EAGER: Developing AI Literacy Interventions to Teach Fundamental Concepts in AI

人工智能（AI）已经成为影响经济各个部门和社会各个角落的基础技术。人工智能在各个领域和行业的迅速扩张及其对经济和国家安全的巨大影响，需要培养一支知识渊博、能够与人工智能合作的劳动力队伍。迫切需要研究K-12学生学习人工智能概念和过程的能力，以及如何最好地支持他们发展人工智能技能和职业兴趣。同时，扩大对人工智能的参与是人工智能劳动力发展的重要需求。让来自代表性不足群体的学生参与人工智能教育，有助于确保人工智能技术的设计、开发和利用具有包容性和公平性。该项目的目标是建立领域领先的知识：1)适当的测量和工具，以评估中学生的概念知识，对人工智能的认识和感知，以及职业方向；2)学生是否以及如何能够学习关键的AI概念，并对AI和相关职业产生更大的兴趣。这些知识将通过调查人工智能课程在非正式学习环境中的学习成果和效果来产生，学生来自不同背景，包括西班牙裔/拉丁裔和非洲裔美国人学习者。该项目特别针对中学生（11-13岁），因为中学生是学生开始探索与他们兴趣相关的职业的关键时期。为了培养多样化的人工智能劳动力，让学生了解人工智能的广泛适用性及其提供的职业选择是很重要的。通过该项目产生的许多人工智能学习活动并不依赖于计算机的可用性，这为无法持续访问互联网服务的服务不足的学生提供了多种途径，以扩大他们接触和参与人工智能学习体验。该项目由“面向学生和教师的创新技术体验”（ITEST）项目资助，该项目支持有助于提高学生对科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）以及信息和通信技术（ICT）职业的知识和兴趣的实践、项目要素、背景和过程的理解。研究人员将重点关注四个研究问题：1)学生对人工智能的看法和态度是什么？如果有的话，这些看法和态度会因干预而如何改变？2)学生通过干预发展了哪些知识和技能？3)青少年与课程材料、工具和同伴之间的何种互动有助于学生的概念发展？4)如果有的话，学生在他们学习的技能和这些技能在各种STEM和计算机科学职业和领域的应用之间建立了什么联系？项目团队将使用基于设计的研究方法来进行专家评审、焦点小组和试点测试，以迭代地测试和改进课程、度量和评估。然后，该团队将进行功效研究，收集和分析数据，以估计干预对青少年对人工智能的看法和态度、人工智能概念的学习以及职业适应性的影响。此外，视频和互动分析、认知访谈和专题分析的案例研究将用于了解学生对人工智能活动的参与情况；促进学习的学生互动，如学生与课程材料、学生与工具、学生与同伴之间的互动；以及支持他们从事人工智能相关职业的最佳策略。该项目的可交付成果包括：开发人工智能素养（DAILy）课程；对人工智能的态度、人工智能概念调查和人工智能职业未来调查；以及研究结果。该项目的成果将建立一个知识库，包括适当的测量和工具、学生的学习过程、学生在中学如何以及在多大程度上学习人工智能概念，以及对代表性不足的青少年受众的干预效果。这项研究有可能推动人工智能教育领域的发展，有助于定义人工智能素养，为后续K-12人工智能教育学习轨迹的研究奠定基础，并为制定教育计划奠定基础，为培养知识渊博、有能力与人工智能合作的劳动力做好准备。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has emerged as a foundational technology that impacts on every sector of the economy and every corner of society. AI’s rapid expansion across fields and industries and its dramatic impact on the economy and national security necessitate developing a workforce knowledgeable and capable of working with AI. There is an urgent need to research K-12 students’ capacity to learn AI concepts and processes and how best to support their development of AI skills and career interests. Meanwhile, broadening participation in AI is an important need in AI workforce development. Engaging students from underrepresented groups in AI education can help ensure that the design, development, and utilization of AI technologies are inclusive and equitable. The objective of this project is to build field-advancing knowledge about 1) appropriate measurements and instruments to assess middle school students’ concept knowledge, awareness of AI and perceptions about AI, and career orientation; and 2) whether and how students are able to learn key AI concepts and become more interested in AI and related careers. This knowledge will be generated through investigating the learning outcomes and efficacy of an AI curriculum in informal learning contexts with students from diverse backgrounds, including Hispanic/Latinx and African American learners. The project specifically addresses middle school students (ages 11-13) because the middle school years are a critical time for students to begin exploring careers related to their interests. In order to develop a diverse AI workforce, it is important to expose students to the wide range of applicability of AI and the career options it confers. Many of the AI learning activities produced through the project are not dependent on the availability of computers, contributing to multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in AI learning experiences for underserved students who do not have consistent access to Internet services . This project is funded by the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program, which supports projects that build understandings of practices, program elements, contexts and processes contributing to increasing students' knowledge and interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and information and communication technology (ICT) careers.Researchers will focus on four research questions: 1) What are students’ perceptions and attitudes towards AI and how do they change, if at all, as a result of the interventions? 2) What knowledge and skills do students develop through the interventions? 3) What kinds of interactions between youth and curriculum materials, tools, and peers facilitate students’ conceptual development? and 4) What connections do students make, if any, between the skills they learn and application of those skills in various STEM and computer science careers and fields? The project team will use a design based research approach in conducting expert reviews, focus groups, and a pilot test to iteratively test and refine the curriculum, measures, and assessments. The team will then conduct an efficacy study to collect and analyze data to generate estimates of the impact of the intervention on youths’ perceptions of and attitudes toward AI, learning of concepts in AI, and career adaptability. Additionally, video and interaction analyses, cognitive interviews, and case studies with thematic analyses will be used to gain an understanding of student engagement with the AI activities; student interactions that facilitated learning such as interactions between students and curriculum materials, students and tools, and students and their peers; and the best strategies to support them to pursue AI related careers. The project’s deliverables include: the Developing AI LIteracy (DAILy) curriculum; the Attitudes Toward AI, AI Concept Inventory and AI Career Futures surveys; and the research findings. The project’s outcomes will build the knowledge base on appropriate measurements and instruments, students’ learning processes, how and to what extent students can learn AI concepts in middle school, and the efficacy of the intervention with an audience of underrepresented youth. The research has potential to advance the field of AI education by contributing to the definition of AI literacy, forming the basis for subsequent research on learning trajectories in K-12 AI education, and generating understandings that are foundational to developing education programs that will prepare a workforce knowledgeable and capable of working with AI.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.