Lesson Ideas: ‘Quick Draw!’ and ‘New Zealand Sign Language’

21.07 LESSON IDEA 21.07: QUICK, DRAW! Objective: Teach a computer to recognise images Age range: 10-18 Website: quickdraw.withgoogle.com

Can you help teach a computer to recognise images? Quick, Draw! is a fun, online game developed by Google that challenges players to draw a picture and then uses artificial intelligence (AI) to guess what it is – and, in the process, learn from the experience.

Method

1. Discuss the idea of AI and computers learning, how it works, the effectiveness, the implications, and so on. 2. Introduce Quick, Draw! Explain that it’s a bit like Pictionary for robots as it tries to guess what’s being drawn. 3. Go to the site and start. There are six rounds, during which the player gets 20 seconds to draw an object, while the AI attempts to identify it. 4. Check out your results and how well the AI can tell what you’re drawing.

Uses in learning

What makes it easy and hard to draw images and/or recognise them? How does the AI learn? This is a simple way to participate in the experiment and explore the concept of machine learning. All the results of the project are available, with the Quick Draw Dataset containing 50 million drawings across 345 categories, contributed by players of the game, so you also get the chance to use and analyse the game’s data.

21.08LESSON IDEA 21.08: NEW ZEALAND SIGN LANGUAGE (NZSL). Objective: Learn a new way to communicate Age range: 5-18 Websites: learnnzsl.nz

Learn NZSL is a free learning portal on New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL), the language of New Zealand’s Deaf community. Use it to study NZSL, connect with a Deaf friend, or just for enjoying a new language.

Method

1. Introduce sign language, the role it plays, how it works, and the differences it has with spoken and written communication.

2. Go to the portal, where you can watch, learn and practise how to use NZSL in common situations.

3. There are nine settings to choose from, including ‘Meet and Greet’, ‘Everyday activities’ and ‘Holidays’. 4. Within each topic, there are videos, resources and exercises to help you learn signs and test how you’re going

Uses in learning

NZSL is one of two official languages in New Zealand, the other being Te Reo. (English is the de facto language but currently not an official one, which may be a topic for another discussion.) Simply knowing some signs is a useful skill for any student. If you’re discussing languages or communications, this is a simple way to expose people to NZSL and bring signing in general into the conversation.