💻 TechnologyLevel 1Lesson 5
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Discuss How People Teach Machines What to Do

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Learning Objectives

  • 1Describe the four steps people use to teach a machine — collect data, train, test, and use — and place them in the correct order
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Mini Lesson

Did you know that smart machines do not just arrive knowing things? People have to teach them — just like a grown-up helps you learn! There are four steps every time a person teaches a machine something new.

Step 1 — Collect data

  • Data means examples and information that a machine can learn from.
  • Example: to teach a machine to recognize cats, people show it thousands of cat pictures.
  • More examples = a better, smarter machine.

Step 2 — Train

  • The machine looks at all the examples and finds patterns — things that are the same in every cat picture.
  • People tell the machine which answers are right and which are wrong so it can improve.

Step 3 — Test

  • People show the machine new pictures it has never seen before to check if it learned correctly.
  • If the machine makes mistakes, people go back and train it some more.

Step 4 — Use

  • When the machine passes the test, it is ready! People can now use it to do its job.
  • Example: the cat-recognizer can now sort your photos all by itself.
The four steps to teach a machineFour numbered boxes arranged vertically with arrows between them. Step 1: Collect Data. Step 2: Train. Step 3: Test. Step 4: Use.1Collect DataGather lots of examples2TrainMachine finds patterns in examples3TestTry new examples — fix mistakes4UseMachine is ready to do its job!
The four steps to teach a machine — Collect Data, Train, Test, Use — shown as a pipeline with arrows.
Teaching a machine to recognize cats — real-world exampleFour panels showing the cat-recognizer example for each step: many cat photos (collect), machine studying them (train), machine tested on a new photo (test), machine sorting photos by itself (use).Example: Teaching a cat recognizer1 Collect1000s ofcat pics2 Trainfindspatterns3 Test?new pic —correct?4 Usesorts yourphotos!People always guide each step —machines do not teach themselves!datatraintestuseThese four words are the steps — learn them in order!
The cat-recognizer example showing all four steps — collecting photos, finding patterns, testing on a new image, and using the finished tool.
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Ask yourself: "What is the correct order? Collect data → Train → Test → Use.

Vocabulary
Data
Examples and information that a machine can learn frome.g. We showed the machine many cat pictures as data.
Train
To help a machine learn by giving it examplese.g. People train the AI by showing it the right answers.
Test
To check if the machine learned the right thinge.g. A grown-up tested the machine with a new picture.
Pattern
Things that look the same again and againe.g. The machine spotted the pattern of stripes on every cat.
Machine learning
When a machine gets smarter by looking at lots of examplese.g. Machine learning helps the photo app find dogs in pictures.
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