How to explain Machine Learning to Primary Students

Machine learning is becoming a fundamental technology that is increasingly prevalent in our daily lives. That is why it is important for students to be aware of what Machine Learning is and how it works conceptually.

How to explain machine learning using the simplest language?

Imagine you have a bunch of pictures of different animals, and you want to teach a computer to recognise what kind of animal is in each picture. One way to do this would be to manually write a program that tells the computer exactly how to identify each animal. However, this would be very time-consuming and might not work very well if the pictures are not clear or if there are new types of animals the computer has never seen before.

Instead, you can use machine learning to let the computer figure out how to recognise the animals on its own. You can start by showing the computer a bunch of pictures of different animals, and telling it what kind of animal is in each picture. The computer will use this information to learn what patterns and features are common in each type of animal, and will use these patterns to make predictions about what kind of animal is in a new picture it has never seen before. The more pictures the computer sees and the more it practises, the better it will get at recognising animals.

In a nutshell, Machine Learning is a way for computers to learn and make decisions without being explicitly programmed to do so. It involves using algorithms and statistical models to analyse and recognise patterns in data, and then using that information to make predictions or take actions.