Paul Curzon at the Royal Institution, entertaining some children with the magic of computer science — *Paul Curzon running a workshop at the Royal Institution. Photo credit: Ed Moore*

Every summer holiday the Royal Institution (the Ri) runs a large series of STEM-themed Holiday Workshops for young people. Paul Curzon will be running two workshops across four sessions (for different age-groups) in August, on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and The Magic of Computer Science.

These take place in-person at the Ri’s library.

Artificial intelligence, but where is the intelligence? – Monday 14 Aug 2023

• 11-1.15pm, ages 7-8 (info | tickets)
• 2.15-4.30pm, ages 9-11 (info | tickets)

£35/28

We all know the movie plots where evil robots and computers take over the world, but what is the reality? This workshop explores artificial intelligence, the field of science that tries to build ‘thinking machines’.

How are they built? Are they really intelligent? And what is intelligence anyway? We will also ask some interesting questions about a well-known ‘thinking machine’, you! Along the way we will play some games including building a working brain out of rope, tubes, and you, and playing snap with it.

📖 Read an article on the CS4FN blog about how AI has been used to find out more about how the Dead Sea Scrolls were written thousands of years ago: AI Detecting the Scribes of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

The magic of computer science – Friday 18 August 2023

• 1-1.15pm, ages 7-8 (info | tickets)
• 2.15-4.30pm, ages 9-11 (info | tickets)

£35/28

In this workshop, Paul Curzon will demonstrate real magic tricks, showing the group how they are done so they can do the tricks themselves.

When you learn to be a magician, it turns out you are also learning the skills needed to be a great computer scientist: computational thinking.

Students will then use the magic to learn the linked basics of computer science. They’ll see what computational thinking is all about and how both magicians and computer scientists rely on it.

📖 Read online or download our free Magic of Computer Science resources.

About Paul Curzon

Paul Curzon is a Professor of Computer Science at Queen Mary University of London and a National Teaching Fellow. He runs Computer Science for Fun a magazine about the fun side of computing, and has been giving linked Computing Magic Shows for 10 years.

Paul also runs Teaching London Computing creating inspiring activities for teachers to use in class.

About the Ri’s workshops

Holiday workshops at the Royal Institution give students a hands-on experience of STEM topics (science, technology, engineering, maths) beyond what they learn at school. Working in groups or pairs, students will get hands-on to complete activities, challenges or projects which help them look deeper at the subject they are exploring. These workshops don’t follow the school curriculum but instead show students the many real world uses of STEM topics, expanding their horizons beyond the classroom to see the amazing possibilities science can give you. Sessions are led by experts from across industry and academia who will share with the students their excitement and knowledge of their areas of expertise.