When most educators teach about artificial intelligence, the goal is to help students use an existing technology, like ChatGPT or a bot integrated into an online program. But Clayton Dagler wants his students to create tailored AI tools.
In Dagler’s machine-learning class at Franklin High School in Elk Grove, Calif., students develop their own AI-powered models that can tackle real world problems, such as determining whether a mushroom is poisonous or safe to eat, or discerning a cancerous cell from a typical one.
“I am actually teaching the students how to build their own machine-learning AI models, as opposed to just simply using one that’s created by these huge companies,” Dagler said.
Dagler, who is certified to teach both computer science and math, requires students to take precalculus before enrolling in his machine-learning class, one of the only of its kind in the country. Many of his students also concurrently take or have previously taken Advanced Placement Statistics. Some have already tackled calculus.
As part of his instruction, Dagler reviews statistical topics such as regression analysis and naive Bayes, a construct related to probability.
Dagler doesn’t expect all of his students to become AI-focused computer scientists. But, he believes having a grounding in the math that undergirds AI systems will help them better understand a technology that’s set to transform a range of industries, from medicine to agriculture to business.
“Some students will [have] careers in this and other students will have more of an understanding of how their world works, at a deeper level than everyone else,” Dagler said.
