Getting K-12 STEM Students to Interact with and Learn About Autonomous Vehicles
William Husen, Mehdi Roopaei · 2023
Exposing kids to modern technologies gives them an edge in today’s world. Fostering cognitive development and enhancing problem solving skills are just some of the benefits that kids can acquire when they are exposed to modern technology during their early stage of development. The widespread adoption of autonomous vehicle will fundamentally change the society with we inhabit. If children are to inherit this changed society, they will need a base understanding of how these self-driving cars function. The way children are exposed to this new knowledge is important. It is essential to make sure they can interact with these technologies in a safe environment, could repeat it as much as they want, and enjoy the learning experience. In this work-in-progress paper, we try to make a driverless car in a game environment where the students control the status of this vehicle using AI. The students visualize how a driverless car is being controlled within a simple Scratch environment and how AI could be involved to help them to control their designed car. The proposed project also opens a new window for STEM programs to let the kids apply AI ideas in real life applications without any knowledge about programming.