School and artificial intelligence

SUPSI Article Header

November 28th, 2025
from 8.30 to 15.45

Locarno, SUPSI-DFA/ASP, Piazza San Francesco 19

A study day to reflect on the risks and opportunities of artificial intelligence in the classroom and present educational activities developed within the Bridging the Gap: Empowering Teachers about AI Education project.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has become a central topic in public debate and a constant presence in the media. From predictive systems in smartphones to chatbots such as ChatGPT, AI is now ingrained in everyday life and is gradually entering classrooms.

In order to address this technology by reducing its risks and maximising its opportunities, it is necessary to promote a widespread culture of AI that involves not only experts in the field, but the entire population. In this perspective, education is an essential tool: a basic knowledge of AI is indispensable for its appropriate use.

Schools are therefore called upon to prepare the younger generation to understand, evaluate and use these technologies critically. At the same time, the educational sector itself is directly affected by the AI revolution. Teachers, in particular, face the challenge of recognising both its potential and its risks, so that they can integrate AI into their teaching with awareness and competence.

To support teachers in this process, the Department of Education and Learning / University of Teacher Education (DFA/ASP), in collaboration with the Dalle Molle Institute for Artificial Intelligence (IDSIA USI-SUPSI), has launched the project Bridging the Gap: Empowering Teachers about AI Education, funded by the Agora programme of the Swiss National Science Foundation. The project explored the concepts and practices of middle school (SM) and upper secondary school (SMS) teachers in the Canton of Ticino in relation to AI, and then developed a training course for teachers aimed at introducing the main concepts.

Subsequently, together with around twenty middle and high school teachers from Ticino, teaching activities were designed and tested on various aspects related to AI: ethical, social, cognitive and pedagogical.

The study day aims to offer an opportunity to reflect on AI in schools and, at the same time, to present the teaching activities developed during the project through workshops.

Programme

8.30 – Opening and welcome
Alberto Piatti, Director SUPSI-DFA/ASP
Daniele Parenti, Director del Centro di risorse didattiche e digitali

9.00 – Institutional greetings

9.20 – At school with AI. Ideas for defining a new literacy
Pier Cesare Rivoltella, Full Professor, University of Bologna

10.20 - Coffee break

10.50 – Workshop 1

12.00 – Lunch break

13.15 – Workshop 2

14.35 – Introduction to round table

14.45 – Round table
Marco Zaffalon, Full Professor, IDSIA USI-SUPSI
Lucio Ferrari, Director, Barbengo Middle Schools
Pier Cesare Rivoltella, Full Professor, University of Bologna
Anne-Linda Camerini, Lecturer-researcher, USI

15.45 – End of day

Speaker: Alberto Termine, researcher, IDSIA USI-SUPSI

It is often said that artificial intelligence systems can be biased against specific minorities within the population, resulting in potentially discriminatory and unethical behavior. But what exactly is bias? And where does it come from? Through a simple activity, with the support of Google's “Teachable Machine” tool, we will try to understand in a simple way why artificial intelligence can be biased. We will then reflect on the consequences of this problem, not only from a purely ethical point of view but also in terms of what it entails in terms of the reliability and risks of these systems. 

SUPSI Image Focus

Caption test
Speakers: Alberto Rioda, middle school teacher, and Francesca Mangili, researcher, IDSIA USI-SUPSI

An interactive workshop to try out a program of lessons on artificial intelligence. Through simple games and guided experiences, participants will discover how supervised learning works, building models and reflecting on concepts such as error minimization, overfitting, and validation. 

SUPSI Image Focus

Caption test
Speaker: Lucio Negrini, Full Professor of Educational Technology, SUPSI-DFA/ASP

The workshop will present concrete examples of activities developed by local teachers that integrate the use of chatbots into teaching. Various application scenarios will be illustrated: from support as a virtual tutor to interactive simulations, assessment, and personalized feedback. 

SUPSI Image Focus

Caption test
Speaker: Stefano Peduzzi, Professor, SUPSI-DFA/ASP

Replicable examples in which students use AI in a guided manner to develop AI literacy and critical thinking. Focus on conscious and ethical use: model reliability, bias and hallucinations, intellectual property, and the risks of “shortcuts”; strategies for intentional design and formative assessment. 

SUPSI Image Focus

Caption test
Speaker: Giuseppe Laffranchi, Head of School and Digital Office, CERDD

Through the viewing of short film clips, this workshop stimulates discussion and debate on artificial empathy, simulation, and human relationships with machines equipped with Artificial Intelligence, offering food for thought on how our relationship with technology is evolving, as well as how to use it consciously in order to promote individual well-being.
 

SUPSI Image Focus

Caption test
Speaker: Emanuele Delucchi, Full Professor of Discrete Mathematics, SUPSI-DTI

SoekiaGPT is an educational resource that explains the functioning of generative language models such as ChatGPT in a simplified way that is suitable for the school context. In this workshop, we will present the Italian version of SoekiaGPT, which was recently developed in collaboration with a group of middle school teachers. We will explain how this simplified model works, experiment with ways in which teachers and students can interact with it, and suggest some ideas for its educational use. 

SUPSI Image Focus

Caption test

The meeting is free and open to the public. Please register by Wednesday, 19 November using the appropriate online form.

Mappa contatti

Hidden Widget