Topics such as artificial intelligence (AI) and data science are also becoming increasingly relevant at school. Thanks to a cooperation with Paderborn University, pupils at Gymnasium Theodorianum can regularly deepen their knowledge in this area. As part of the "Data Science and Artificial Intelligence" project course, the high school students developed an AI-supported application this school year that suggests matching outfits for an item of clothing. They were supported and guided by the scientific project team members Yannik Fleischer and Sven Hüsing as well as student Karl Schneidewind, who himself took part in the project course as a pupil in the 2020/2021 school year.
"With the 'Project Data Science and Big Data at School' – 'ProDaBi' for short – we want to provide an authentic approach to the topics of data science and AI. Pupils should develop a serious interest and be able to understand the background – this works particularly well with the help of topics in which they are personally interested," explains project team member Hüsing from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Computer Science and Mathematics at Paderborn University.
The students have scanned over 36,000 photos of items of clothing this school year and converted them into suitable data sets. This enabled them to train and develop an AI-supported application that classifies items of clothing. Based on this, the application can provide suggestions for outfits that match the photographed item of clothing and its color.
"The students immersed themselves in various topics during the project course. For example, they learned how large data sets can be explored and prepared for further processing, how a decision tree or an artificial neural network can be trained with data and how this knowledge can be used to create their own AI-supported application in a software development process," continues Hüsing.
However, the course not only teaches technical skills, but can also help with career guidance thanks to its practical relevance. "The course made me realize that I really like and enjoy topics like AI and data science. I can now well imagine doing something in this direction professionally after my Abitur," summarizes student Nikita Eichwald after the course.
About "ProDaBi"
"ProDaBi" is a project of the "Didactics of Computer Science" and "Didactics of Mathematics" groups at Paderborn University. Since 2019, there has been close cooperation with Gymnasium Theodorianum, where students can try out new teaching modules and professional tools and learn more about "data science", "machine learning", "data awareness" and "data analysis". The scientists evaluate the implementation of these modules and the use of the tools and research how the topics can be brought closer to young people at school.
More information on "ProDaBi" can be found on the project website.
This text has been translated automatically.
