Lesson 2: Computer Vision

45 minutes

Overview Objectives
This lesson centers around the How AI Works: Computer Students will be able to:
Vision video from the How AI Works video series. Watch
this video first before exploring the lesson plan. Describe how computer vision is
built of layers that combine smaller
Students learn how computer vision works. They first look
components into a final prediction
at optical illusions to identify the features of the drawing
that their eyes noticed. Students watch a video explaining
computer vision and how a computer "sees". They design Preparation
an algorithm that uses a network to decide what number
the seven segment display is displaying. Finally, students Print copies of the Computer Vision
test their algorithm. Network activity guide for each
This lesson can be taught on its own, or as part of a 7- group
lesson sequence on How AI Works - click here to view all (Optional) Print copies of the Seven
lessons in this sequence. Segment Display Manipulative

Standards Full Course Alignment Links

CSTA K-12 Computer Science Standards (2017) Heads Up! Please make a copy of
AP - Algorithms & Programming any documents you plan to share
with students.
CS - Computing Systems

For the teachers

Agenda Computer Vision - Slides
Before the Lesson  Make a Copy

Preparing to Teach a Code.org Lesson [Example] Computer Vision

Network - Exemplar
Warm Up (5 minutes)  Make a Copy
Optical Illusions
For the students
Activity (35 minutes)
Image Recognition Algorithm Computer Vision Network -
Testing Our Algorithm Activity Guide  Make a Copy
How AI Works: How Computer
Wrap up (5 minutes) Vision Works - Video
After the Lesson Seven Segment Display
Teacher Survey Manipulative - Activity Guide
Additional Lessons  Make a Copy

AI and Machine Learning Unit What a Neural Network Sees -

Video
 Vocabulary
Algorithm - a series of steps to
solve a problem or make a decision
Network - A collection of items
connected together. Following
these connections can represent
the steps in an algorithm, like a
flowchart.

Teaching Guide

Before the Lesson

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Warm Up (5 minutes)
Optical Illusions

 Display: Show the image on the slide to students.

(Click to expand and see larger)

 Prompt: What animal do you see in this image? Write your answer on a sheet of paper
 Discussion Goal: After a brief pause, ask students to share out. Students will likely notice one of two
animals: either a duck or a rabbit. Once both options are said, students may "switch" back and forth in how
they see the image - sometimes it's a duck, sometimes it's a rabbit.

 Prompt: If this were an argument and you wanted to convince someone else that your animal is correct,
what would you say? What features in the image help your argument?

 Discussion Goal: This prompt is meant to help students identify the features of the drawing that their
eyes noticed to help make that decision. Both arguments will likely identify the black dot in the center as
the eye of the animal. Duck arguments will identify the left feature as the bill or mouth of the duck, whereas
rabbit arguments will identify those as the ears. Emphasize that students are using specific features to
make their decision (ie: eye + ears + mouth = rabbit).

 Display: Show slide with additional optical illusions

 Teaching Tip 

Illusions: The illusions are:

The Dress: Some folks see a blue dress; some folks see a gold dress; some folks see a variety of
different colors. This picture went viral several years ago with debates over the color of the dress
Young Woman vs Older Woman: Depending on how you view it, this image either looks like a
young woman looking away off to the distance, or an older woman looking down. The chin and ears
of the younger woman are the nose and eyes of the older woman.
Dogs and Bagels: Not really an optical illusion - if you look closely, some of the images are of dogs
and some are of bagels. At a quick glance, it's easy to miss which one is which.

 Remarks
We use our eyes and sense of sight to identify objects, and sometimes an image with identical features
can be interpretted in several different ways. But what about a computer - what would it "see" if it saw
one of this pictures? Is the dress gold, or is it blue? Is this a young woman looking away, or an old woman
looking down? Are these a bunch of dogs, or a bunch of bagels? Today we're going to talk about how
computers can "see" and detect images

Activity (35 minutes)

Image Recognition Algorithm

 Video: Show the How AI Works: How Computer Vision Works video.

 Teaching Tip 

Videos are used throughout the curriculum to spark discussions, supplement key concepts with
additional explanations and examples, and expose students to the various roles and backgrounds of
individuals in computer science.

While interacting with the video, turn on closed captioning so students can also read along as they
watch.

To encourage active engagement and reflection, use one or more of the strategies discussed in the
Guide to Curriculum Videos.
 Prompt: How would you summarize how a computer "sees" something in an image?

 Discussion Goal: Listen for students describing how it breaks an image into parts, then combines them
together in layers to create more complex shapes. Students may rely on the shape visuals from the video,
or on the dog and muffin visuals.

 Vocabulary: Display the slide with vocabulary for today's lesson

Algorithm - a series of steps to solve a problem or make a decision

Network - A collection of items connected together. Following these connections can represent the
steps in an algorithm, like a flowchart.

 Remarks
Today we're going to create our own image recognition algorithm. An algorithm is a series of steps to
solve a problem or make a decision. We're going to create an algorithm that uses a network to make a
decision, just like in the video

 Display: Show the slide with a scoreboard from a baseball game

 Remarks
We're helping a sports arena improve its scoreboard. We want to train a camera to detect what the
scores are so it can be broadcast to a radio receiver. For this to work, it needs to detect which number is
displayed on the scoreboard. Each number is represented with one of these displays, which uses 7
segments to create images.

 Prompt: How would you represent your birthday using these numbers? Sketch your answer on a sheet
of scratch paper

As students are sketching their responses, begin distributing the activity guide.

 Distribute: Pass out the Computer Vision Network activity guide

 Teaching Tip 

Going Big: Consider printing out copies of the 7-segment manipulatives and having students work on
whiteboards, poster paper, rolls of butcher paper, or even setting down individual items and connecting
them with string or yarn.

Group: Group students into pairs to work together

 Display: Show the slides giving an overview of this activity

Slides Say

Say: The left side of this guide represents the inputs

that your sensor can detect. It knows when each
individual segment is turned on.

Say: The right side of this guide represents the

decision we're trying to make. We need to build a
path from the inputs on the left to these decisions on
the right.

Say: This central area is where you can build your

network, just like in the video

Say: You can combine at most 2 inputs from previous

layers to create a new combination, like this "corner"
combined from two segments

Say: You can make as many items in this column as

you want! For the first layer, you may end up with a
lot of combinations in this column
Slides Say

Say: You can combine from previous layers to move

into the next layers, creating more complex shaps like
this "Top Half"

Say: You can combine from any previous layer, but

you can still only use 2 inputs at a time

Say: The final layer is special - it can combine up to 3

inputs from any of the previous layers

 Teaching Tip 

Examples: Several examples are provided in this document: [Example] Computer Vision Network.
Consider reviewing these examples before teaching the lesson to see what kinds of networks students
may create.

 Do This: Have students work in pairs to construct their network. The rules for the network are displayed
on the slides.

 Circulate: Monitor students as they complete this task, observing the different strategies students
attempt to "move through" the layers. Ensure partners are collaborating together. Look for groups that are
creating unique or novel networks , especially when different from some of the examples in the
presentation.

 Teaching Tip 

Why are they out of order? Students may ask why the numbers are out of order on the right side of
the activity guide. They're ordered by "number of segments" - 8 has the most active segments, and 1
does not. When it comes time to make a decision, if multiple numbers are lit up (like 9 and 7 and 4 and
1), then the top number is always chosen. This helps reduce the complexity for students as they make
their algorithms - otherwise, an 8 could cause havoc in their network!
 Exemplar: A few example networks are provided as an Answer Keys. These can be used as reference,
or to quickly inspire students who may be stuck. They can also be used in class discussions to
emphasize that there are multiple ways to solve this task.

Regroup: Have students regroup

 Teaching Tip 

(Optional) Gallery Walk: Consider having students perform a gallery walk to visit other networks, and
have students reflect on how the networks are similar or different from their own. This is an especially
engaging activity if students have "Gone Big" and drafted their networks on whiteboards or poster
paper.

Testing Our Algorithm

 Remarks
Now that we have our algorithm, lets test it! We're going to do 2 examples. I'm going to show a slide that
has certain inputs covered with post-it notes. This means the sensor detected that particular strand was
lit up. Follow your network to determine which number it is!

 Display: Display the slide with the first example

(Click to expand)

 Teaching Tip 

Use the network, not your eyes: Students may comment that, once they have the inputs on the left-
side, they already know what number it is - they can "figure it out just by looking at it". Remind students
that the goal isn't for us to figure it out with our eyes and brain, but for a computer to figure it our with
its sensors and algorithm. This can be useful for images that are incredibly large or complex (like
satellite images of crowded markets) that we might not be able to interpret, or situations where we
need to interpret images incredibly quickly which computers can do faster than we can.

You can also ask students to consider all of the steps that happened in nanoseconds once they saw
these inputs - their brain needed to combine all of this information together to know what number it
was. This network is doing the same thing, acting like the computer's "brain" to make a decision once it
sees the inputs.

 Circulate: Monitor students as they trace the path in their network

 Prompt: Are there any changes you want to make to your network? You have a minute to do so!

 Display: Show the slide with the second example

(Click to expand)
  Teaching Tip 

Optional Extensions:

Consider having students trade networks with another pair, then giving students a third example
and seeing if they can trace a neighbor's network
Consider inviting students to trace the solution in front of the class, explaining how their network
works
Consider giving students the number 8 as an input, which will activate every single space in their
network, then prompt them to consider how they can make a decision when this happens
Consider telling students that one of the segments if "burnt out", and then giving them a pattern
that doesn't exactly match with any number (for example: an 8, but the bottom segment is missing,
so it looks like an A). What number will their network identify it as?
Consider asking students to "time themselves" tracing through the network, then asking students to
notice if some networks are "more efficient" than others and take less time to complete.

Wrap up (5 minutes)
 Prompt: What do you imagine a network could look like that could identify the image below? What do
the inputs look like? What do some of the middle layers look like?

(Click to expand. Image source: Wikimedia Commons)

 Discussion Goal: This is an open-ended prompt for students to apply the skills they practiced in the
lesson to a new situation, but they still may struggle adapting to a new context - it's okay for students to
struggle and "talk it out" as they work through this together. Students should identify the individual left and
right flag positions as inputs, and the combination of the two as the output letter. The middle layer could
look like two flags combined together - for example: left flag straight left + right flag straight right = R. This
example network would be simpler than the class example because there are less components to build
together.

 Content Corner 

Semaphores: This example comes from a historical way for ships or outposts to communicate over long
distances, before radio or telephone were invented. For example, if two ships on the sea wanted to
communicate, one person would wave flags according to this system and someone on another ship
would record the words to piece together the message.

(Optional) Extension: Consider watching the What a Neural Network Sees video from the Experiments
with Google page. The short video gives a live example of how image classification works as a neural
network, where you can see the inputs and hidden layers.
After the Lesson
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Additional Lessons

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additional resources

AI and Machine Learning Unit

If you'd like to dive even deeper into AI and Machine Learning, consider exploring our 5-week unit on AI
and Machine Learning. Click here to view the unit and learn more

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