Human Values in the Digital age: Information and Communication technology 

With Chip Weems (US)

Today, digital technology is pervasive in society, mediating nearly everything we do. However, most computer science curricula are geared toward serving students who want to become programmers.

These sessions arise from more than twenty years experience of teaching a four-year, development-based high school digital technology curriculum intended to prepare all students to be empowered citizens in a technological world.

Session 1: 

9th Grade: 

What is the computer? Revealing the nature of the machine. 

  What can it do and not do? 

  Defining it. 

  What do we mean by “digital?” 

  What does digitization do? 

  Discrete (mechanical) versus continuous (human). 

  What are binary numbers and how do switches mimic binary arithmetic? 

  What are the parts of the computer and how does it follow an algorithm?

  What is a computer, really?

10th Grade: 

  How does the computer work? Empowerment over the technology.

  How to work with digital logic.

  How to build circuits to add and store values.

  How to program a simple computer to turn on a light.

  Deconstructing the computer.

  How are integrated circuits built?

  Modern computers and the challenge of working together.

Session 2: 

11th Grade: 

  Why is the internet so problematic? Learning to be aware.

  How do search engines work?

  Why do they return what they do?

  Why do AI models suffer from bias?

  How does algorithmic bias affect society?

  How does the internet work?

  Why is it possible to track our activities?

  Why is it important to protect our data?

  Why is encryption important but not a complete solution?

  Why are there so many hacking incidents?

  Why is it so hard to write perfect programs?

Session 3:

12th Grade: 

  Who are we with respect to our technology? Developing judgment and    volition.

  Compare and contrast: experiences of digital versus direct

  Learning discernment for what we gain and lose with each technology

  Extracting common symptoms from analysis of our experiences

  How did we get here?

  Where could we go from here? 

  Evolution of consciousness with or without intentionality.

  Theories of knowledge.

  How Kant leads us toward artificial intelligence.

  How Steiner’s monism solves the Kantian paradox.

  Why general artificial intelligence isn’t coming soon.

  What AI can actually do, and where we should focus our concerns.

Charles (Chip) Weems holds a Ph.D in computer science. He is a founding teacher at Hartsbrook High School, where he has taught computer science, and other subjects for over 20 years. During that time he created a developmentally-based, four-year, high school computer science curriculum, which was published in AWSNA’s Renewal Magazine and the Bulletin of the Research Institute for Waldorf Education. Charles is a professor of computer science at the Univ. of Massachusetts, Amherst, where he is a recipient of the University Distinguished Teaching Award.