AI Foundations (Free)

Class Details

AI Foundations is a foundation-level introduction to artificial intelligence for students who want to understand how modern AI tools work and how people can use them responsibly. Students familiar with Python will have an advantage, but the course can still be taken without having completed the Python course. The class focuses on the ideas behind AI rather than treating AI as magic. Students will explore how computers use data, patterns, prompts, and simple models to make predictions or generate responses. Activities are designed for middle and early high school students, with clear explanations and hands-on examples. Curriculum outline: 1. What AI is, what it is not, and where students see it in everyday life. 2. Data, patterns, predictions, and why AI systems can make mistakes. 3. Prompting and evaluating AI tools carefully instead of blindly trusting them. 4. Basic Python-supported AI activities, using code where it helps understanding. 5. Simple classification and prediction ideas through student-friendly examples. 6. Ethics, bias, privacy, academic honesty, and responsible AI use. 7. Mini-projects where students use AI tools to solve or explain a problem. 8. Competition-style practice problems that connect logic, code, and AI thinking. By the end of the course, students should be more comfortable discussing AI, using AI tools thoughtfully, and connecting AI concepts to coding and problem solving. The course will help students prepare for AYCS competition-style challenges and the Computer Science Olympics. At the end of the course, students will have the chance to participate in a friendly coding competition with prize money planned.