Exploring Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Daily Life with Secondary Students, Aligned with UMPSA “Profesor Turun Padang” Initiative

On the 1st until the 3rd of October 2024, four lecturers from the Centre for Mathematical Sciences (PSM), UMPSA, led by Dr. Nor Azuana binti Ramli with three team members which are Dr. Noratikah binti Abu, Dr. Nur Haizum binti Abd Rahman dan Dr. Wan Nur Syahidah binti Wan Yusoff successfully conducted a program called “Profesor Turun Padang: Pengenalan Artificial Intelligence (AI) – Meneroka Kecerdasan Buatan” at three different schools in Kuantan. Those schools are Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Air Putih (1st October 2024), Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Bukit Goh (2nd October 2024) and Sekolah Menengah Sains Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah (3rd October 2024). This program was collaborated with Pejabat Pendidikan Daerah (PPD) Kuantan, and it involved 30 to 35 lower-form students from each school.

The initiative of the “Professor Turun Padang” Program is to raise direct awareness among the community to become more knowledgeable and to share information regarding expertise, knowledge, and experience from academic and professional perspectives across various fields with the community.

This program is divided into four sections: “What is AI?” “Types of AI & Real-Life Applications,” “AI Ethics & Challenges,” and “AI in Malaysia & Future of AI.” These modules are designed to introduce basic knowledge of AI and explore its applications in daily life. Additionally, students get opportunities to play simple AI codeless games, such as “Train a simple AI Model” and “Teachable Machine.” Students also had the chance to design and develop their own AI Chatbot. All these activities help students to understand how AI works.

Hopefully, this program will enhance the student’s interest in AI.