12 July 2024

AI Chatbot Project Stonar School

Written by

Computing at School

The HiAi Project

Stonar School's involvement in the HiAi project, alongside 11 of its sister schools within the Globeducate group, is a testament to its commitment to pushing the boundaries of integrating artificial intelligence into education. This ground-breaking initiative engages pupils of all ages (Reception to Upper Sixth) in a collaborative exploration of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

The project's ultimate goal is for Globeducate students from across the world to collaborate and innovate using AI. They will bring historical figures to life through the application of artificial intelligence, leading to a spectacular grand finale where these 12 AI “brains” will interact seamlessly in a virtual AI studio. The project is now fully complete, with pupils from across the schools having been chosen for project working groups, covering topics including: ethics, technology, design, and project documenting.

Student A (Year 6), Student B (Lower Sixth) and Student C (Lower Sixth) are part of the team who have been tasked with documenting the work on the project. They have provided their initial thoughts on why understanding and exploring AI is so important:

“The words 'Artificial Intelligence' within schools are often seen as a bit of ‘taboo’ subject, since the first thing we think about are software’s such as ChatGPT that pupils can use for their assignments. Even in adult life AI is generally a sensitive subject because it is often seen as a threat to livelihoods.“

“AI is much more than a tool to use to cheat in homework or the ‘mind’ behind Alexa in the corner of our rooms. It is a constantly evolving field that us as pupils need to learn to integrate it into our lives.”

“Stonar has been chosen to be one of the participants of the hi! Ai project with our fellow sister schools in Globeducate. Within the project we recognise the importance of the AI developments and how it could impact our education. It is a great opportunity for us to explore this transformative technology by engaging artificial intelligence and applying them to real life settings.”

“doing a project like this will give us a unique foundation into AI and its technology that will stand out when it comes to applying for jobs and in our adult lives. Not only this, but projects like this will give the teachers an insight into how they can start to introduce AI into education in a positive way.”

In the ever-evolving landscape of education, the integration of technology has been pivotal in shaping innovative learning pathways. The HiAi Project stands at the forefront of this transformation, heralding a new era where Artificial Intelligence (AI) and chatbots become integral to educational environments.

As we navigate through the intricacies of AI applications at Stonar School, we will examine the current state of AI, its potential biases, and the ethical considerations that accompany its adoption. The “Famous Person” case provides a practical example of AI’s ethical implications, while we completed a comprehensive survey of staff and students gaining insights into what is happening now and thoughts within the school for the adoption of this technology.

How is AI used in Education at Stonar School currently

Some teachers are using ai facilities to create resources from text such as PowerPoints, quizzes, reports and general literature. Some has been using it to create quizzes from videos, and some have delved deeper into creating images. The picture is very mixed with some users using it as a tool every day and others having not used it at all.

Students in year 12 and 13 who are currently studying A Level Computer Science gain an understanding of complex algorithms and machine learning. They are encouraged to us some form of machine learning or ai in their exam projects which carry a higher mark ban

Students in year 11 studying GCSE Computer Science look at ethical issues in computing. We look in particular at autonomous vehicle, and the internet of things. But they are not required to learn the mechanics of the process.

Students in year 10 experienced using an AI in the classroom using an ai model provided by https://schoolai.com/ . A learning space was created where students were given an access code so they could access the learning environment to utilise Chat GPT which could be monitored by the teacher. Themed spaces can be created, or you can just assign a bespoke space, such as “computer Science” where students would only get responses if their questions were in that domain.

Students in year 8 this year have been taught a unit spread over 5 weeks called “Experience AI”. It has been created by the Raspberry Pi Foundation. The students covered topics, what is AI, what is a Model, Generative AI, Computer Vision, how do Models learn, types of Machine Learning, and types of Bias. There got to use Chat GPT, Bing CoPilot and Ecosia Chat as well as build their own supermarket model that they trained with apples and tomatoes.

Through conversations in lessons with students it is apparent that many are using generative AIs at home to help with schoolwork and especially homework.

The project has offered students a unique blend of skills and experiences in relation to:

Research:

Pupils delve into the historical development, theory, and applications of AI, gaining a comprehensive understanding of this transformative technology.
Education on designated character’s contribution and effect on the evolving society to provide details on character development of AI brains complementing technology team.

Design:

Working collaboratively, they explore the ethical, technological, and design considerations in AI development.
Developing artistic skills and recruit talented individuals, in both creation and application of creativity along the use of computing and designing programmes.

Engineering and Coding:

Applying their knowledge and skills on coding and computing to create their own desired AI brains with information provided by researchers for desired characters.
Collaborate amongst team members solving technical challenges with the aim of attaining highest quality standards by leveraging AI technologies.

Ethics:

Education on ethical issues in relation to technology and the use of artificial intelligence, emphasising the importance of taking responsibility of navigate various aspects of related issues.
Pupils will take a leading role on guiding each of the project teams, ensuring ethical issues are considered thoroughly and appropriate actions are taken.
Use of surveys that canvas the whole school and draw conclusions from the results, culminating in a final written project report.

Media:

Understanding the importance of documenting project progress for future review, achievements and project history tracking, taking responsibility to provide clear record of the project evolution overtime.
Use of digital cameras to conduct photoshoots, interviews and videos, generate various questions in relation of development of the project; collect and analyse responses from team members.
Use of creative skills to create a video montage of each team culminating in a showcase video of evolution of project including final achievement.

The Project Process

Students from across the prep, senior and sixth form were given the opportunity to apply for the HiAi project, with them submitting an application of what team they wished to apply for and what skills they could bring and what they wished to achieve by being part of the project.

This is a breakdown of the final teams:

Tech

2 female, 4 male (years 6, 7, 8 and 10)

Design

3 female, 3 male (years 7, 8, 9 and 10)

Ethics

4 female, 2 male (years 8, 9 and 10)

Media

3 females (years 6 and 12)

Research:

All 21 students involved in the project received AI training, this gave them new knowledge on how AI and machine learning works, what a chatbot is, what are biases and ethical considerations.

The school chose 5 potential famous people to base our character on that represented the school values. This was advertised to students and a school vote was held with the prep school writing essays on our final choice.

Design:

Initially we received a 3D printer, where the students received training on its set up and use and how to operate the software with some simple test prints.

They then printed the Head for our chatbot in four pieces, glued, filled and sprayed ready to be used on the chatbot.

They then created their own designs to produce a name plaque. Issues that caused the most problem solving was get the filament to stick to the printing plate, through some trial and adjustment they managed to develop preferred settings when printing. Student learnt a lot from understanding the technical side of the printer settings, using Tinkercad and Solidworks to create designs and then the 3D printing slicing software.

Engineering and Coding:

The Tech Team initially received a Raspberry pi computer with python code installed, a keyboard, small speaker and microphone. After receiving training, we added a spare large monitor and connected it to a router connected to the school network. The code uses an API to Open Ai, which was using ChatGPT 3.

The main issues found were connecting to the school network and being allowed through the firewall. This was where the support of our IT support team was crucial. The code allowed us to develop a character for our chatbot and put in boundaries for how it interacted with users. An example being that it was told it was interacting with pupils between a certain age. The students learned how to build the system, aspects of python coding, how to debug the code when errors are found and how to adapt the chatbot character based on parameters.

Ethics:

The Ethics team were guided initially to look at ethical issues and support the other teams, making them think about what they did. They wrote to our original famous character which we document later. They created and then carried a whole school survey on ai in education and then were responsible for contributing to a final report on Ai in Education. The ethics team learned more than any other team and had to be very mature with corresponding with the famous character we chose and dealing with their disappointment at them not wanting to be included. There were able from their new knowledge to direct other teams and compile a set of ethics rules for ai at Stonar.

Media:

Our media team was taking notes, taking photos and videos during this process so we could document our endeavours and feedback to the rest of the school. They created a documentary for Globeducate and supported the creation of an Ai in Education report at the end. As the project lead, I felt this was very valuable as my time was taken training and supporting teams make progress. The students have learned new skills that will help with their own work, and many of the videos created have been published via social media channels.

Final Build:

The final activity was to put all these processes together after we received a bespoke made body for our chatbot. This was developed by Globeducate and dispatched to all 12 schools taking part in the project. Again, tutorial training was provided, and the students had to build the chatbot and affix the head they had 3D printed.

This time the attached Raspberry Pi computer was pre-coded, based on 3 years of development. This has the ability to utilise Chat GPT4 which has a greater capacity of knowledge although is slightly slower than GPT3. We also have the capacity to enable our chatbot to converse in several languages. Having created the first chatbot with the raspberry pi computer we were fully aware of issues with the network and firewall this time round and completed this without to many difficulties to overcome.

Famous Person Case

As part of the HiAi project the school had to pick a character to base their chatbot on. Someone that they could bring to life using 3D printing, Tech and AI that could interact with students but also demonstrate the possibilities of collaboration within a project. The school management team decided on five characters that would represent the school, its values, its substance and Britishness.

The characters were voted on by students from year 5 to year 13, with a clear winner. The Year 6 students in the Prep school then spent time studying this famous person before each writing a two-page essay which was due to provide the consciousness of our chatbot. The Ethics, Design, Tech and Media team were then created from a student application process. Globeducate proceeded with getting the chatbot head modelled based on the famous person and ready for 3D Printing.

The Ethics team formed and as well as helping guide the other teams and learn about ai they drafted a first letter to the famous person letting them know about our plans to do an AI chatbot inspired by them. We wanted to convey that we wanted their opinion on this matter and their consent. The students explained about the school vote and that they felt they embodied the personality and ethos of someone we would like to represent the school and build our chatbot on.

We soon got a reply saying they did not wish for us to continue with them as our character. Some of the reasons were; AI can’t replicate their thoughts; People might believe the chatbot is them and could have the same voice as them. They also said that they put a lot of thought into what they say and believed the AI wouldn’t do the same concluding, just because we can do something doesn’t mean we should.

The ethics team then wrote a reply saying that we respect their decision and won’t continue along this route. It was a very disappointing moment that the work spent decided on the character of our chatbot to not have them see the same way as us. This was an important learning experience, we all have different opinions of ai and how it should be used. It was just ours and it did not align with theirs although our intentions were only genuine and in honor of them.

We had to make a quick decision as we were ready to print the head, which had been modelled by Globeducate, and choose another character. It was agreed by Senior leaders that we would pick someone in the same vein as them but were no longer living, so could not possibly replicate their thoughts or voice and so Charles Darwin was chosen.

In hindsight we would have asked permission before proceeding with the prep essays and modelling the head, but the Ethics team had not been formed. I think we did well as a school to recognize we should contact the person and seek permission and guidance. I see the current case of Scarlotte Johansson and Open ai where they have used her voice without permission and believe we made some very good decisions with regards to ethics and asking for permission.

Student Experience from the HiAi project

Our pupils have gained great satisfaction with their achievements along with the outcome of the project. Individuals have experienced the power and potential of technology in the modern days as well as the benefits from embracing AI in education. It is confident to state that our pupils have embraced new skills and experiences, giving them the knowledge and motivation needed to thrive in a world with increasing demand of technology savvy candidates.

“Taking part in this project was very fun as learning about AI was so interesting. I also learnt how to use a 3D printer and overcome problems. I enjoyed it so much that I even got one for myself! The 3D printer itself had a few problems that we had to fix, such as first layer issues including the extruded plastic not sticking to the bed and even the roll of filament being pulled out of the extruder. “

“There are lots of challenges hardships within our team to overcome throughout our project and our major challenges as a design team revolve around process of printing products.

Our prints have failed on first attempts for various reasons, including one of our most recent incidents where Charles Darwin’s head detaches from the base due to misjudgement of proportions; Other minor incidents, including failed name tags have also occurred. Printings take time to be completed, ranging from 30 minutes to 12 hours - during which the computer must remain online. Luckily prints can be paused, as long as the main power remains on.

Our team has also been impacted by the disapproval from a famous person. We had to pause, regroup and create designs for our character Charles Darwin. We understand the potential ethical issues our project could develop and have been working tightly with ethics team since.

Throughout this project we have faced many complications and have overcome them together through teamwork and our resilience, together grow stronger and adapted as a team.

At the start, we learned all about Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its amazing capabilities. Our task was to put together a presentation on AI and to pass on and share what we have learnt within Stonar.

Our tech team then split into two groups: one focused on understanding Stonar pupils' knowledge and experience on Artificial intelligence and the aim of our project while the other busy creating project presentation. To gain insight into what our pupils and staff’s understanding, we created a survey using Microsoft Forms and have sent it to the school community, with many responses assisting us with decision making in every step of our progress.

Whilst waiting for the arrival of files and brain, we have learnt python coding from simple code like:

print(“hello”)

To more complex code like.

for i in range(5):

print("Number:", i)

This was incredibly fun as we learnt a lot about coding, and we have all found the experience to be highly enjoyable and informative.

When we received the Raspberry Pi, it already had a Python file saved on it. Once we had a fully chosen character, we simply edited the information to reflect a Charles Darwin theme. It became frustrating when we forgot a comma. Additionally, the brain came with a display, microphone, speaker, keyboard, and mouse attached for complete usability, which has highly interested and motivated us much more to work together.

Overall, working as a team we have gained a lot of knowledge which is valuable outside our education, from simply making a presentation to coding for our brains and character. It has been a wonderful experience to investigate AI and all its capabilities furthermore we were excited to see the result and product of our project.

Our experience in the ethics team has been great! But it has had many twists and turns. Our anticipation was high when we decided to write to the famous character we chose in hopes of a reply and even a visit. However, we were more than disappointed when we received a reply from them asking us to not proceed with the project. It was an exceptionally large setback for us. Of course, this raised many ethical problems for us and helped us to grow a larger understanding for the many ethical issues this project involves. So, we went in search of a new inspiration for our project, settling for Charles Darwin. There weren’t nearly as many ethical issues following him. He died a long time ago so it might not have seemed as disrespectful and more of a tribute. We don’t actually know his voice or how he sounded so we couldn’t clone his voice exactly.

Conclusions

As the educational landscape continues to develop and evolve along the digital age, the integration of Artificial Intelligence and chatbots in education is a significant strive forward for the education system. The Globeducate HiAi Project at Stonar School is evidence to this transformation, providing a platform for students to explore, understand, and innovate with AI.

The project has not only provided students with a unique opportunity to delve into the world of AI, but also fostered essential 21st-century skills, such as: team collaboration, communication, critical thinking, problem-solving, and global citizenship. The students’ engagement in the project has demonstrated the potential of AI as a tool for learning and innovation, rather than just a subject of study.

Despite a successful start after our teams were formed, and delivery and activation of our 3D printers and related technology, ethical issues were the main concern of our project, with a practical example of the “famous person” case. However, the case has further enriched students’ understanding of AI especially on the application of ethical consideration and potential biases. Our team has proceeded with resilience, respecting the “famous person’s” personal preference understanding his concern, in context of the current thriving digital age.

The ethical guidelines provide a robust framework for the responsible use of AI and chatbots in education. Adherence to these guidelines will ensure that AI technologies are used in a way that benefits students, respects their rights, and enhances the educational experience while minimizing potential risks and harms. As AI continues to evolve and become more integrated into education, these guidelines will play a crucial role in shaping ethical and responsible AI practices in education.

The HiAi project at Stonar School has provided students with a unique and enriching experience, offering them the opportunity to delve into the world of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and 3D printing. Furthermore, the comprehensive survey of staff and students has provided valuable insights into the current state of AI at Stonar School and the potential for its future adoption. The students’ experiences highlight the project’s success in fostering a deep understanding of AI, its capabilities, and its practical applications.

In business, AI is leveraged in various areas such as customer service, autonomous vehicles, robotics, data analysis, marketing and sales, predictive analytics, supply chain management, risk management, and human resources. These applications of AI are transforming business operations, making them more efficient, and enabling more informed and strategic decision-making and education should follow their lead.

The Design Team found the project to be both fun and challenging. They learned about AI, mastered the use of a 3D printer, and navigated through various challenges such as failed prints and long printing times. Their experiences underscore the project’s ability to foster problem-solving skills and resilience.

The Tech Team embarked on a journey of learning about AI, creating presentations, conducting surveys, and coding in Python. They found the experience to be highly enjoyable and informative, gaining valuable skills in teamwork, coding, and understanding AI, including concepts like bias and machine learning.

The Ethics Team have had to be the moral compass for the project. They have had to tackle difficult issues around the Ethics of using a character based on a living person and have increased their written skills and overall knowledge of the right and wrong of issues. Although at times they had had to be resilient and deal with disappointment they have learnt to be reflective and have documented their findings in a comprehensive report.

The Media Team have been following the project at each stage taking photos, videos and conducting student interviews. They have also gained from being able to play a part and learn from observing what the other teams have been doing and have gained an understanding in many skills not just in media. These skills have helped them to contribute and edit the final report and contribute to the showcase video.

In summary, the HiAi project has proven to be a valuable educational initiative, equipping students with important 21st-century skills and a deep understanding of AI. The students’ experiences reflect the project’s success in making learning about AI engaging and enjoyable, while also preparing them for a future increasingly shaped by AI. The skills and knowledge gained from this project will undoubtedly be beneficial for the students in their future endeavours. As technology continues to advance, it is crucial for educators to adapt and embrace these innovative tools to meet the evolving needs of learners in the digital age. By leveraging AI and chatbots effectively, educational institutions can pave the way for a more interactive, engaging, and student-centred approach to learning. The HiAi project is a shining example of how integrating AI in education can transform learning experiences and outcomes

What’s next

We hope to produce better code and responses based on how we interact with the chatbot and how it replies. It is really interesting to see the chatbot make educated guesses to questions it does not know the answer to. Examples are if you ask it what its favourite flavour of ice cream is. It uses it knowledge of Charles Darwin to give a reasoned response which is logical and if you are interested is vanilla. I asked the chatbot about the current Euro 2024 Football championships, but it does not have access to this information so makes a guess. So more current access to data or live data would be a big improvement as you would be able to converse with it on current affairs. Hopefully with the evolution of Chat GPT this will shortly come.

We are currently looking at giving the chatbot memory, I think this would be a plus to help with a more personal conversation. Also, the ability to give him sight using computer vision. I feel this could be a big advance especially in students whose communication methods are not speech such as sign language, Makaton and pictorial systems.

Adaptions as above would be a phase 2 for the project but we are also looking ahead to next school year when we embark on another AI project that will look into the environmental monitoring of cities. Again, this will involve 3D printing, Technology, Ethics and Media Teams, it is very exciting and will involve Arduino boards, sensors, satellites and AI.