Good news for the education system. Google Israel, the Rashi Foundation, and the Rashi subsidiary Cyber Education Center have developed an AI course for high school students that will be taught in 40 cities across the country this year. Around 22,000 ninth grade students are expected to study the six-month course with specially trained teachers and instructors.
Hello Tech's AI literacy program was launched last year on a pilot basis in Harish, Umm al-Fahm and Ofakim. Its innovative syllabus introduces students to the geographic and social peripheries of AI and opens future career opportunities. This pioneering work has garnered global attention from Google. The city of Chicago has adopted Israel's program, and other U.S. cities are expected to join.
Students in the program learn the basics of AI and experiment with a variety of tools while practicing critical thinking, teamwork, and creativity. They finish the course by developing a machine learning project.
To celebrate the expansion of this program, Google will partner with the Ministry of Education to host an “AI Connect for Education” event at Expo Tel Aviv. During the three-day event, 6,000 teachers and 2,000 students participated in AI tutorials that included demonstrations and hands-on experience with tools that can be used in schools. Teachers will also learn how to create AI lesson plans for students not included in the more comprehensive 9th grade program.
Within 24 hours of the start of the Expo Tel Aviv event, more than 3,000 teachers visited the Hello Tech website (https://teachai.cyber.org.il) to inquire about the AI teaching kit. This website is intended to guide teachers on how to use AI tools in the classroom and teach students how to use them.
Additionally, students in grades 8 and above will be able to use Gemini, Google's AI app, for the first time in their school work. The special app version can be accessed through the Department of Education's students' Google accounts, along with a number of existing Google tools such as Classroom, Gmail and more.
Students use Gemini Teen, which has a content security policy that protects users under 18 from inappropriate or harmful responses. In this version, you may not receive answers for some topics or the answers may change. It also includes a double-check feature that allows you to evaluate the reliability of your answers and check the sources on which your answers are based.
