We’re excited to welcome you back to the St John’s Inspire Programme for Years 9, 10 & 11 with the materials for the fourth and final class. 

A copy of the Class 4 Magazine PDF is downloadable from the course page. Plain-text versions of all of the articles in this month’s class, are also available for those unable to access the PDF. 

In this final class, we’ll conclude our exploration of some of the key applications and issues around artificial intelligence: we’ll find out about how AI might help us tackle the climate crisis, and we’ll dig deeper into some of the ethical dilemmas raised by the use of AI in medicine. Then, turning back from our current era of rapid and radical change, we’ll step back in time to see how past societies have responded to periods of disruption, with a timely look at how medieval societies responded the Black Death pandemic of the 14th century. And finally, we will look further at how the use of computers can aid and enhance our knowledge and understanding in a number of fields, from mathematics and psychology, to the use of digital modelling in the Humanities.

This class also contains information about the Inspire Summer Schools, which will be running in August 2022: summer schools will be run virtually for all registered participants, with a limited number of places at our in-person, residential summer school available for Year 11s. Details of how to apply for one of these Year 11 places can be found here. The deadline is Wednesday 27th April 2022!

As always, you will also find several challenges throughout the class, based on some of the articles. Remember, if you are in Year 11 priority for in-person summer school places will be given to students who have submitted at least one piece of work to us over the course of the programme, so this is your last chance to send something to us!

We will also be running the usual monthly prize draw for every entry received, in which you can win Amazon vouchers – and everyone who submits at least one piece of work to us over the course of the programme will receive a certificate of participation at the end of the course.

Upcoming:

· If you submit a piece of work or challenge entry from Class 3 before the deadline today, you will be entered into our next prize draw to win Amazon vouchers, which will take place next week.

· Submissions of work or entries to challenges received by 27th April will be entered into the final prize draw for the next month.

· If you are in Year 11, you can apply for a residential Summer-School place here, before the deadline of Wednesday 27th April. Remember, priority is given to participants who have submitted challenge entries, so make sure you get your work in to us!

We’ll see you again at the end of the month! For students wanting to keep in touch, we also post plenty of other content on our Instagram.