Engaging Rural Students in Artificial Intelligence to Develop Pathways for Innovative Computing Careers

人工智能（AI）的进步正在从根本上重塑未来的工作场所，并加速了对创造和维持一支懂人工智能的劳动力队伍的需求。这种不断增长的需求凸显了所有K-12学生了解人工智能的重要性，为他们未来的职业生涯做好准备。中学阶段对塑造青少年对STEM的倾向至关重要。在这些年中，如何让学生参与人工智能学习，以及如何在人工智能教育中培训和支持教师，这是全国迫切需要深入了解的教育问题。在农村地区，提供人工智能学习体验的需求尤其明显，那里的学生往往无法获得先进的STEM教育机会。该项目将通过夏令营、研讨会和北卡罗莱纳州农村社区的校本项目，向中学生和教师介绍人工智能概念。在项目过程中，通过与学生和教师的共同设计周期，该项目将迭代开发人工智能学习环境。该学习环境注重培养学生的创造性表达，将人工智能学习融入互动数字游戏设计活动，使学生能够创造个人有意义和相关的游戏场景。该项目与北卡罗来纳州的Boys &amp； Girls Clubs合作，将为来自代表性不足和服务不足人群的青少年提供夏令营。该项目将调查在学习数字游戏开发的背景下，哪些AI原则和概念是最合适和最吸引人的，以及教师在将AI教育整合到他们的教学设计中需要什么支持和脚手架。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、背景和流程的理解。该项目将为500多名中学生提供人工智能学习体验，并为20多名教师提供以人工智能为重点的专业发展。研究人员将解决三个研究问题：(1)我们如何通过游戏设计活动为不同农村人口的中学生创造引人入胜的人工智能学习体验？(2)我们如何最好地支持教师将人工智能学习体验融入他们的校本课程？(3)学习计划对不同人口的农村初中生对人工智能概念的认识、对人工智能的态度以及对人工智能职业的兴趣有何影响？该项目将利用基于设计的研究方法来迭代地完善AI Play程序，包括要解决的AI概念，要纳入学习环境的功能，以及要利用的脚手架工具和教学方法。该研究将使用定量和定性相结合的方法，如调查、评估、学生工件分析、焦点小组和实地观察，以确定该计划如何影响学生和教师的目标结果。项目可交付成果将包括AI Play项目模型及其相关课程材料、专业发展模型及其相关材料、AI Play社区网站以及项目研究成果。该项目的目的是建立有关如何最好地帮助农村学生发展人工智能概念基础知识的知识，如何促进农村学生对人工智能进行有意义的探索，以及创造引人入胜的人工智能学习体验的设计原则，从而提高学生对人工智能密集型领域的兴趣。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。

Advances in artificial intelligence (AI) are fundamentally reshaping the workplace of the future and accelerating the demand for creating and sustaining an AI-literate workforce. This growing demand has highlighted the importance for all K-12 students to develop an understanding of AI to prepare them for future careers. Middle school years are crucial in shaping youth dispositions toward STEM. There is an urgent need nationally to develop a deep educational understanding of how to engage students during these years in learning AI and how to train and support teachers in AI education. The need to provide AI learning experiences is especially pronounced in rural areas, where students often lack access to advanced STEM educational opportunities. This project will introduce AI concepts to middle school students and teachers through summer camps, workshops, and school-based programs in rural communities of North Carolina. Over the course of the project, through co-design cycles with students and teachers, the project will iteratively develop an AI learning environment. With a focus on fostering students' creative expression, the learning environment will infuse AI learning into interactive digital game design activities that enable students to create personally meaningful and relevant game scenarios. In partnership with Boys & Girls Clubs in North Carolina, the project will offer summer camps for youth from underrepresented and underserved populations. The project will investigate which AI principles and concepts in the context of learning digital game development are most appropriate and engaging, and what are the support and scaffolding that teachers will require in integrating AI education into their instructional designs. The 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.The project will provide AI learning experiences to over 500 middle school students and AI-focused professional development to more than 20 teachers. Researchers will address three research questions: (1) How can we create engaging AI learning experiences for diverse rural populations of middle school students through game design activities? (2) How do we best support teachers in integrating AI learning experiences in their school-based programs? and (3) What is the impact of the learning program on diverse populations of rural middle grade students' knowledge of AI concepts, attitudes toward AI, and interest in AI careers? The project will leverage a design-based research approach to iteratively refine the program called AI Play, including the AI concepts to be addressed, the features to incorporate in the learning environment, and the scaffolding tools and pedagogical approaches to utilize. The research will use a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods such as surveys, assessments, analysis of student artifacts, focus groups, and field observations to determine how the program impacts targeted outcomes for students and teachers. The deliverables of the project will include the AI Play program model and its associated curricular materials, the professional development model and its associated materials, the AI Play community website, and the research findings from the project. The aims of the project are to build knowledge on how to best help rural students develop foundational knowledge of AI concepts, how to promote meaningful explorations of AI for rural students, and design principles for creating engaging AI learning experiences that lead to increased student interest in AI-intensive fields.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.