Could computer programs match the abilities of our brains?

Suitable for 14-19-year olds (secondary and high schools, and college), this article and accompanying activity sheet can be used in the classroom, STEM clubs and at home.

This resource links to KS4 and KS5 computer science.

It can also be used as a careers resource and links to Gatsby Benchmarks:
Gatsby Benchmark 2: Learning from career and labour market information
Gatsby Benchmark 4: Linking curriculum learning to careers

• This teaching resource explains the work of Dr Pavel Borisov and Professor Sergey Savel’ev, physicists at Loughborough University, UK. They are exploring how new advances in technology can help to create an artificial brain.

• This resource also contains an interview with Pavel and Sergey and offers an insight into careers in artificial intelligence. If your students have questions for Pavel and Sergey, they can send them to them online. All they need to do is to go to the article online (see the Futurum link below), scroll down to the end and type in the question(s). Pavel and Sergey will reply!

• The activity sheet provides ‘talking points’ (based on Bloom’s Taxonomy) to prompt students to reflect on Pavel and Sergey’s research and challenges them to explore how artificial neural networks are being used to train self-driving vehicles and to decipher ancient writings.

This resource was first published on Futurum Careers, a free online resource and magazine aimed at encouraging 14-19-year-olds worldwide to pursue careers in science, tech, engineering, maths, medicine (STEM) and social sciences, humanities and the arts for people and the economy (SHAPE).

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