Secondary AI Skills

The Challenger Academy's 'Secondary AI Skills' project enables teachers to educate secondary school pupils about using Artificial Intelligence in a workplace while working through datasets and a creative project brief. Pupils will focus on developing their skills in 'Creativity' and 'Problem Solving' and activities help them to progress through the skills steps for each. After surveying over 720 secondary pupils over half thought that 'technical and coding skills' were needed to access AI in a workplace setting whereas creative and digital industry professionals, using AI in the workplace, said that 'Creativity' and 'Problem Solving' skills were the most important for young people to develop and access AI in the workplace. This programme has been co-created with Multi-Academy Trusts, teachers, industry professionals and external stakeholders including research experts.

Pupils will focus on developing their skills in 'Creativity' and 'Problem Solving' and hands-on activities help them to progress through the skills steps for each. Teachers can use the 'Teacher Guide' that encourages conversation and an understanding about how pupils will develop 'Creativity' and 'Problem Solving' skills steps using the Skills Builder Universal Framework 2.0. Pupils will reflect and self-assess their ability for each skill step at the beginning and the end of the project; this will help pupils to understand their progress while enabling teachers and The Challenger Academy to identify the level of impact the programme has had. Pupils have opportunities to develop skill steps, for both 'Problem Solving' and 'Creativity' across all stages including: 'Getting Started', 'Intermediate', 'Advanced' and 'Mastery' increasing in challenge as the project progresses. For example, before the creative brief pupils have to research their client and they work towards the '4 - Getting Information' skill step whereas later in the programme pupils build an AI assistant to act as a target audience and evaluate their group work therefore practising skill step '15 - Evaluating Approaches'.

For more information, please email naomi.baxter@thechallengeracademy.org