Muse: The magazine of science, culture, and smart laughs for kids and children

CHAT BOTS IN THE CLASSROOM

You’re sitting in school with a pile of craft materials and no idea what to make. So, you turn to a friendly bot named Mundo. It uses arti cial intelligence (AI) to answer questions. You ask, What can I make using cotton swabs and pipe cleaners? It responds: Oh, the possibilities are endless! Here are a few ideas to get you started.” The bot suggests cotton swab flowers and pipe cleaner bookmarks. Hmm. You ask for more ideas. Next, it suggests a skeleton—you can loop a pipe cleaner for the head and use cotton swabs for ribs. Inspired, you get to work.

“If you don’t like Mundo’s answer, then you can ask it again, and it might give you an answer you like better,” says Annaleigh H. A seventh grader at Pine Tree Junior High in Longview, Texas, she was part of a group of students in a MakerSpace class that all asked Mundo for ideas. Their Web Communications teacher, Ms. Heather Brantley, was walking them through how to use AI in a safe

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from Muse: The magazine of science, culture, and smart laughs for kids and children

Muse: The magazine of science, culture, and smart laughs for kids and children2 min read
Q&A
Q: Why do certain colors look good together, but others clash? —Mary Lynn W. A: First, imagine a rainbow. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet, all laid out in a line. Now pull that rainbow into a circle, so that violet touches red. That
Muse: The magazine of science, culture, and smart laughs for kids and children5 min read
Waste Not, Want Not
People throw out a lot of garbage, but there are some places where waste is worth its weight in gold. Houweling’s Tomatoes is a business that grows and sells greenhouse vegetables. Company chairman Casey Houweling runs the business. He has always bee
Muse: The magazine of science, culture, and smart laughs for kids and children4 min read
Muse News
In August 2021 off the coast of Alaska, researchers had what may have been the first ever “conversation” with a humpback whale. The team included scientists who study whales, as well as one astronomer who works at the SETI Institute in Northern Calif

Related Books & Audiobooks