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The rapid expansion of Artificial Intelligence (AI) necessitates educating all students about AI. This, however, poses great challenges because most K-12 teachers have limited prior knowledge or experience of teaching AI. This exploratory study reports the design of an online professional development program aimed at preparing teachers for teaching AI in classrooms. The program includes a book club where teachers read a book about AI and learned key activities of an AI curriculum developed for middle schoolers, and a 2-week practicum where teachers co-taught the curriculum in a summer camp. The participants were 17 teachers from three school districts across the United States. Analysis of their surveys revealed an increase in teachers’ content knowledge and self-efficacy in teaching AI. Teachers reported that the book club taught them AI concepts and the practicum sharpened their teaching practices. Our findings reveal valuable insights on teacher training for the AI education field.
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From Lecture Hall to Homeroom: Co-Designing an AI Elective with Middle School CS Teachers
Middle School students in the United States are exposed to an unprecedented number of AI-driven consumer products. This exposure demands that educators help students develop their personal understandings of these technologies to engage with them responsibly. Designing age-appropriate AI curricula for middle school students calls for collaboration and partnership between computer and learning scientists, as well as middle school teachers. Over a 3-year period, we co-designed and successfully implemented an AI education curriculum across 9 geographically and economically diverse schools, offering it to a total of 1551 students. Drawing from our analyses of the curriculum and teacher and student experiences, we propose an effective format for teaching, assessing, and implementing fundamental AI education for middle school settings in the United States. Our research also highlights the value of empowering teachers through co-design; enriching their professional development and improving students’ AI literacy.
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- PAR ID:
- 10589512
- Publisher / Repository:
- Springer
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education
- ISSN:
- 1560-4292
- Subject(s) / Keyword(s):
- Artificial Intelligence AI education K-12 Middle school Curriculum Format Assessments Co-design
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s40593-024-00449-3
