STEM Hour: The future of artificial intelligence in early learning

In this one-hour STEM Hour, we’ll take a look into the future by exploring the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on early childhood education and how educators can harness AI to improve children’s learning outcomes. Within the ECE context, some areas of interest we’ll explore include:  

• What AI looks like now and into the future. 
• Opportunities and challenges that AI presents to educators, teachers, and children. 
• Strategies for integrating AI effectively into your service or classroom. 
• Philosophical and ethical considerations. 

Purchasing a ticket allows you to tune in live or via a recording. The recording will be shared via email following the event and can be viewed for 3 days after the email is sent. This STEM Hour will be held on:  

Thursday 19 September 2024  

Time zones: 12-1pm (AEST), 10-11am (AWST), 11:30am-12:30pm (ACST)  

We’re thrilled to announce our two expert speakers on this subject: 

Dr James Curran is the co-founder and CEO of Grok Academy, an Australian ed-tech charity with a mission to empower all learners with transformative computing skills so that they can meet the challenges and opportunities of the future. Dr Curran was a writer on the Australian Curriculum: Digital Technologies (version 8 and 9) and the Digital Literacy capability (version 9).  He consults with curriculum authorities and departments of education around Australia. He is also the Director of the National Computer Science School, the largest computer science school outreach program in Australia.  

Professor Karen Murcia is the Chief Investigator at the ‘Centre for Excellence for the Digital Child’ (Australian Research Council) and a senior member of the Curtin University teacher education team. In 2018, Professor Murcia led a study on how young children develop computational thinking while coding robots in play-based STEM curriculum. In 2021, Karen co-authored ‘Young Children’s Rights in the Digital World: Play, Design and Practice’, the first book to cover research on very young children’s rights in the digital age.