Research seminars
We host free online seminars on current computing education research topics. Speakers from around the world present their work in the field.
This is your opportunity to learn from the latest research insights, make connections with fellow educators and researchers, and take part in discussions.
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Join an upcoming seminar session
The theme for our 2025-2026 seminar series is teaching about AI and data science. We’ll be looking at research in schools to identify what students should learn about AI, machine learning, and data science, and the best ways to teach these critical topics.
Seminars usually take place on the first Tuesday of each month at 17:00–18:30 GMT / 12:00–13:30 ET / 9:00–10:30 PT / 18:00–19:30 CET.
27 January: Salomey Afua Addo (University of Cambridge)
Teaching about neural networks in junior high schools in Ghana
In this talk, Salomey Afua Addo will take you through her three-year PhD study exploring how to teach about AI in junior high schools in Ghana (learners aged 13–16). First, she will lay the foundation by describing the Ghanaian education system through the lens of her case study. Then, she will share how she created a role play and a board game to learn about the feedforward, evaluation, and backpropagation stages of training a single-layer neural network, using simple synthetic data based on a farming scenario.
In addition, Salomey will explore how storytelling can be a useful and engaging tool for teaching about AI ethics in a relatable way for young learners. She will also explore the perspectives and real classroom experiences of teachers as they use unplugged tools in their AI lessons, as well as the elements of teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) required for teaching neural networks.
Salomey Afua Addo is a third-year PhD student in the Department of Computer Science and Technology at the University of Cambridge. Her research focuses on exploring effective approaches for teaching AI concepts in junior high schools in Ghana. She employs a range of methodologies, including case study research, design-based research, thematic analysis, and general quantitative techniques. Her work engages with key themes in curriculum studies, teacher self-efficacy, and teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge, contributing to the growing field of research on AI education in the African context.
Catch up on previous seminars
We have had the privilege to learn from many incredible researchers since we started our seminars in 2020, and we're excited to share their talks with you. Explore the archives below to watch and read about past seminars.
Seminar recordings
We make the seminar talks available to watch after they take place. Discover recordings from our current and previous series on programming; primary (K–5) computing; cross-disciplinary computing; artificial intelligence; and equity, diversity and inclusion.
Summaries on the blog
After each seminar, we publish a short blog to sum up some of its main take-aways and share the video recording of the speaker's talk. Each blog highlights how the seminar applies to teachers' classroom practice. Browse the archive of seminar blogs.