Downside School represented the UK at the Asia-Europe Foundation Conference last month in Tokyo. Nearly two thousand schools from across Asia, Europe and Oceania applied for a chance to present at the policy-making event, which focussed on Educational Sustainable Development (ESD) and the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the classroom.

The event involved round-table discussions with representatives from the Japanese government, NGOs and other charities, looking at the three pillars of sustainable development;environmental, economic and social.

The goals for the conference were to expose teachers to ESD and AI. A key aspect was to gauge educators' readiness on these subjects, and to explore the developing role of the teacher in this new age of digital technology and AI in the classroom.

During the conference, Downside Deputy Head Mike Randall, along with Alex Wright from ScienceScope, the school's education tech partner, presented their new collaborations project which aims to bring the Internet of Things (IoT) and 'big data' into classroom. The project will lead best practice in over 20 schools in Asia, Europe and Oceania, and to empower young people to be creative in dealing with real world issues, using 'big data' to make better informed decisions. For example, one aspect of the project involves the use of weather stations connected to the internet across the globe gathering data in real time to use in the classroom. Students will be able to track the progress of hurricanes or typhoons across countries, to see what is happening to global temperatures as well as using other sensors to monitor ecosystems and human effects on them.

To find out more about Downside School there is an open morning Saturday 7th March 2020, or arrange a private visit at a time to suit you. 01761 235103 / [email protected] / www.downside.co.uk

To find out more about ScienceScope, please visit www.sciencescope.uk