Everyday AI for Youth: Investigating Middle School Teacher Education, Classroom Implementation, and the Associated Student Learning Outcomes of an Innovative AI Curriculum

面向青年的日常人工智能(EdAI)满足了培养一支拥有人工智能(AI)知识和技能的多样化劳动力的需求。人工智能技术在工业和日常生活中的无处不在，要求所有学习者都能获得和适应年龄的人工智能准备。扩大对人工智能的参与对于确保未来的人工智能技术建立在包容性和公平性原则的基础上是重要的。在这个项目中，麻省理工学院和波士顿学院的研究人员将从佛罗里达州、伊利诺伊州和弗吉尼亚州的学区招聘并准备40名中学教师。通过与这些地区和四个青年服务组织STEAM AHEAD、波士顿学院的学院边界、超级计算挑战和CodeVA建立合作伙伴关系，该项目将吸引1200多名青年参与人工智能教育，并培养他们对未来人工智能密集型行业的兴趣。大多数年轻人来自黑人和拉丁裔家庭。该项目将建立在正在开发的人工智能素养(每日)课程的基础上，该课程将人工智能概念、人工智能伦理和人工智能职业意识交织在一起。该课程此前曾在一个暑期项目中对中学生进行过试点测试。EdAI职业发展(PD)计划将多管齐下，提供AI读书俱乐部、实践、教师网络和黑客松。研究人员将调查这种PD模式如何支持教师在广泛的课堂环境中学习、采用、修改和教授日常课程，以及教师对课程的实施如何影响学生的学习。该项目由学生和教师创新技术体验计划(ITEST)资助，该计划支持的项目旨在建立对实践、计划要素、背景和过程的理解，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。在该项目中，将调查四个研究问题：1)：我们如何最好地让各种教师准备好使用创新的人工智能课程？作为课程的学习者和实施者，教师需要哪些支持？2)哪些教学实践有效地支持学生学习人工智能及相关的伦理和职业问题？3)教学实践和实施环境的变化对学生学习有何影响？4)教师主导的日常课程实施如何以及在多大程度上影响了学生对人工智能和人工智能相关职业的知识和兴趣？将采用以设计为基础的研究方法，反复完善教师专业发展计划和相关的面对面和在线环境下的人工智能学习活动。该项目还将制定和验证教师对人工智能的看法和态度、人工智能概念的学习和教学中的自我效能的测量和评估。研究将采用混合方法设计和收集定量数据，使用教师和学生对人工智能的态度调查和人工智能知识和技能评估，以及定性数据，包括对教学实践的观察和对教师关于教学经验的访谈。这一发现将向人工智能教育领域通报有关扩大黑人和西班牙裔/拉丁裔参与校本人工智能教育活动的具体问题。该项目的成果包括EdAI项目模型、教师专业发展计划、关于教师人工智能学习和教学的研究成果，以及中学教师在课堂上实施课程的有效性。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Everyday Artificial Intelligence for Youth (EdAI) addresses the need to develop a diverse workforce with the knowledge and skills to work with Artificial Intelligence (AI). The ubiquity of AI technologies in industry and in daily life calls for accessible and age-appropriate AI preparation of all learners. Broadening participation in AI is important in ensuring that AI technologies of the future are founded on principles of inclusivity and equitability. In this project researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Boston College will recruit and prepare 40 middle school teachers from school districts across Florida, Illinois, and Virginia. Through partnerships with these districts and four youth serving organizations, STEAM Ahead, Boston College’s College Bound, Supercomputing Challenge, and CodeVA, the project will engage over 1200 youths in AI education and foster their interest in AI intensive industries of the future. The majority of the youths are from Black and Latinx families. The project will be built upon the Developing AI Literacy (DAILy) curriculum that interweaves AI concepts, ethics in AI, and AI career awareness. The curriculum has been previously pilot tested among middle schoolers in a summer program. The EdAI professional development (PD) program will take a multi-pronged approach offering an AI Book Club, Practicum, Teacher Network, and Hackathon. Researchers will investigate how this PD model supports teachers to learn, adopt, modify, and teach the DAILy curriculum in a wide range of classroom settings and how the teachers’ implementation of the curriculum impacts students’ learning. 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.In this project, four research questions will be investigated: 1): How can we best prepare a variety of teachers to use an innovative AI curriculum? What supports are necessary for teachers as learners and implementers of the curriculum? 2) What teaching practices are effective in supporting students’ learning of AI and related ethics and career issues? 3) What is the impact of variation in teaching practices and implementation settings on student learning? and 4) How and to what extent do teacher-led implementations of the DAILy curriculum impact student knowledge and interest in AI and AI-related careers? A design-based research approach will be employed to iteratively refine the teacher professional development program and the associated AI learning activities for both in-person and online contexts. The project will also develop and validate measurements and assessments of teachers’ perceptions of and attitudes towards AI, learning of AI concepts, and self-efficacy in teaching AI. The research will utilize a mixed methods design and collect quantitative data using attitudes toward AI surveys and AI knowledge and skills assessments from teachers and students as well as qualitative data including observations of teaching practices and interviews of teachers about their experiences of teaching AI. The findings will inform the AI education field of issues specific to expanding Black and Hispanic/Latinx participation in school-based AI education activities. The deliverables from the project include the EdAI program model, the teacher professional development program, the research findings on teachers’ learning and teaching of AI, and the effectiveness of the curriculum when implemented by middle school teachers in classrooms.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.