Abstract:

This work aimed to verify the capacity of basic education teachers regarding the creation of didactic materials related to Artificial Intelligence. The teachers had no previous backgroud about this subject. To this end, we offered them a free course that covered basic concepts of computer programming and Artificial Intelligence, as well as some mathematical and statistical topics that could promote the understanding of how computational models are created. Each teacher also built an artificial neuron (Perceptron) using the Arduino Uno board, that could learn which of two LEDs (Light-Emitting Diode) connected to the board should light up based on readings from light sensors (LDRs - Light Dependent Resistor) controlled by the teachers. The challenge consisted of, after taking the course and discovering that the learning of a simple neuron or even of a complex neural network has a profound relationship with mathematical concepts, find topics already covered in basic education and inside their own teaching activities or school curriculum subjects and build teaching materials such as lesson plans, exercises or questions that could have a direct or indirect relationship with Artificial Intelligence, at any level of complexity. The small number of people interested in taking the aforementioned free course, as well as the relatively high dropout rate, allow us to raise two hypotheses: the first that teachers consider this a very complex topic to be integrated into their teaching plans, and the second, that teachers are still unaware of the impact that Artificial Intelligence is causing and will cause in our society and consequently in people's lives. With regard to the materials created by the teachers who finished the course, it is important to note that they were high quality materials if classified as proposals aimed at the use of educational technologies, but presented themselves as having little or nothing articulated with the demands of knowledge of Artificial Intelligence. It can be concluded that there is a lot of difficulty in articulating the theme of Artificial Intelligence with lesson plans, exercises or evaluative questions, regarding to technical aspects and also regarding to epistemic, technological and pedagogical aspects, in this case also related to the transposition of complexities from existing materials to new simplified materials.

Keywords:

Artificial intelligence, perceptron, arduino, didactic materials.