Artificial Intelligence Class for Homeschool Teens

This is a guest post written by my son, Jaron Meyer. He took this course during his senior year of high school and one of the assignments I gave him as a follow-up was writing this review post!

Artificial Intelligence is almost impossible to ignore right now in the digital world. It’s in the news, job conversations, creative areas like art and cinema, and has been growing into pretty much every area. I’ve been so blessed to be homeschooled, because it has given me the opportunity to dive into areas that interest me as part of school!

AI was one of those topics that caught my attention. I didn’t just want to know what AI could do; I wanted to understand how it functioned. I wasn’t trying to become a tech wizard overnight, but I was hoping to grow in my general understanding of this quickly developing field.

Fortunately, we heard about a course by FundaFunda Academy that was designed to help teenagers learn about Artificial Intelligence and how to use it responsibly. Now that I’ve graduated the Artificial Intelligence for Teens course, I hope to be able to point others interested in AI in that direction.

Teaching Teens About AI in Homeschooling

What's Covered:

What’s Included in the Class:

Artificial Intelligence for Teens is taught by Ms. Meryl van der Merwe, owner of FundaFunda Academy. She has taught homeschool students about various aspects of computer science for several years now. In the Artificial Intelligence class she teaches:

What AI actually is
How AI works
Benefits to AI
Downsides and dangers in the world of AI
How to use AI as a tool

All of these topics are taught through engaging activities, insightful articles, and practical application of critical thinking skills. Throughout the course, the student is encouraged to develop their own opinions on AI (whether good or bad) and its impact on the world. After completing it, I felt confident in what I knew about AI and genuinely felt like I could understand each side of the AI debate.

Big Upsides for this Course:

From my experience, Artificial Intelligence for Teens has several benefits for homeschooled students:

A good introduction to the world of AI
A heightened awareness of some of the issues and most current developments of AI.
A solid understanding of how to use AI tools like Canva AI, ChatGPT, Perplexity, and several others.
An opportunity for students to incorporate their own research about AI into good discussions with other students and the instructor.
A well-informed understanding and perspective on AI, including its impacts and the ethical and moral concerns.
A more solid understanding of how AI has impacted today’s jobs and creative communities.

All of these and more are taught throughout the course with the goal of helping students form a solid understanding of and opinion about AI.

I particularly enjoyed the weekly assignment of performing my own research on one of the current fields of AI, then bringing back my findings to share with the other students and discussing our thoughts together.

Things to Be Aware Of:

The AI for Teens course is not taught from an overtly Christian perspective and some of the resources may not always align with every family’s beliefs. For example, it includes watching a YouTube video series called “Crash Course AI” that makes a handful of references to an evolutionary worldview. While high schoolers should be able to handle this well if they have a Christian homeschool foundation, parents may choose to preview some of the videos or discuss them together. Parents should consider bringing in additional discussions about biblical principles when it comes to AI, too.

Another example is the inclusion of a clip from the movie “Her”, where a man who has just gone through a breakup is sitting at his computer and discovers AI on his computer (basically ChatGPT’s voice feature) and starts to talk to it and build a friendship with it. The clip is included as a warning of how some people in today’s world are starting to use AI as an alternative to real friends and relationships. It is a great discussion for parents and teens to have.

It’s also good to note that the course strongly discourages using AI to cheat, provoke copyright issues, or replace real-life experiences and relationships. I think these are assertions we can all get behind!

Bottom Line:

I would recommend this course for teenagers with a solid ability to use critical thinking and be willing to create and explore their view on AI. Parents and teens will find this to be a valuable course for the high school years. They will gain experience with researching AI and various AI tools, while also having a firm understanding of what AI is, its history, and concerns to be aware of.

Check out Artificial Intelligence for Teens and the rest of the courses at FundaFunda Academy.