aims were to:

• Identify how the framework aligns with Experience AI
• See how the framework aligns with our research-informed design principles
• Identify gaps or next steps

Experience AI is a free educational programme that offers cutting-edge resources on artificial intelligence and machine learning for teachers, and their students aged 11 to 14. Developed in collaboration with the Raspberry Pi Foundation and Google DeepMind, the programme provides everything that teachers need to confidently deliver engaging lessons that will teach, inspire, and engage young people about AI and the role that it could play in their lives. The current curriculum offering includes a ‘Foundations of AI’ 6-lesson unit, 2 standalone lessons (‘AI and ecosystems’ and ‘Large language models’), and the 3 newly released AI safety resources. 

Working through each lesson objective in the Experience AI offering, we compared them with each curricular goal to see where they overlapped. We have made this mapping publicly available so that you can see this for yourself: Experience AI – UNESCO AI Competency framework students – learning objective mapping (rpf.io/unesco-mapping)

The first thing we discovered was that the mapping of the objectives did not have a 1:1 basis. For example, when we looked at a learning objective, we often felt that it covered more than one curricular goal from the framework. That’s not to say that the learning objective fully met each curricular goal, rather that it covers elements of the goal and in turn the student competency. 

Once we had completed the mapping process, we analysed the results by totalling the number of objectives that had been mapped against each competency aspect and level within the framework.

This provided us with an overall picture of where our resources are positioned against the framework. Whilst the majority of the objectives for all of the resources are in the ‘Human-centred mindset’ category, the analysis showed that there is still a relatively even spread of objectives in the other three categories (Ethics of AI, ML techniques and applications, and AI system design). 

As the current resource offering is targeted at the entry level to AI literacy, it is unsurprising to see that the majority of the objectives were at the level of ‘Understand’. It was, however, interesting to see how many objectives were also at the ‘Apply’ level. 

It is encouraging to see that the different resources from Experience AI map to different competencies in the framework. For example, the 6-lesson foundations unit aims to give students a basic understanding of how AI systems work and the data-driven approach to problem solving. In contrast, the AI safety resources focus more on the principles of Fairness, Accountability, Transparency, Privacy, and Security (FATPS), most of which fall more heavily under the ethics of AI and human-centred mindset categories of the competency framework. 

What did we learn from the process? 

Our principles align 

We built the Experience AI resources on design principles based on the knowledge curated by Jane Waite and the Foundation’s researchers. One of our aims of the mapping process was to see if the principles that underpin the UNESCO competency framework align with our own.

Avoiding anthropomorphism 

Anthropomorphism refers to the concept of attributing human characteristics to objects or living beings that aren’t human. For reasons outlined in the blog I previously wrote on the issue, a key design principle for Experience AI is to avoid anthropomorphism at all costs. In our resources, we are particularly careful with the language and images that we use. Putting the human in the process is a key way in which we can remind students that it is humans who design and are responsible for AI systems. 

It was reassuring to see that the UNESCO framework has many curricular goals that align closely to this, for example:

• Foster an understanding that AI is human-led
• Facilitate an understanding on the necessity of exercising sufficient human control over AI
• Nurture critical thinking on the dynamic relationship between human agency and machine agency

SEAME

The SEAME framework created by Paul Curzon and Jane Waite offers a way for teachers, resource developers, and researchers to talk about the focus of AI learning activities by separating them into four layers: Social and Ethical (SE), Application (A), Models (M), and Engines (E). 

The SEAME model and the UNESCO AI competency framework take two different approaches to categorising AI education — SEAME describes levels of abstraction for conceptual learning about AI systems, whereas the competency framework separates concepts into strands with progression. We found that although the alignment between the frameworks is not direct, the same core AI and machine learning concepts are broadly covered across both. 

Computational thinking 2.0 (CT2.0)

The concept of computational thinking 2.0 (a data-driven approach) stems from research by Professor Matti Tedre and Dr Henriikka Vartiainen from the University of Eastern Finland. The essence of this approach establishes AI as a different way to solve problems using computers compared to a more traditional computational thinking approach (a rule-based approach). This does not replace the traditional computational approach, but instead requires students to approach the problem differently when using AI as a tool. 

The UNESCO framework includes many references within their curricular goals that places the data-driven approach at the forefront of problem solving using AI, including:

• Develop conceptual knowledge on how AI is trained based on data 
• Develop skills on assessing AI systems’ need for data, algorithms, and computing resources

Where we slightly differ in our approach is the regular use of the term ‘algorithm’, particularly in the Understand and Apply levels of the framework. We have chosen to differentiate AI systems from traditional computational thinking approaches by avoiding the term ‘algorithm’ at the foundational stage of AI education. We believe the learners need a firm mental model of data-driven systems before students can understand that the Model and Engines of the SEAME model refer to algorithms (which would possibly correspond to the Create stage of the UNESCO framework). 

We can identify areas for exploration

As part of the international expansion of Experience AI, we have been working with partners from across the globe to bring AI literacy education to students in their settings. Part of this process has involved working with our partners to localise the resources, but also to provide training on the concepts covered in Experience AI. During localisation and training, our partners often have lots of queries about the lesson on bias. 

As a result, we decided to see if mapping taught us anything about this lesson in particular, and if there was any learning we could take from it. At close inspection, we found that the lesson covers two out of the three curricular goals for the Understand element of the ‘Ethics of AI’ category (Embodied ethics). 

Specifically, we felt the lesson:

• Illustrates dilemmas around AI and identifies the main reasons behind ethical conflicts
• Facilitates scenario-based understandings of ethical principles on AI and their personal implications

What we felt isn’t covered in the lesson is:

• Guide the embodied reflection and internalisation of ethical principles on AI

Exploring this further, the framework describes this curricular goal as:

“Guide students to understand the implications of ethical principles on AI for their human rights, data privacy, safety, human agency, as well as for equity, inclusion, social justice and environmental sustainability. Guide students to develop embodied comprehension of ethical principles; and offer opportunities to reflect on personal attitudes that can help address ethical challenges (e.g. advocating for inclusive interfaces for AI tools, promoting inclusion in AI and reporting discriminatory biases found in AI tools).”

We realised that this doesn’t mean that the lesson on bias is ineffective or incomplete, but it does help us to think more deeply about the learning objective for the lesson. This may be something we will look to address in future iterations of the foundations unit or even in the development of new resources. What we have identified is a process that we can follow, which will help us with our decision making in the next phases of resource development. 

How does this inform our next steps?

As part of the analysis of the resources, we created a simple heatmap of how the Experience AI objectives relate to the UNESCO progression levels. As with the barcharts, the heatmap indicated that the majority of the objectives sit within the Understand level of progression, with fewer in Apply, and fewest in Create. As previously mentioned, this is to be expected with the resources being “foundational”. 

The heatmap has, however, helped us to identify some interesting points about our resources that warrant further thought. For example, under the ‘Human-centred mindset’ competency aspect, there are more objectives under Apply than there are Understand. For ‘AI system design’, architecture design is the least covered aspect of Apply. 

By identifying these areas for investigation, again it shows that we’re able to add the learnings from the UNESCO framework to help us make decisions.

What next? 

This mapping process has been a very useful exercise in many ways for those of us working on AI literacy at the Raspberry Pi Foundation. The process of mapping the resources gave us an opportunity to have deep conversations about the learning objectives and question our own understanding of our resources. It was also very satisfying to see that the framework aligns well with our own researched-informed design principles, such as the SEAME model and avoiding anthropomorphisation. 

The mapping process has been a good starting point for us to understand UNESCO’s framework and we’re sure that it will act as a useful tool to help us make decisions around future enhancements to our foundational units and new free educational materials. We’re looking forward to applying what we’ve learnt to our future work! 

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In this post, I will share our approach to designing the course and some of the key considerations behind it — all of which you can apply today to teach your learners about AI systems.

Design decisions: Nurturing knowledge and confidence

We know educators have different levels of confidence with AI tools — we designed this course to help create a level playing field. Our goal is to uplift every educator, regardless of their prior experience, to a point where they feel comfortable discussing AI in the classroom.

AI literacy is key to understanding the implications and opportunities of AI in education. The course provides educators with a solid conceptual foundation, enabling them to ask the right questions and form their own perspectives.

As with all our AI learning materials that are part of Experience AI, we’ve used specific design principles for the course:

• Choosing language carefully: We never anthropomorphise AI systems, replacing phrases like “The model understands” with “The model analyses”. We do this to make it clear that AI is just a computer system, not a sentient being with thoughts or feelings.
• Accurate terminology: We avoid using AI as a singular noun, opting instead for the more accurate ‘AI tool’ when talking about applications or ‘AI system’ when talking about underlying component parts. 
• Ethics: The social and ethical impacts of AI are not an afterthought but highlighted throughout the learning materials.

Three main takeaways

The course offers three main takeaways any educator can apply to their teaching about AI systems. 

1. Communicating effectively about AI systems

Deciding the level of detail to use when talking about AI systems can be difficult — especially if you’re not very confident about the topic. The SEAME framework offers a solution by breaking down AI into 4 levels: social and ethical, application, model, and engine. Educators can focus on the level most relevant to their lessons and also use the framework as a useful structure for classroom discussions.

You might discuss the impact a particular AI system is having on society, without the need to explain to your learners how the model itself has been trained or tested. Equally, you might focus on a specific machine learning model to look at where the data used to create it came from and consider the effect the data source has on the output. 

2. Problem-solving approaches: Predictive vs. generative AI

AI applications can be broadly separated into two categories: predictive and generative. These two types of AI model represent two vastly different approaches to problem-solving. 

People create predictive AI models to make predictions about the future. For example, you might create a model to make weather forecasts based on previously recorded weather data, or to recommend new movies to you based on your previous viewing history. In developing predictive AI models, the problem is defined first — then a specific dataset is assembled to help solve it. Therefore, each predictive AI model usually is only useful for a small number of applications.

Generative AI models are used to generate media (such as text, code, images, or audio). The possible applications of these models are much more varied because people can use media in many different kinds of ways. You might say that the outputs of generative AI models could be used to solve — or at least to partially solve — any number of problems, without these problems needing to be defined before the model is created.

3. Using generative AI tools: The OCEAN process

Generative AI systems rely on user prompts to generate outputs. The OCEAN process, outlined in the course, offers a simple yet powerful framework for prompting AI tools like Gemini, Stable Diffusion or ChatGPT. 

The first three steps of the process help you write better prompts that will result in an output that is as close as possible to what you are looking for, while the last two steps outline how to improve the output:

1. Objective: Clearly state what you want the model to generate
2. Context: Provide necessary background information
3. Examples: Offer specific examples to fine-tune the model’s output
4. Assess: Evaluate the output 
5. Negotiate: Refine the prompt to correct any errors in the output

The final step in using any generative AI tool should be to closely review or edit the output yourself. These tools will very quickly get you started but you’ll always have to rely on your own human effort to ensure the quality of your work. 

Helping educators to be critical users

We believe the knowledge and skills our ‘Understanding AI for educators’ course teaches will help any educator determine the right AI tools and concepts to bring into their classroom, regardless of their specialisation. Here’s what one course participant had to say:

“From my inexperienced viewpoint, I kind of viewed AI as a cheat code. I believed that AI in the classroom could possibly be a real detriment to students and eliminate critical thinking skills.

After learning more about AI [on the course] and getting some hands-on experience with it, my viewpoint has certainly taken a 180-degree turn. AI definitely belongs in schools and in the workplace. It will take time to properly integrate it and know how to ethically use it. Our role as educators is to stay ahead of this trend as opposed to denying AI’s benefits and falling behind.” – ‘Understanding AI for educators’ course participant

All our Experience AI resources — including this online course and the teaching materials — are designed to foster a generation of AI-literate educators who can confidently and ethically guide their students in navigating the world of AI.

You can sign up to the course for free here: 

A version of this article also appears in Hello World issue 25, which will be published on Monday 23 September and will focus on all things generative AI and education.

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This is the essence of what we aim to do with our Experience AI lessons, which demystify artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). Through Experience AI, teachers worldwide are empowered to confidently deliver engaging lessons with a suite of resources that inspire and educate 11- to 14-year-olds about AI and the role it could play in their lives.

“I learned new things and it changed my mindset that AI is going to take over the world.” – Student, Malaysia

Developed by us with Google DeepMind, our first set of Experience AI lesson resources was aimed at a UK audience and launched in April 2023. Next we released tailored versions of the resources for 5 other countries, working in close partnership with organisations in Malaysia, Kenya, Canada, Romania, and India. Thanks to new funding from Google.org, we’re now expanding Experience AI for 16 more countries and creating new resources on AI safety, with the aim of providing leading-edge AI education for more than 2 million young people across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. 

In this blog post, you’ll hear directly from students and teachers about the impact the Experience AI lessons have had so far. 

Case study:  Experience AI in Malaysia

Penang Science Cluster in Malaysia is among the first organisations we’ve partnered with for Experience AI. Speaking to Malaysian students learning with Experience AI, we found that the lessons were often very different from what they had expected. 

“I actually thought it was going to be about boring lectures and not much about AI but more on coding, but we actually got to do a lot of hands-on activities, which are pretty fun. I thought AI was just about robots, but after joining this, I found it could be made into chatbots or could be made into personal helpers.” – Student, Malaysia

“Actually, I thought AI was mostly related to robots, so I was expecting to learn more about robots when I came to this programme. It widened my perception on AI.” – Student, Malaysia. 

The Malaysian government actively promotes AI literacy among its citizens, and working with local education authorities, Penang Science Cluster is using Experience AI to train teachers and equip thousands of young people in the state of Penang with the understanding and skills to use AI effectively. 

“We envision a future where AI education is as fundamental as mathematics education, providing students with the tools they need to thrive in an AI-driven world”, says Aimy Lee, Chief Operating Officer at Penang Science Cluster. “The journey of AI exploration in Malaysia has only just begun, and we’re thrilled to play a part in shaping its trajectory.”

Giving non-specialist teachers the confidence to introduce AI to students

Experience AI provides lesson plans, classroom resources, worksheets, hands-on activities, and videos to help teachers introduce a wide range of AI applications and help students understand how they work. The resources are based on research, and because we adapt them to each partner’s country, they are culturally relevant and relatable for students. Any teacher can use the resources in their classroom, whether or not they have a background in computing education. 

“Our Key Stage 3 Computing students now feel immensely more knowledgeable about the importance and place that AI has in their wider lives. These lessons and activities are engaging and accessible to students and educators alike, whatever their specialism may be.” – Dave Cross,  North Liverpool Academy, UK

“The feedback we’ve received from both teachers and learners has been overwhelmingly positive. They consistently rave about how accessible, fun, and hands-on these resources are. What’s more, the materials are so comprehensive that even non-specialists can deliver them with confidence.” – Storm Rae, The National Museum of Computing, UK

“[The lessons] go above and beyond to ensure that students not only grasp the material but also develop a genuine interest and enthusiasm for the subject.” – Teacher, Changamwe Junior School, Mombasa, Kenya

Sparking debates on bias and the limitations of AI

When learners gain an understanding of how AI works, it gives them the confidence to discuss areas where the technology doesn’t work well or its output is incorrect. These classroom debates deepen and consolidate their knowledge, and help them to use AI more critically.

“Students enjoyed the practical aspects of the lessons, like categorising apples and tomatoes. They found it intriguing how AI could sometimes misidentify objects, sparking discussions on its limitations. They also expressed concerns about AI bias, which these lessons helped raise awareness about. I didn’t always have all the answers, but it was clear they were curious about AI’s implications for their future.” – Tracey Mayhead, Arthur Mellows Village College, Peterborough, UK

“The lessons that we trialled took some of the ‘magic’ out of AI and started to give the students an understanding that AI is only as good as the data that is used to build it.” – Jacky Green, Waldegrave School, UK 

“I have enjoyed learning about how AI is actually programmed, rather than just hearing about how impactful and great it could be.” – Student, King Edward’s School, Bath, UK 

“It has changed my outlook on AI because now I’ve realised how much AI actually needs human intelligence to be able to do anything.” – Student, Arthur Mellows Village College, Peterborough, UK 

“I didn’t really know what I wanted to do before this but now knowing more about AI, I probably would consider a future career in AI as I find it really interesting and I really liked learning about it.” – Student, Arthur Mellows Village College, Peterborough, UK 

If you’d like to get involved with Experience AI as an educator and use our free lesson resources with your class, you can start by visiting experience-ai.org.

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