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Data visualization literacy is essential for K-12 students, yet existing practices emphasize interpreting pre-made visualizations rather than creating them. To address this, we developed the DPV (Domain, Purpose, Visual) framework, which guides middle school students through the visualization design process. The framework simplifies design into three stages: understanding the problem domain, specifying the communication purpose, and translating data into effective visuals. Implemented in a twoweek summer camp as a usage scenario, the DPV framework enabled students to create visualizations addressing community issues. Evaluation of student artifacts, focus group interviews, and surveys demonstrated its effectiveness in enhancing students' design skills and understanding of visualization concepts. This work highlights the DPV framework's potential to foster data visualization literacy for K-12 education and broaden participation in the data visualization community. 

The “Accessible Oceans” pilot project aims to inclusively design auditory displays that support perception and understanding of ocean data in informal learning environments (ILEs). The project’s multi-disciplinary team includes expertise from all related fields — ocean scientists, dataset experts, a sound designer with specialization in data sonification, and a learning sciences researcher. In addition, the PI is blind and provides a crucial perspective in our research. We describe the sound design of informative sonifications and respective auditory displays based on iterative design with user input at each stage, including from blind and low-vision (BLV) students, their teachers, and subject-matter experts. We discuss the importance of framing data sonifications through an auditory presentation of contextual information. We also report on our latest auditory display evaluation using Auditory Interface UX Scale (BUZZ) surveys at three ILE test sites. These responses further affirm our auditory display design developments. We include access to the auditory displays media and lessons learned over the course of this multi-year NSF-funded Advancing Informal Stem Learning (AISL) grant https://accessibleoceans.whoi.edu/ 

Fostering young learners’ literacy surrounding AI technologies is becoming increasingly important as AI is becoming integrated in many aspects of our lives and is having far-reaching impacts on society. We have developed Knowledge Net and Creature Features, two activity boxes for family groups to engage with in their homes that communicate AI literacy competencies such as understanding knowledge representations, the steps of machine learning, and AI ethics. Our current work is exploring how to transform these activity boxes into museum exhibits for middle-school age learners, focusing on three key considerations: centering learner interests, generating personally meaningful outputs, and incorporating embodiment and collaboration on a larger scale. Our demonstration will feature the existing Knowledge Net and Creature Features activity boxes alongside early-stage prototypes adapting these activities into larger-scale museum exhibits. This paper contributes an exploration into how to design AI literacy learning interventions for varied informal learning contexts. 

Abstract Recent discoveries of transiting giant exoplanets around M-dwarf stars (GEMS), aided by the all-sky coverage of TESS, are starting to stretch theories of planet formation through the core-accretion scenario. Recent upper limits on their occurrence suggest that they decrease with lower stellar masses, with fewer GEMS around lower-mass stars compared to solar-type. In this paper, we discuss existing GEMS both through confirmed planets, as well as protoplanetary disk observations, and a combination of tests to reconcile these with theoretical predictions. We then introduce the Searching for GEMS survey, where we utilize multidimensional nonparameteric statistics to simulate hypothetical survey scenarios to predict the required sample size of transiting GEMS with mass measurements to robustly compare their bulk-density with canonical hot Jupiters orbiting FGK stars. Our Monte Carlo simulations predict that a robust comparison requires about 40 transiting GEMS (compared to the existing sample of ∼15) with 5σmass measurements. Furthermore, we discuss the limitations of existing occurrence estimates for GEMS and provide a brief description of our planned systematic search to improve the occurrence rate estimates for GEMS. 

Fostering public AI literacy has been a growing area of interest at CHI for several years, and a substantial community is forming around issues such as teaching children how to build and program AI systems, designing learning experiences to broaden public understanding of AI, developing explainable AI systems, understanding how novices make sense of AI, and exploring the relationship between public policy, ethics, and AI literacy. Previous workshops related to AI literacy have been held at other conferences (e.g., SIGCSE, AAAI) that have been mostly focused on bringing together researchers and educators interested in AI education in K-12 classroom environments, an important subfield of this area. Our workshop seeks to cast a wider net that encompasses both HCI research related to introducing AI in K-12 education and also HCI research that is concerned with issues of AI literacy more broadly, including adult education, interactions with AI in the workplace, understanding how users make sense of and learn about AI systems, research on developing explainable AI (XAI) for non-expert users, and public policy issues related to AI literacy. 

Look at a graph of oceanographic data. How would you convey the information only using sound? This is the challenge addressed by the US National Science Foundation-funded “Accessible Oceans” project, which seeks to increase access to ocean data in informal learning environments like museums, science centers, and aquariums. Quantitative information in these settings is almost always conveyed with visual displays. For audience members who are blind or have low vision, or those with data illiteracy or innumeracy, these displays remain inaccessible. In this article, we discuss our interdisciplinary project using an inclusive human-centered design process to develop auditory displays that support learning and understanding of ocean science in informal learning environments. We share information about our project and takeaways for inclusive auditory display design, hoping to inspire others to examine the accessibility of their own work.