AI for the Workforce of Tomorrow: Attending to Ethics and Collaboration in Learning Artificial Intelligence for High School Aged Youth

随着人工智能日益成为广泛行业的组成部分，该领域必须开发公平和面向正义的教学模式，以支持青年将关于人工智能的技术知识与人工智能开发和部署的伦理原则相结合。该项目将为高中老年青年设计和研究一门在线课程，这是一种建立劳动力技能的协作学习体验。该项目将加强和拓宽年轻人对人工智能(AI)领域和职业的能力和倾向。学习活动将为年轻人提供机会，开发基于现实世界背景的人工智能系统，这些系统与这个年龄段相关，包括大学申请、医疗保健和社交媒体，使他们能够利用自己的个人和文化知识。通过实施，该项目将满足三个重要的国家需求：(1)增加和扩大人工智能劳动力能力；(2)关注与人工智能相关的社会和伦理问题；(3)扩大对人工智能理解的参与，为人工智能劳动力和更广泛的STEM领域带来更多多样化的生活体验。本项目由学生和教师创新技术体验计划(ITEST)资助，该计划支持建立对实践、计划元素、背景和过程的理解的项目，这些项目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。研究人员将在基于设计的研究方法中使用调查、观察和访谈，研究人员将解决以下研究问题：(1)如何设计教学，以将人工智能技术知识与人工智能伦理原则整合到在线学习体验中，同时鼓励和支持参与者之间的积极社交和合作？具体的设计特征和教学策略如何有助于连贯的方法？(2)这种人工智能教学模式在多大程度上、对谁、在什么条件下支持：(A)人工智能技术学习；(B)在人工智能发展中整合伦理的能力；以及(C)性格变化(对人工智能的归属感；赋予STEM伦理融合的价值)？(3)在赠款有效期之外，需要什么基础设施来支持这项工作；以及该计划如何制度化？该项目将促进知识的发展，以建立一种更具包容性的方法，将道德原则纳入技术培训。这将增加未来劳动力关注伦理问题的可能性，并更好地反映这项技术应该服务于的人群的观点和背景。通过有目的地设计富有成效的在线协作，该项目将有助于改善在线空间的学习成果。项目成果包括一个在线课程，包括教育者支持和定制的数字工具、研究和实践者社区的经验研究结果和演示，以及在线、协作和社会技术学习环境的设计原则。人工智能课程将提供给六个分组，每组20名学生。参与者将从接受TITLI资助的美国西部高中招募。由此产生的课程资源将被设计为可持续实施，并定位为在全国类似机构中大规模实施。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。

As AI becomes increasingly integral to a broad range of industries, it is critical that the field develops equitable and justice-oriented instructional models that can support youth to integrate technical knowledge about AI with ethical principles for AI development and deployment. This project will design and study an online course for high school aged youth that is a collaborative learning experience for building workforce skills. The project will strengthen and broaden youth capacity for, and disposition toward, artificial intelligence (AI) domains and careers. Learning activities will provide youth with opportunities to develop AI systems grounded in real-world contexts that are relevant to this age group including college applications, health care, and social media, enabling them to draw on their own personal and cultural knowledge. Through its implementation, the project will address three important national needs: (1) increasing and expanding AI workforce capacity; (2) attending to the social and ethical concerns associated with AI; and (3) broadening participation in AI understanding to bring a greater diversity of lived experiences to the AI workforce and greater STEM field. 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.Using surveys, observations, and interviews within a design-based research approach, the researchers will address the following research questions: (1) How can instruction be designed to integrate AI technical knowledge with AI ethics principles in an online learning experience that also encourages and supports positive social interaction and collaboration among participants? How do specific design features and pedagogical strategies contribute to a coherent approach? (2) To what extent, for whom, and under what conditions does this AI instructional model support: (a) AI technical learning; (b) capacity to integrate ethics in AI development; and (c) dispositional changes (sense of belonging in AI; value assigned to STEM ethics integration)? (3) What infrastructure is necessary to support this work beyond the life of the grant; and how can this program be institutionalized? This project will advance knowledge toward building a more inclusive approach to integrating ethical principles within technical training. This will increase the likelihood that the future workforce will be attentive to ethical concerns and better reflect the views and backgrounds of the populations that the technology is supposed to serve. Through the intentional design for productive online collaboration, the project will contribute to improved learning outcomes in online spaces. Project deliverables include an online course with educator supports and custom-designed digital tools, empirical findings and presentations for research and practitioner communities, and design principles for online, collaborative, sociotechnical learning environments. The AI course will be offered to six cohorts of 20 students each. Participants will be recruited from high schools in the western United States that receive Title I funding. The resulting course resource will be designed for sustainable implementation and positioned for implementation at scale across similar institutions nationally.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.