A recent online survey on the attitude of young Latvians towards AI in education has revealed that 87% of students believe that skills with regard to artificial intelligence (AI) should be integrated into school curricula. The market research organization Norstat conducted the survey on behalf of Samsung Electronics Baltics in August of this year, involving 930 students aged between 15 and 19 years old.
It indicates that a large number of students opinioned their need for AI in schools, which is 72%. Whereas 19% opined that it is not needed; the remaining 9% were neutral. There was a unanimity about the fact that AI was significantly beneficial when applied to school settings in science class and technology-related fields like engineering and computer science with 52%. Thus, the suggested poll by language illustrated the following. It found the relevance of teaching both Latvian and foreign languages by 41% of respondents, it indicated the benefit of such knowledge in natural sciences, for example, in physics, chemistry, or biology among 39% of respondents, and only 8% of respondents found the relevance of AI with sports and health education.
The survey showed that 24% of the young people confirmed that their schools are employing AI solutions in the learning process, and 52% expressed that they had yet to deploy such technology.
According to Mihails Korčevskis from the Evaluation and Analytics Department of the State Educational Content Center, principles of AI should be taught. He is optimistic about the fact that foundation knowledge is integrated in the “Programming II” course within the framework of general secondary education, where, in a series of practical tasks, students get in touch with different algorithms of machine learning.
According to Korčevskis, AI-generates content should be read critically and consciously: such is indicated, he says, by learning theory. “Today, it is highly necessary for students to realize that data processes provided by AI tools mean just numbers and cannot substitute the role of a living teacher,” he said.
All in all, the “Solve for Tomorrow” initiative is directed at more than 30 countries and calls for self-education in the fields of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). Together with Latvian organizations, such as the Latvian Safer Internet Center, the Latvian Information and Communication Technology Association, and the Ministry of Smart Administration and Regional Development, this project has been carried out.
The results of this survey do reflect young Latvians’ understanding of the importance of AI but also indicate a brewing consensus on the necessity of imparting such skills in the curriculum, so students are ready for the challenges tomorrow will bring.
Read More: https://theeducationview.com/
