KIWi – AI and science: AI workshops for educational institutions

Teaching AI skills in schools

Artificial intelligence (AI) is omnipresent today and opens up a wide range of opportunities – from medical innovations and industrial efficiency gains to enriching our everyday lives. In order to fully exploit this potential, the project “KIWi – AI and Science: AI workshops for educational institutions” promotes the teaching of AI skills from elementary school onwards. The project brings AI topics into the classroom and strengthens both computer science and STEM education as well as the next generation of women in the IT sector. The aim is to teach children and young people skills in dealing with AI at an early age and prepare them for the future world of work.

The consortium

The KIWi consortium at Softwarepark Hagenberg brings together the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria, RISC Software GmbH, Software Competence Center Hagenberg GmbH, bluesource – mobile Solutions gmbH, Porsche Informatik Ges. m. b. H. and Rise2Realty e.U. With expertise in AI, prescriptive analytics, security and digital media as well as specialist knowledge in social psychology and didactics, the team offers comprehensive AI skills training.

Educational institutions from the region

Cooperation takes place with regional educational institutions: the elementary school in Hagenberg, Pregarten and Wartberg ob der Aist, the secondary school in Pregarten, grammar schools (BG/BRG Freistadt, Bischöfliches Gymnasium Petrinum and BORG Hagenberg) and the Hagenberg Agricultural Education Center. Schools outside the region are also reached via the cooperation grants. All pupils are included, regardless of their gender and social background. Role models are used to get underrepresented groups in particular, such as girls and women, interested in STEM professions.

KIWi workshops for pupils

KIWi develops workshops and modules that are age-appropriate and tailored to the children’s abilities in the context of exploratory and discovery-based learning. Tasks between the individual sessions maintain motivation and promote classroom involvement. The planning takes into account the course of the school year and the availability of the experts to ensure a smooth and didactically appealing implementation. The collaboration between Softwarepark Hagenberg and the educational institutions creates a sustainable exchange of knowledge. The long-term goal is to attract more young people to technical professions and enable them to actively shape the technologies of the future.

This project is funded by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG).