Turkey: Air Quality Measurement with Artificial Intelligence Assisted Coding

Description of the activity

Coding with AI is a lighthouse activity that allows participants to make some measurements using an electronic circuit board, circuit elements, sensors and software. The aim of this activity is for the participants to go through the most basic stage of digitalization and experience the process and try to understand the natural world using science and technology. Although the event is basically a digitalization themed event, it is indirectly related to the themes of sustainability and health as it measures the air quality index through the developed system. In the process of the event, the participants are in the role of both understanding the development and working logic of sensors, industry 4.0 technologies, working as an IT specialist developing a technology, a software developer coding using artificial intelligence, as well as data-based scientific research like a scientist. As such, it is interdisciplinary and engages the disciplines of environment, technology, software, and ecology. As a result of the activity process, the participants are expected to understand the contributions of artificial intelligence to the coding process, to have an idea about how the connections are made on the electronic circuit board and to learn the indicators of air quality. However, depending on the participants’ past experiences (coding, using Arduino board and software, etc.), possible learning objectives can be revised at the end of the activity.

Picture: Hacettepe University team

Description of the implementation

This activity was implemented as a family and children’s workshop in a computer lab. The participating children were middle school students between the ages of 12-14. Some of these students had previous experience with Arduino and coding, while others had no experience in this field. The activity was conducted by a practitioner who had worked with software and electronic circuit boards before. In this workshop, which was conducted as a group work, 2 people assisted the workshop leader teacher and helped the groups when they needed support.

Learners are very active during this activity. Because they need to understand the circuit diagram given to them for the creation of the electronic circuit board, include the appropriate circuit elements in the system, replace the connection points in the coding created with artificial intelligence with the connection points on their own Ardunio cards. At the same time, they should search for the appropriate index range to measure the quality of the air and let the system decide according to the result on the LCD screen.

The knowledge, skills, and attituges developed by the learners

During this activity, the participants gained experience by using knowledge and skills such as coding, recognizing, and creating circuit elements, creating requests suitable for artificial intelligence and collecting data through sensors. Considering the algorithm in the process of the activity, it is thought that scientists and inventors increase their interest in this field by experiencing the working principles of people who develop technology. The participants’ experience of the whole process will also improve their skills such as technology literacy. They had the opportunity to turn their theoretical knowledge such as parallel and serial connection into practice. Especially the excitement of the children and their satisfaction at the end of the process are among the important affective characteristics observed.