For my project, I am creating an Advent Calendar for Pre-Uni students to learn AI and ML, with DFKI  (German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence) in Kaiserslautern, Germany. This year, the calendar aims to expand internationally beyond Germany.

This week, we arrived! 

We've got 20 ideas down and will be building some interactive components, and will be working towards striking a balance between interest (as students may be more interested in real-world workings), theory and mathematics (the foundation of many key concepts), learning, fun, and the Christmas theming. This is proving slightly challenging given the wide age range and my lack of knowledge of Germany and UK secondary school syllabuses, but we're working on it. For instance, we've got some data on the performance of German participants last year, and may consider reaching out to some of these participants. We're also integrating some of the ideas sent in by the researchers at the institute, and it's been inspiring seeing some of the really creative ways in which they bring concepts across.

The people have been really supportive, and it's also been really cool hearing about projects over lunch, and learning about German Culture. Kaiserslautern itself has an interesting mix of cultures, partially due to to its universities and facilities beside it, and we got a glimpse of its culture through the annual city fest, Alstadtfest. 

Over the weekend, we also visited the only fully preserved Ironworks factory from the Industrial revolution in Volklingen, which was an enlightening bit of history for technological advancement. They had a really well done exhibition on the various facets African culture, history and art.

Moving onwards, I want to focus on polishing these ideas, and really getting that balance right so that they learn something while still having fun. I am also working further on my German; while it is not an issue, I would like to expand it beyond the duolingo-curriculum, which is helpful and contains "my work is very fun",  but also doesn't yet include the German word for cash. Thus far, this experience has helped me develop the skills of knowing my own limits, and learning continually.

Having created curriculum and taught coding clubs at home before, I think this project has real potential to get kids involved in AI and ML beyond the common surface level. I hope we can do it well, hit that sweet spot of learning and fun, and build a good base. 

Looking forward to the next week