Skip to main content Skip to navigation

Can an AI Win Ghana's National Science and Maths Quiz? An AI Grand Challenge for Education

Project Overview

The document outlines the proposal of an AI Grand Challenge aimed at developing a generative AI system capable of competing in Ghana's National Science and Maths Quiz (NSMQ), a live competition for senior secondary students that tests knowledge in various scientific subjects. This initiative seeks to improve educational accessibility and quality in Africa, particularly in regions facing a shortage of qualified teachers. By enabling the AI to answer educational questions, the project aims to democratize education across the continent and support students in under-resourced areas. The paper details the competition's structure, the technical challenges associated with creating such an AI system, and the anticipated societal impacts, highlighting the potential for generative AI to enhance learning outcomes and provide equitable educational opportunities for all students.

Key Applications

NSMQ AI Grand Challenge

Context: Educational context for senior secondary school students in Ghana

Implementation: Building an AI to compete live in the NSMQ using machine learning techniques.

Outcomes: Enhances accessibility to quality education and supports student learning in competitive environments.

Challenges: Technical challenges include real-time speech recognition, question answering, speech output, data collection, and model evaluation.

Implementation Barriers

Technical barrier

Challenges in developing a robust AI for real-time question answering and speech recognition, particularly in the context of Ghanaian accents and scientific language.

Proposed Solutions: Utilizing advanced machine learning models like OpenAI's Whisper for speech recognition and SciBERT for extracting relevant information.

Resource barrier

Limited access to qualified teachers and educational resources hampers the implementation of AI systems. AI systems can provide alternative support mechanisms in areas lacking educational infrastructure.

Proposed Solutions: Utilizing AI systems to support education in areas with insufficient educational infrastructure.

Project Team

George Boateng

Researcher

Victor Kumbol

Researcher

Elsie Effah Kaufmann

Researcher

Contact Information

For information about the paper, please contact the authors.

Authors: George Boateng, Victor Kumbol, Elsie Effah Kaufmann

Source Publication: View Original PaperLink opens in a new window

Project Contact: Dr. Jianhua Yang

LLM Model Version: gpt-4o-mini-2024-07-18

Analysis Provider: Openai

Let us know you agree to cookies