AI in the classroom from Primary School to High School: H-FARM International School launches the Human Plus Curriculum

Starting this September, AI will be integrated across all subjects as a tool to enhance teaching, learning, and awareness.

Donadon: We’re at the forefront of empowering students and teachers with the knowledge they need to approach technology creatively and think critically about its use.

Starting in September 2025, Artificial Intelligence will be fully integrated into the curriculum at H-FARM International School. With the launch of the groundbreaking Human Plus Curriculum, AI will become a cross-disciplinary tool for learning across all grade levels—from Primary School through the final years of High School.

“We’ve always been committed to using technology as a tool to enhance, strengthen, and elevate both teaching and learning,” says Riccardo Donadon, Founder and President of H-FARM. “This new chapter aims to give both teachers and students the foundational knowledge they need to use AI consciously—helping them understand its potential, navigate its challenges and opportunities, and develop both creativity and critical thinking in relation to the technology and its real-world applications.”

Starting on the first day of school, students enrolled in the international programs at our Roncade campus and our Vicenza and Rosà locations will begin working within a curriculum designed to help them become aware, active participants in today’s world. AI concepts—how they work, how they’re used, the problems they can cause, and the opportunities they offer—will be introduced at every grade level as tools for analyzing complexity and designing innovative, sustainable solutions.

“The integration of AI into every class happens in two main ways,” explains Antonello Barbaro, CEO of H-FARM Education. “First, through specialized teachers—Digital Learning Coaches and Computer Science educators—who will not only teach students technical skills, but also support other teachers in bringing AI concepts into their own subjects. Second, through classroom teachers in other disciplines, who will attend focused training workshops before the school year begins so they can confidently and meaningfully include AI in their lessons.”

Over the past two months, a specialized task force—including AI experts from H-FARM AI (our Research and Development lab), Computer Science teachers from the school, and faculty from H-FARM College’s tech programs—has been designing an advanced curriculum pathway. It’s fully aligned with the IB framework and built on a clear instructional model: Jerome Bruner’s spiral curriculum.

What does that look like in practice? It means that key AI concepts—like algorithms, pattern recognition, or automated decision-making—are introduced early in simple ways, then revisited and deepened over time with more complexity, maturity, and cross-disciplinary relevance.

A few concrete examples:

• A 6-year-old might learn what an algorithm is by playing sequencing games or giving step-by-step instructions to make a sandwich.
  
• At age 12, that same idea could become code written in Scratch or Python to make a robot move.
  
• By age 17, it’s about designing complex decision-making systems or discussing the ethics of predictive algorithms used in areas like finance or criminal justice.
  

This spiral approach allows students to return to the same foundational concepts over time, reworking them in new contexts and with deeper understanding. It’s not about repeating—it’s about growing around those core ideas, the same way we develop a language, a creative skill, or critical thinking.

Designing this curriculum has required a careful and thoughtful approach, making sure it builds consistently over time, avoids unnecessary repetition, and makes the most of the connections between subjects, grade levels, and different learning styles. It’s a collaborative process involving teachers, students, and educational designers working together.

The result? Concepts that once felt abstract—like algorithms, automated decisions, or neural networks—become real, relevant, and part of students’ everyday experience. From writing instructions for a paper robot to building machine learning models for projects around sustainability or inclusion, students are learning to understand the world—and shape it.