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This article examines the ways secondary computer science and English Language Arts teachers in urban, suburban, and semi-rural schools adapted a project-based AI ethics curriculum to make it better fit their local contexts. AI ethics is an urgent topic with tangible consequences for youths’ current and future lives, but one that is rarely taught in schools. Few teachers have formal training in this area as it is an emerging field even at the university level. Exploring AI ethics involves examining biases related to race, gender, and social class, a challenging task for all teachers, and an unfamiliar one for most computer science teachers. It also requires teaching technical content which falls outside the comfort zone of most humanities teachers. Although none of our partner teachers had previously taught an AI ethics project, this study demonstrates that their expertise and experience in other domains played an essential role in providing high quality instruction. Teachers designed and redesigned tasks and incorporated texts and apps to ensure the AI ethics project would adhere to district and department level requirements; they led equity-focused inquiry in a way that both protected vulnerable students and accounted for local cultures and politics; and they adjusted technical content and developed hands-on computer science experiences to better challenge and engage their students. We use Mishra and Kohler’s TPACK framework to highlight the ways teachers leveraged their own expertise in some areas, while relying on materials and support from our research team in others, to create stronger learning experiences.
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This content will become publicly available on February 18, 2026
Conceptualizing the Support and Learning of K-2 Educators around Artificial Intelligence in Language Arts
In an age where artificial intelligence (AI) plays an increasingly pivotal role in daily life, it is essential to equip our youngest learners with foundational knowledge of AI. The AI by 8 project aims to empower kindergarten through second grade teachers in rural North Carolina by introducing AI concepts through engaging, unplugged activities integrated into English Language Arts (ELA) instruction. This initiative seeks to address the gap in AI education expertise among early childhood educators and seeks to foster a generation of students who are well-prepared to navigate a technology-driven future. We present in this poster the guiding theoretical framework for our work, outlining the objectives of the research-practice partnership, and our initial efforts at recruiting rural K-2 teachers.
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- PAR ID:
- 10633501
- Publisher / Repository:
- ACM
- Date Published:
- ISBN:
- 9798400705328
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 1647 to 1648
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Location:
- Pittsburgh PA USA
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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