15 Fall AI Programs for Middle School Students
- Stephen Turban
- 1 hour ago
- 9 min read
If artificial intelligence is something you want to learn more about in your middle school, an AI fall program offers a low-key introduction that fits comfortably into the school year. You get to explore how computers learn from examples, how models make predictions, and why AI is becoming part of so many everyday tools.
Why should I do a fall program in AI as a high school student?
Fall programs fit neatly into a school-year schedule. They’re more focused and easy to manage alongside homework and activities. You might work with simple datasets, interact with beginner coding platforms, or test how small changes affect an algorithm’s output. These activities help you understand how the field works before you dive deeper later.
With that in mind, here are 15 fall AI programs for middle school students!
15 Fall AI Programs for Middle School Students
Location: Virtual
Cost: Varies by the cohort (Financial aid available)
Dates: 25 hours over 10 weeks (on weekends) during the spring and 25 hours over 2 weeks (on weekdays) during the summer cohort
Application Deadline: Rolling. You can apply here.
Eligibility: Students in grades 6-8
Veritas AI’s AI Trailblazers is a virtual program designed to introduce middle school students to the core concepts of artificial intelligence and machine learning. Over the course of 25 hours, you will explore Python programming along with topics like data analysis, regression, neural networks, image classification, and AI ethics. The program features a 5:1 student-to-mentor ratio, with learning delivered through a mix of lectures and collaborative sessions. By the end, participants complete a hands-on project tailored to their interests. Past projects have included building music genre classifiers and AI tools that recommend personalized educational resources.
Location: Remote and in-person options across the U.S. and internationally
Cost: Free
Acceptance Rate/Cohort Size: Open enrollment
Program Dates: School-year clubs meeting 1–2 hours per week
Application Deadline: Rolling
Eligibility: Students in grades 3–12
Girls Who Code Clubs give you a free way to explore computing through weekly hands-on activities in a collaborative setting. You can participate at your school, a local community site, or through an online club, with flexible sessions that fit around your schedule. Once enrolled, you work through guided modules on topics such as web development, game design, and cybersecurity, along with introductory lessons in artificial intelligence as part of the curriculum. You move at your own pace with project-based tutorials that let you create websites, simple apps, interactive stories, or tech solutions tied to issues you care about.
Location: Virtual
Cost: Varies depending on program type. Full financial aid is available
Dates: Varies by the cohort
Application Deadline: Multiple deadlines throughout the year.
Eligibility: Students in grades 6-8
Lumiere’s Junior Explorers Program is a selective online research experience for middle school students, designed to build advanced academic writing and research skills. You begin by selecting a subject area, such as STEM, humanities, or social sciences, and are matched with a PhD-level mentor from a top university. Over the course of the program, you receive a structured introduction to your chosen field, then design and carry out an independent research project focused on a real-world question. To strengthen your writing and analytical abilities, you conclude the program by producing a formal research paper that presents your findings.
Location: Virtual
Cost: Free
Acceptance Rate/Cohort Size: Open-access
Program Dates: Mix of self-paced modules and scheduled events; Day of AI runs each spring
Application Deadline: None; registration posted for individual sessions
Eligibility: Students in grades 3–12
MIT’s Responsible AI for Social Empowerment (RAISE) Workshops introduce you to artificial intelligence through activities that connect technical concepts with real-world impact. You start with accessible tools such as Scratch or App Inventor and can transition to more advanced environments like Jupyter Notebooks as your skills grow. Throughout the modules, you investigate how machine learning models work, how algorithms make decisions, and how bias and fairness shape the design of modern systems. The curriculum emphasizes building your own AI-powered projects, giving you practice applying these ideas to practical challenges in your community or daily life.
Location: Online (IBM SkillsBuild Platform)
Cost: Free
Acceptance Rate/Cohort Size: Open enrollment
Dates: Self-paced; 10+ hours of content
Application Deadline: None
Eligibility: Middle and high school students
IBM SkillsBuild offers a free, self-paced introduction to artificial intelligence designed for students who want to explore core concepts at their own speed. You work through structured modules covering topics such as natural language processing, algorithmic decision-making, AI ethics, and everyday applications of machine learning. As part of the coursework, you can create a simple chatbot using IBM’s tools, giving you a chance to apply what you’ve learned in a practical project. Each completed module earns you a digital badge that you can use in resumes or online portfolios.
Location: Online (edX)
Cost: Free to audit; $199 for a certificate
Acceptance Rate/Cohort Size: Open enrollment; over one million learners
Dates: Self-paced with 5-12 weeks depending on pace
Application Deadline: Rolling
Eligibility: Open to all learners; best for motivated middle schoolers with an interest in computer science
HarvardX’s CS50 AI course introduces you to core artificial intelligence algorithms through hands-on Python programming. You work through topics such as search, machine learning, neural networks, constraint satisfaction, and natural language processing by completing structured coding projects. The course is rigorous and mirrors an introductory college-level AI class. You can take the course for free or upgrade to earn a certificate. Overall, it’s a structured path for building deeper AI skills at your own pace.
Location: Online through Code.org and ProjectSTEM
Cost: Free
Acceptance Rate/Cohort Size: Open enrollment
Dates: Self-paced or aligned with the school year
Application Deadline: None
Eligibility: Middle school students in grades 6–8
Amazon Future Engineer offers a set of computer science and AI-themed courses designed specifically for middle school learners. Through interactive modules, you explore programming fundamentals, design simple apps, and experiment with generative AI, machine learning, and digital ethics. Courses such as “CS Explorations 2: AI in Our World” introduce you to real-world uses of machine learning, while other units help you transition from block-based coding to Python. Activities are designed to be accessible and creative, giving you a gradual path into AI concepts even without prior experience.
Location: Online (via Zoom)
Cost: Not specified
Acceptance rate or cohort size: Open enrollment
Dates: October 25 – November 22 (Saturdays, 9:00–10:30 AM)
Application Deadline: Rolling until filled
Eligibility: Students in grades 5–8
UCSD’s ForMIDABLE PREP is a five-week introduction to Python for middle schoolers, taught through live Saturday sessions run by the San Diego Supercomputer Center. You learn the basics of coding step by step, from variables and loops to functions and simple objects, and you spend most of your time writing small programs that build your problem-solving skills. The structure mirrors how beginners are taught in college courses, so you get a clear, steady foundation in programming even though the class doesn’t dive into AI.
Location: Virtual
Cost: $15-$35 per session for most courses
Acceptance rate/cohort size: 3–5 students per class
Dates: Year-round
Application Deadline: Rolling
Eligibility: Students in grades 2–12
Create & Learn offers small-group online classes where you pick the computing topics you want to explore, from beginner coding to robotics, game design, and early AI. You might start with block-based tools and move into Python or Java as you get more comfortable, and each course builds on the last, so you can follow a clear progression. Every session includes live teaching and hands-on projects that let you test ideas and practice new skills.
Location: Virtual; live instruction via Zoom
Cost: $120 per 1-hour group lesson; financial aid may be available upon request
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Open enrollment until full; no competitive selection process
Dates: September 8 – January 31; weekly classes during the fall session
Application Deadline: Rolling admissions; students may enroll until sessions fill
Eligibility: Students aged 10–13; no prior experience required; open to students worldwide
The Coding Space’s online classes give you weekly small-group lessons where you learn to code by working through projects and solving problems on your own with support from an instructor. You usually start with Scratch if you’re new, then move into JavaScript or Python once you’re ready for text-based coding. Most sessions center on building things like simple games, logic puzzles, or interactive web pieces, which help you learn how to debug, plan your steps, and understand how different parts of a program fit together. The focus on computational thinking builds skills that carry over into AI, especially pattern recognition and Python fluency.
11. CodeWizardsHQ
Location: Virtual
Cost: Varies based on course level and duration
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not provided
Dates: Year-round
Application Deadline: Rolling
Eligibility: Students aged 8–18
CodeWizardsHQ gives you a clear, step-by-step path through coding, starting with Python and moving into JavaScript, HTML, CSS, and basic databases. Every course has hands-on projects where you build games, apps, and small websites, so you get real practice writing code and handling multi-step problems. As you move up, you learn how APIs and databases work, which helps you see how bigger systems store and share information. These pieces link naturally to AI because Python, data work, and API skills sit at the core of many beginner machine learning projects.
Location: Online
Cost: Not specified
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Open enrollment
Dates: Session dates vary; inquire for upcoming offerings
Application Deadline: Rolling
Eligibility: Students in grades 6–8
In this live online course from UC San Diego’s Sally Ride Science Academy, you learn the fundamentals of Python through topics like arithmetic operations, conditionals, loops, and functions. After building a foundation in coding, you experiment with machine learning by training an image classification model using Google’s Teachable Machine and connecting it to a simple web interface. You also test your models on Raspberry Pi devices, giving you experience with basic hardware integration and real-world deployment. Throughout the class, you examine how machine learning appears in areas such as robotics, autonomous vehicles, digital assistants, and data analysis. You work with both conceptual ideas and hands-on projects, so you can see how algorithms and data interact to form practical AI systems.
Location: Online
Cost: Free
Acceptance Rate/Cohort Size: Open enrollment
Dates: Self-paced learning; flexible units available throughout the year
Eligibility: Students in grades 6–12 (and some units cover grades 3–5)
Code.org’s AI curriculum gives you a free, structured way to understand how artificial intelligence works and how it influences our daily lives. You access video lessons, interactive modules, and hands-on activities that cover topics like neural networks, chatbots, ethics, and algorithmic bias. For middle and high schoolers, there are dedicated units including “Exploring Generative AI,” “AI & Machine Learning,” “Computer Vision,” and “Coding with AI,” all designed to build your real understanding of how AI systems are built and used. The “How AI Works” series blends video explanations with classroom-ready lessons that help you explore complex ideas like data, decision-making, and fairness in technology. There’s also a “Our AI Code of Ethics” unit that prompts you to think critically about the societal impact of AI and how to design more responsible systems.
Location: Online (Coursera)
Cost: Free to audit; optional paid certificate
Acceptance Rate/Cohort Size: Open enrollment
Dates: Self-paced; approximately 12 hours
Application Deadline: None
Eligibility: Open to all learners; suitable for motivated middle schoolers with some tech interest
This introductory course helps you understand the core ideas behind artificial intelligence, including search methods, knowledge representation, planning, and real-world applications. You move through short video lessons and quizzes that explain how AI systems interpret data and make decisions. You also examine examples of AI used in fields such as healthcare, robotics, and transportation. The course includes hands-on activities where you interact with simple AI models to see how algorithms behave. You learn basic terminology and gain a clearer picture of how machine learning fits within the broader field of AI.
Location: Online (Coursera)
Cost: Free to audit; optional paid certificate
Acceptance Rate/Cohort Size: Open enrollment
Dates: Self-paced; approximately 10 hours
Application Deadline: None
Eligibility: Open to all; best for students with some interest in coding
This course introduces you to artificial intelligence through simple, code-based examples using Python. You begin by learning how data is processed, how machine learning models are trained, and how algorithms improve through repeated exposure to information. Step-by-step exercises show you how to write basic Python scripts that support AI functions such as classification and prediction. You also explore concepts like neural networks and supervised learning at a level designed for beginners. The course includes guided labs so you can test models in a safe, browser-based environment without installing any software.
Stephen is one of the founders of Lumiere and a Harvard College graduate. He founded Lumiere as a PhD student at Harvard Business School. Lumiere is a selective research program where students work 1-1 with a research mentor to develop an independent research paper.
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