Teacher Pinuccia Botta's experience with the Experience AI project
Artificial intelligence is no longer a hypothesis to be explored or a future prospect to be postponed: it is a reality that already permeates schools, teaching and the lives of students and teachers. Faced with this transformation, the challenge is not to decide whether to deal with AI, but how to do so: with awareness, a critical spirit and the right tools. It is from this educational urgency that Experience AI was born, an international training programme designed to help teachers understand how artificial intelligence works, what its limitations are and how it can be approached in the classroom not as a technological shortcut, but as an object of knowledge, reflection and responsibility.
This is the context for the experience of Pinuccia Botta, teacher and digital animator at the Campofelice di Roccella comprehensive school (Palermo), who chose to join the project driven by the awareness that, when it comes to artificial intelligence, we are not talking about the future but the present.
“It is a reality that characterises our daily lives, and I felt the urgency not to remain a spectator of this transformation, but to understand its dynamics in depth,” says the teacher. “This prompted me to seek solid training that would allow me to understand and, above all, integrate this technology into my teaching in a critical and constructive way.”
The teacher was won over by the training programme: ‘My participation in the Experience AI project arose, first of all, from the need to learn more about the world of artificial intelligence for my own personal growth and training, and secondly, from the need to acquire solid skills in order to be able to guide the teachers at my school as a digital animator and, above all, my students as a teacher.’
The training courses are solid from a theoretical point of view but also well structured to provide immediate practical support for classroom activities. "Another aspect that I really appreciated is the variety and quality of the resources available. The videos, real-life examples of AI use, teaching sheets and teacher guides constitute a valuable and very useful support kit for accurate and in-depth teaching. Through the interesting practical activities proposed, it is possible to transform theory into a lively learning experience. Another valuable aspect is the flexibility of the materials, which allows activities to be expanded or reduced according to the specific needs of the class or the time available," continues Pinuccia Botta.
The content is valuable in everyday teaching because of its interdisciplinary approach, covering topics such as civic education, logic and science, making AI a cross-cutting and particularly versatile tool. ‘In particular, I believe that activities related to the use of data in AI systems and the functioning of models are useful for discussing bias and algorithmic responsibility, for understanding how they are processed to make predictions and, above all, for bringing the idea of intelligent machines back to the level of a tool programmed by humans.’
AI is now fully integrated into people's lives and its changes can no longer be ignored, especially in the school community: "This project has reinforced my belief that AI should not be a taboo or a disruptive element, but a new fundamental alphabet. Our students must not only learn how to use it, but above all, they must understand its mechanisms and limitations in order to master it responsibly. AI in schools redefines the role of the teacher, who has the responsibility to guide and help students navigate complexity, teaching them to ask the right questions and critically evaluate the answers provided by machines," concludes the teacher.
The interview is by Onelia Onorati, press office of the Fondazione Mondo Digitale.
