Modelling minds: can computers mimic human intelligence?

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 and psychology.

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 computational cognitive neuroscientists from the Neuroscience of Cognitive Control Lab at Princeton University, USA. They are investigating neuroscientific and psychological mechanisms behind cognition and intelligence using computational models.

• This resource also contains interviews with members of the lab. If your students have questions for the team members, 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). The lab members will reply!

• The activity sheet provides ‘talking points’ (based on Bloom’s Taxonomy) to prompt students to reflect on team’s research and challenges them to conduct an experiment to explore the flexibility of cognitive control.

• The accompanying PowerPoint reiterates the key points in the article and encourages students to reflect on their own aspirations.

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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