Probabilistic thinking has been one of the most powerful ideas in the history of science, and it is rapidly gaining even more relevance as it lies at the core of artificial intelligence (AI) systems and machine learning (ML) algorithms that are increasingly pervading our everyday lives. Let’s Chance is designed as a new computational microworld that extends the Scratch Programming Language with new types of code blocks and representations that make it accessible for children to encounter and tinker with the rich ideas and sophisticated concepts of probabilistic modeling and learning. Using the tool, children can imagine and code their own expressive, playful, and personally meaningful probabilistic projects, such as—generative art, music, or text; chance-based games and stories; interactive visualizations; and even advanced projects for making a computer learn from input data using simple Markov models of probabilistic learning, among many other creative possibilities. Constructing and developing ideas and better intuitions about probabilistic thinking will not only help children better understand, criti… View full description
Probabilistic thinking has been one of the most powerful ideas in the history of science, and it is rapidly gaining even more relevance as it lies at the core of artificial intelligence (AI) systems and machine learning (ML) algorithms that are increasingly pervading our everyday lives. Let’s Chance is designed as a new computational microworld that extends the Scratch Programming Language with new types of code blocks and representations that make it accessible for children to encounter and tinker with the rich ideas and sophisticated concepts of probabilistic modeling and learning. Using the tool, children can imagine and code their own expressive, playful, and personally meaningful probabilistic projects, such as—generative art, music, or text; chance-based games and stories; interactive visualizations; and even advanced projects for making a computer learn from input data using simple Markov models of probabilistic learning, among many other creative possibilities. Constructing and developing ideas and better intuitions about probabilistic thinking will not only help children better understand, critique, appreciate, and create with AI technologies, but also, more importantly, provide them with a powerful lens to think about their own thinking, and about the world around them.