Sharjah: The Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival (SCRF) has adeptly embraced contemporary themes, balancing the introduction of technology to children with lessons on its potential dangers and safeguarding measures. This year’s festival has elevated visitor engagement to new heights.
For example, Middleschool children on the cusp of research-based learning had a lively and interactive chat with US-based educator Dr Al Jones as they explored the power of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in classrooms and how it can transform learning and lives.
During the session titled “What Does ‘Knowing Something’ Mean in School?” Dr Jones, an educator and writer with more than 25 years of experience especially in improving the lives of individuals with disabilities, observed that AI can be used in a positive way to help children learn better.
He noted that AI is being used in schools to provide knowledge that is factual, which could be “any information under the sun,” procedural - as in following the steps of a cooking recipe, conceptual - which is understanding bigger ideas, and exponential - which is about experiencing something in real life.
Discussing different tools used in classrooms, he noted that just like physical tools, digital tools make the learning process easier. A few children divulged that they use it for help with homework, but they are often careful about judicious use and are aware of the fact that sometimes an AI-suggested answer could be vague or misleading.
Dr Jones pointed out that AI would not replace teachers and said: “You need human intervention to help you with the answers you need or how to use the information you have at your disposal.”
He added that in US schools, AI was used to model lesson plans and for translations. On the personal front, he made use of ChatGPT but advised his audience to double check sources. He found AI adaptable, flexible for anyone’s use and also convenient for research.
According to Dr Jones, AI would not result in unemployment. “While old jobs may go, new ones will come just as it did when the world shifted to computers widely,” he pointed out.
He noted how AI was exerting a pervasive influence in people’s lives and how it nudged people to watch certain movies on Netflix or buy certain products on an online platform.
Dr Jones was also mindful of the concerns of a few teachers about weaning children away from gadgets, creating a balance between study and playtime, and motivating children to exercise their creative side. He observed that the human mind has enormous potential and should not limit itself to a computer’s “one-track mind”.
Social Media Cafe
Meanwhile, the Social Media Cafe at SCRF has become a popular feature this year, particularly among high school students.
On Wednesday, the cafe hosted the “Create Your Own GIFs” workshop, which attracted children aged 10 and above from three different schools.
Each student listened intently to Aya Badr, an author and copywriter, and participated in creating their own GIFs.
“GIFs are incredibly popular across leading social platforms like WhatsApp and Instagram, and even find their way into corporate presentations to add a dash of creativity and fun to a formal setting. Today, I showed the children how to craft their own GIFs,” Badr shared, noting that many attendees were already proficient in making them.
Badr is leading four workshops at the festival this year. Besides GIF creation, sessions on “Exploring the Future Digital World,” “Content Creation,” and “Algorithms” have all drawn large crowds.
Digital Disguise Act
Computers may or may not be able to think on their own yet but they certainly can strut their stuff in style, as amazed visitors to SCRF found out this week.
The 12-day festival’s unique Digital Disguise act came to an end on Wednesday after five days of enthralling the young and old alike, but not before the duo – in computer heads – wowed their loyal set of fans, one last time.
Walking around the premises of Expo Centre Sharjah, the duo broke into unique dance moves as part of the act, swaying to popular beats with young visitors joining them in numbers. What made them a standout act was their colourful costumes adorned with remarkable faux PC monitors as headgears harking back to the retro years when computers were still coming of age.
Star Explorers
Meanwhile, a marvellous opportunity to delve into the wonders of astronomy by exploring the fascinating realm of telescopes was given to young children at the “Star Explorers” creative workshop.
Trainer Mariam Mustafa Ahmed prepared the children for an exhilarating journey through the cosmos by immersing them in the captivating tale of Curious George Discovers the Stars by H.A. Rey.
The storytelling experience was an inspiration for the under-12 group to engage in the hands-on activity of constructing a telescope.
The children created colorful telescopes by rolling and stapling coloured paper into cylinders, then decorating them with astronomy-related stickers. They reinforced the outer tubes with rolled paper and added a plastic glass covered in coloured paper to resemble a lens, completing the telescope’s appearance.
More than 1,500 cultural, artistic, and edutainment activities by 190 guests from 25 countries have set the stage for boundless explorations and creative expression along with 470 publishers from 75 countries at SCRF 2024, which will come to a close on May 12.
