A teacher at Whitchurch Highlands PS has helped his Grade 3-4 class build a physical computer that can be trained to tie or beat a human in Tic-Tac-Toe.
Their MENACE Machine (Matchbox Educable Noughts and Crosses Engine), invented by researcher Donald Michie in the 1960s, is programmed and trained using coloured beads rather than digital 1s and 0s.
With help from the CCEL program, Teacher Jonathan Drooker partnered with NewMakeIt in Newmarket, ON, to use modern manufacturing techniques like CNC routing, 3D printing, and laser cutting, to create the machine. Students had the chance to visit NewMakeIt as part of this process, to see and experience those methods for themselves.
The students then got to present the machine and their understanding of its concepts to other classes from K – Gr.8 throughout their school. Using this familiar game, Tic-Tac-Toe, students got to experience how reinforcement training can allow a computer to learn – similar to how current popular AI models work.