How do we teach artificial intelligence?

Kristian Guttesen, Assistant Professor, and Magnús Smári Smárason, AI Project Manager at the University of Akureyri, have received a grant from the Educational Materials Development Fund of the Icelandic Centre for Research (RANNÍS) for the project Technological Resilience: Interdisciplinary Problem-Based Learning Materials in Artificial Intelligence for Upper Secondary Education.

The project aims to develop and publish interdisciplinary educational materials on artificial intelligence for the upper secondary school level. The materials, to be released between June 2026 and May 2027, are based on an innovative methodology developed at the University of Akureyri, known as Agentic Resilience and Problem-Based Learning (PBL).

The goal is to strengthen AI literacy among upper secondary students, both in academic and vocational tracks, in line with the European Union’s new regulatory framework on artificial intelligence (the EU AI Act). Emphasis is placed not only on teaching students how to use AI technologies, but also on helping them understand their limitations and maintain independent problem-solving abilities. In this way, the project also aims to foster students’ overall competence in AI.

The plan includes the development of 6–10 interdisciplinary learning modules that connect AI with Icelandic language studies, STEM subjects, social sciences, and the arts. Each module will include teaching guides, assessment criteria, and real-world problem scenarios. All materials will be freely accessible online under a Creative Commons license.

This is the third time Kristian has received a grant from the Educational Materials Development Fund. His previous projects have been published on mannkostamenntun.is and on websites run by the Research Centre for Universities, the Institute of Philosophy, and the Institute of Ethics. In his role at the university, Magnús has, among other things, led the development of a comprehensive guiding policy on the responsible use of artificial intelligence, along with other initiatives, and actively shares knowledge about AI use on his own website.