An official website of the United States government
Understanding the inner workings of Artificial Intelligence (AI) recommendation systems may benefit children in becoming more sensible consumers of the ever-growing information in their daily lives. It may further enable deeper reflections on related ethical issues such as the filter bubble. With limited prior knowledge in math and computing, children often find AI concepts overly abstract. Inspired by optical computation, we propose a novel tangible interface, OptiDot. Through exploratory manipulation with light beams, OptiDot supports children in learning the dot product—a building block for numerous AI algorithms—and AI recommendations through embodied learning experiences. Findings of a preliminary user study with ten middle school students indicate the effectiveness of the key embodied metaphors. We also discuss the design implications and challenges of developing optical-inspired learning tools for children.
more »
« less
This content will become publicly available on May 1, 2026
Co-design of analogical and embodied representations with children for child-centered AI learning experiences
AI recommendations shape our daily decisions and our young generation is no exception. The convenience of navigating personalized content comes with the notorious ‘‘filter bubble’’ effect, which can reduce exposure to diverse options and opinions. Children are particularly vulnerable to this due to their limited AI literacy and critical thinking skills. In this study, we explore how to engage children as co-designers to create child-centered experiences for learning AI concepts related to the filter bubble. Leveraging embodied and analogical learning theories, we co-designed an Augmented Reality (AR) application, BeeTrap, with children from underrepresented backgrounds in STEM. BeeTrap not only raises awareness of filter bubbles but also empowers children to understand recommendation system mechanisms. Our contributions include (1) insights into child-centered AI learning using embodied metaphors and analogies as educational representations of AI concepts; and (2) implications for enhancing children’s understanding of AI concepts through co-design processes.
more »
« less
- Award ID(s):
- 2238675
- PAR ID:
- 10595220
- Publisher / Repository:
- Elsevier
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- International Journal of Human-Computer Studies
- Volume:
- 199
- Issue:
- C
- ISSN:
- 1071-5819
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 103462
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
More Like this
-
-
AI recommendations influence our daily decisions. The convenience of navigating personalized content goes hand-in-hand with the notorious filter bubble effect, which may decrease people’s exposure to diverse options and opinions. Children are especially vulnerable to this due to their limited AI literacy and critical thinking skills. In this study, we propose a novel Augmented Reality (AR) application BeeTrap. It aims to not only raise children’s awareness of filter bubbles but also empower them to mitigate this ethical issue through sense-making of AI recommendation systems’ inner workings. By having children experience and break filter bubbles in a flower recommendation system, BeeTrap utilizes embodied metaphors (e.g., NEAR-FAR, ITERATION) and analogies (bee pollination) to bridge abstract AI concepts with sensory-motor experiences in familiar STEM contexts. To evaluate our design’s effectiveness and accessibility for a broad range of children, we introduced BeeTrap in a four-day summer camp for middle-school students from underrepresented backgrounds in STEM. Results from pre- and post-tests and interviews show that BeeTrap developed students’ technical understanding of AI recommendations, empowered them to break filter bubbles, and helped them foster new personal and societal perspectives around AI technologies.more » « less
-
Understanding howAI recommendationswork can help the younger generation become more informed and critical consumers of the vast amount of information they encounter daily. However, young learners with limited math and computing knowledge often find AI concepts too abstract. To address this, we developed Briteller, a light-based recommendation system that makes learning tangible. By exploring and manipulating light beams, Briteller enables children to understand an AI recommender system’s core algorithmic building block, the dot product, through hands-on interactions. Initial evaluations with ten middle school students demonstrated the effectiveness of this approach, using embodied metaphors, such as "merging light" to represent addition. To overcome the limitations of the physical optical setup, we further explored how AR could embody multiplication, expand data vectors with more attributes, and enhance contextual understanding. Our findings provide valuable insights for designing embodied and tangible learning experiences that make AI concepts more accessible to young learners.more » « less
-
Embodied learning represents a natural and immersive approach to education, where the physical engagement of learners plays a critical role in how they perceive and internalize concepts. This allows students to actively embody and explore knowledge through interaction with their environment, significantly enhancing retention and understanding of complex subjects. However, researchers face significant challenges in exploring children's learning in these physically interactive spaces, particularly due to the complexity of tracking multiple students' movements and dynamic interactions in real-time. To address these challenges, this paper introduces a Double Diamond design thinking process for developing an AI-enhanced timeline aimed at assisting researchers in visualizing and analyzing interactions within embodied learning environments. We outline key considerations, challenges, and lessons learned in this user-centered design process. Our goal is to create a timeline that employs state-of-the-art AI techniques to help researchers interpret complex datasets, such as children's movements, gaze directions, and affective states during learning activities, thereby simplifying their tasks and augmenting the process of interaction analysis.more » « less
-
Latinx students embodying justice‐centered science: Agency through imagining via the performing artsChildren are often denied science education that engages their emotions and multiple identities. This study focused on ways in which embodied arts‐based experiences offer opportunities for such engagement in pedagogical efforts associated with justice‐centered science. The conceptual framework that informed the study considers the body as a site of learning, embraces social justice in science education and engages with the dialectical relationship between various structures and children's agency, and frames the transdisciplinarity of imagination. The instrumental case study centered on a fifth‐grade class of Latinx students in an urban public school, as they grappled with lead contamination and peoples' rights to clean water through an embodied, arts‐based pedagogy in their science class. Analysis of video clips, student work, and other artifacts pointed to three findings on how children engaged with justice‐centered science learning via arts‐based embodied activities. Through perspective‐taking in the dramatizing, children engaged with science ideas intertwined with sociopolitical understandings. Through centering emotions that drama afforded, children experienced empathy and solidarity with others affected by environmental injustices. Through imagined and enacted participation in struggles that the embodiments necessitated, children engaged in actions to resist injustices. These findings suggest that exploring children's arts‐based embodied meaning making in science is a robust area of inquiry. Furthermore, the findings compel researchers and practitioners to consider emotions in performing arts, and how they can deepen engagement in, and exploration of, justice‐centered science. Recommendations emerged for practitioners poised to explore justice‐centered science with children through the arts.more » « less
