Announcing AI 101 Course & Competition for Grades 7–12 students!
By Haripriya Mehta, MIT (BS & MEng), Co-founder of MehtA+
For students interested in participating in Math Kangaroo’s AI 101 Course & Competition taught by MehtA+ instructors, make sure to register https://mathkangaroo.oasis-lms.com/Public/Catalog/Details.aspx?id=FoyzN5GDlFTX6JJ50oZXFg%3d%3d.
We are in the middle of an AI revolution. From voice assistants to spam filters and facial recognition systems to copilots, AI technology has become all-pervasive. As such, AI literacy has become increasingly essential for everyone. Learning how to harness the powers of AI effectively is a skill that is as important as reading, writing and arithmetic in the 21st century.
This fall, MehtA+ will be partnering with the USA chapter of one of the largest math competitions in the world, National Math Kangaroo USA, to offer a one-of-a-kind Artificial Intelligence course and competition for Grades 7–12 students.
Math Kangaroo’s AI 101 course taught by MehtA+ instructors introduces students to the wonderful world of AI — its applications as well as the mathematical theory behind it. AI models covered in the course include decision trees, neural networks, CNNs, GANs as well as concepts such as feature representation, classification/regression, retrieval augmented generation and reinforcement learning. A competition will follow the course, testing students’ knowledge.
Last year, we ran a pilot program where over 100 students signed up to learn about AI. Students finished the course inspired, interested in continuing to pursue AI.
As the parent of one student put it,
Thank you so much for the Math Kangaroo/Mehta+ AI workshop you held last Fall. It was really interesting seeing some of the projects you and your students have worked on like the cancerous mole one and the converting molecular drawings one. Emilie did a home ChatGPT science fair project recently and wanted to share since it was related to your class. Thank you again for introducing and engaging young people in future technologies.
FAQ
Who can participate
Anyone from the ages of 12–18 (7th -12th grade) anywhere in the world is eligible to participate. There are no prerequisites for this AI course. Students need not have participated in Math Kangaroo math competition, though we encourage them to participate in the math competition as well in the upcoming year!
When
To prepare for and participate in the competition, students must attend the eight 1-hour weekly AI workshops that will precede the competition.
Classes will be held on Sundays from 11:30 am - 12:30 pm EST on the following dates:
- October 13, 2024
- October 20, 2024
- October 27, 2024
- November 3, 2024
- November 10, 2024
- November 17, 2024
- November 24, 2024
- December 8, 2024
- December 15, 2024 (Competition)
Competition
The competition will be 45 minutes, comprising of 3 point, 4 point and 5 point multiple choice and free response questions. Top three winners of the AI 101 Competition will receive Amazon gift cards. All competitors will receive coupons for MehtA+ camps and a certificate upon successful completion of the course.
Cost
The early bird cost to attend the workshops and participate in the competition is $99 and after September 1, 2024 is $129.99.
Instructors
The AI 101 curriculum is curated and taught by MIT, Stanford and University of Washington engineers who have worked on cutting-edge AI research at Microsoft, Nordstrom and MIT Media Lab and have mentored hundreds of middle school and high school students in AI.
Benefits of participating
Having a solid understanding of how AI works will pave the way for improved interactions with AI. Additionally, by participating in the competition, you get a chance to win some cool prizes. Not to mention, it’s something you can add to your college applications! We hope to see you soon at our AI 101 Course & Competition!
