ROCKFORD, Mich. — Each time it snows, statistics students at Rockford High School are launched into a fierce competition to see who's more accurate when predicting a snow day — humans, or robots.
Humans vs the Machine is a new program that's generated to predict if conditions will cause a snow day when a winter weather advisory is implemented.
At the same time, around 130 students and two teachers are hard at work, gauging whether or not they think school will be in session once the storm hits.
The new program, a partnership of Van Andel Institute for Education and Rockford Public Schools, was created to not only bring AI into the classroom in a positive way but to engage students in the use of new technology.
"The teachers who I've been working with have said that the kids are really engaged," said Ben Talsma, a learning specialist at the Van Andel Institute for Education. "The thing [the students] want to talk about when they come in is what's happening with the snow day contest. So it's great to get that engagement and that real application of some interesting ideas."
The AI program being used was created by a parent of a Rockford family.
The system uses ChatGPT and references previous statements about Rockford school closings and weather conditions for the day to gather information. Then, it synthesizes the information to come up with a prediction for the likelihood of a snow day.
On the human end of things, statistics students will each make their own independent assessment of the storm based on things like the impact it's expected to have, the timing of when it will hit, whether there has already been a lot of snow days, etc. to predict the likelihood of a snow day.
Both predictions are always published on the program's Facebook and Instagram pages for the community to see and make their own snow day predictions.
As of Thursday evening, the students are 1% more accurate in their snow day predictions than AI.
Talsma said with the project the students are not only flexing their statistics muscles but also learning about the application of AI in the field.
"They're going to be making use of, or thinking about, the use of artificial intelligence and where it can and can't add value to that process," Talsma said. "So there are all sorts of interesting conversations that they're going to have about statistics and technology in the context of something, which is really fun and engaging."
He said when ChatGPT and AI entered the educational sphere about a year ago, the tone of the conversation surrounding it was mainly one of concern and fear.
Now, he's hoping programs like these can demonstrate the positive effects AI can have on engagement in the classroom.
"I think more and more people are starting to realize that if we think creatively, if we think innovatively, there are a ton of upsides associated with this technology and ways that we can help to use it to enhance education instead of detract," Talsma said.
The students will continue with the program throughout the winter, meeting each winter weather advisory with a chance to prove they're better at statistics than AI.
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