Edtech startup Mindjoy reached more than 1 200 children between the ages of 11 and 15 during the July and August winter breaks with its artificial intelligence (AI) hackathons.
Hackathons were hosted by 14 schools in KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng and the Western Cape, as well as virtually for children in Kenya and the Netherlands. Plans are in place to reach a further 10 schools by the end of September, in an effort to help learners come to grips with the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) and what AI means for their future.
Mindjoy’s hackathons immerse students in a world of code and allow them to learn with some of the most advanced AI technology in the world – GPT-3 created by OpenAI. Students are given “kid-shaped” problems – such as doing their homework – to solve, and a technology to use to build solutions to the problems.
Page Lotze, Mindjoy’s community manager, is spearheading the project. She says that after the fractured learning during lockdowns, “learners have been struggling to problem-solve independently” and that “teachers say students are even more fearful of making mistakes than they were before the pandemic”.
The hackathons have been a chance for them to learn, again, “that it’s okay to ask lots of questions and actively participate in their own learning experiences.”
This year the Department of Basic Education wants schools to incorporate coding and robotics into their curricula, but Lotze says many teachers are feeling “lost and confused about where to start.
“In the hackathons, they see for themselves that coding doesn’t have to be complex and can be used in a variety of different subjects,” Lotze says.
Feedback from teachers has been particularly positive. Richard Knaggs, director at Parklands College in Cape Town, comments: “It made our teachers think about what they are asking of our learners and opened up the opportunity to explore deeper questioning.”
Leon Heavyside, technology teacher at Rhenish Primary in Stellenbosch says his grade 7 learners (an age group notorious for being restless) were fully engaged in the experience.
This is echoed by Nokhanya Chonco, IT teacher in Grade 8 and 9 at Waterfall College in Hillcrest, KZN, who says: “The experience helped my students gain coding skills with the Python language, which was something new to them although some are familiar with block coding.”
Susan Lee at St Mary’s DSG, Kloof says: “We had such an inspirational time with the facilitators from Mindjoy. Watching the students explore the power of code and artificial intelligence was a delight. The program is well designed for different skill levels and produces maximum results in a short time. It was a fantastic event.”