Introducing Children to AI and ML with Five Software Exhibits
Saniya Vahedian Movahed, James Dimino, Andrew Farrell, Elyas Irankhah, Srija Ghosh, Garima Jain, Vaishali Mahipal, Pranathi Rayavaram, Ismaila Temitayo Sanusi, Erika Salas, Kelilah L. Wolkowicz, Sashank Narain, Fred G. Martin · 2024
Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) have a deepening impact in our world. For empowered citizenship and career readiness, elementary and middle school students need to understand these technologies. To provide engaging introductory experiences, we created five original interactive software exhibits introducing children to hands-on activities in AI and ML. The exhibits were tested by 125 elementary and middle school students (aged 7 to 14). Four themes emerged: Students recognized that AI and ML systems can process data from cameras (perception); they saw that these systems responded to their training input (trust); they appreciated the practical import of AI/ML systems (affective and cognitive attitudes); and students were introduced to models and modes (specialization). This paper presents our goals in creating the exhibits and results from our initial testing with children. Our work contributes to the literature on formal and informal activities for introducing AI and ML to young learners.