The emergence of increasingly powerful AI technologies calls for the design and development of K-12 AI literacy curricula that can support students who will be entering a profoundly changed labor market. However, developing, implementing, and scaling AI literacy curricula poses significant challenges. It will be essential to develop a robust, evidence-based AI education research foundation that can inform AI literacy curriculum development. Unlike K-12 science and mathematics education, there is not currently a research foundation for K-12 AI education. In this article we provide a component-based definition of AI literacy, present the need for implementing AI literacy education across all grade bands, and argue for the creation of research programs across four areas of AI education: (1) K-12 AI Learning & Technology; (2) K-12 AI Education Integration into STEM, Language Arts, and Social Science Education; (3) K-12 AI Professional Development for Teachers and Administrators; and (4) K-12 AI Assessment.
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Make-a-Thon for Middle School AI Educators
AI curricula are being developed and tested in classrooms, but
wider adoption is premised by teacher professional development
and buy-in. When engaging in professional development, curricula
are treated as set in stone, static and educators are prepared to
offer the curriculum as written instead of empowered to be lead-
ers in efforts to spread and sustain AI education. This limits the
degree to which teachers tailor new curricula to student needs and
interests, ultimately distancing students from new and potentially
relevant content. This paper describes an AI Educator Make-a-Thon,
a two-day gathering of 34 educators from across the United States
that centered co-design of AI literacy materials as the culminat-
ing experience of a year-long professional development program
called Everyday AI (EdAI) in which educators studied and prac-
ticed implementing an innovative curriculum for Developing AI
Literacy (DAILy) in their classrooms. Inspired by the energizing
and empowering experiences of Hack-a-Thons, the Make-a-Thon
was designed to increase the depth and longevity of the educators’
investment in AI education by positively impacting their sense of
belonging to the AI community, AI content knowledge, and their
self confidence as AI curriculum designers. In this paper we de-
scribe the Make-a-Thon design, findings, and recommendations for
future educator-centered Make-a-Thons.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2048746
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10493299
- Publisher / Repository:
- ACM
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Proceedings of the 54th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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