At Rockford High School, students are currently engaged in a project titled “Humans vs the Machine,” where they are pitted against an AI system to forecast school closures due to inclement weather such as snow, icy roads, or wind chill. This initiative, part of the Advanced Placement (AP) Statistics class involving approximately 130 students, is a collaborative effort between Rockford Public Schools and the Van Andel Institute for Education.
The competition, spearheaded by Rockford AP Statistics teacher Tina Shutich, serves as a dynamic platform for students to gain hands-on experience in utilizing AI within the realm of statistics. By linking classroom learning to real-world applications, students grasp the significance of their education and its broader implications.
Throughout this winter season, the class has conducted the competition on seven occasions, coinciding with severe winter storms that have battered West Michigan. By leveraging a statistical model, students evaluate various factors like storm intensity, weather impact, timing, and historical snow day patterns to predict the likelihood of school closures. Their predictions, quantified as a percentage, are then compared against an AI tool named “Blizzard,” created by local software engineer Steven Wangler.
Blizzard, fueled by local weather data and historical snow day announcements, competes head-to-head with the students, with both parties submitting their forecasts by 8 p.m. the night before a potential snow day. While Blizzard currently holds a slight edge over the students in accuracy, the competition remains fierce, motivating students to refine their models and strive to outperform the AI system.
The initiative, inspired by a similar project led by the late Kevin Witte, aims to blend the excitement of predicting snow days with the educational value of math and science. Ben Talsma, a learning specialist at the Van Andel Institute for Education, underscores the engagement and educational depth of the competition, highlighting its practical application of statistics and its capacity to captivate students and the community alike.
