A Testimonial from the KITP Teacher’s Conference
I was very fortunate to have attended the KITP Teacher’s Conference "Automating Insight: Pushing the Frontier of Quantum Physics with Machine Learning" held February 2019 at KITP. This was a very worthwhile educational experience. I learned about Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning and was able to directly use that knowledge with my students to make math and science more relevant to them and to better connect what is going on in our classroom with the real world.
I was able to meet one of the presenters - Miles Stoudenmire, of the Flatiron Institute in New York City, enabling a visit to Flatiron during my class trip in May to New York City. During our visit to Flatiron, Miles gave my class a presentation on what they do at Flatiron, and how math, AI, and advanced software programming techniques are being used to expand our understanding of quantum physics. In the picture below some of my students are being led through an activity to demonstrate how electron spin patterns give rise to magnetism. Miles did a great job and our visit was very well received by both my students and my adult chaperones.
Besides outstanding professional development, it is exactly this kind of networking that is just another one of the amazing benefits of the KITP Teacher’s conferences. I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude for the KITP and the wonderful work they are doing to advance professional development in science and math education.
- Bruce Boehne
Middle School Math / Science / STEM Teacher
Zion Lutheran School, Dallas, Texas