An interdisciplinary seminar at Penn’s Graduate School of Education explores how students can design, critique, and teach AI and machine learning in K–12 education.
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A new course in Penn’s Graduate School of Education (Penn GSE) titled AI for Children and Youth Learning and Creating in K-12 Education reviews how artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) approaches have been adopted for children, youth, and families.
Taught byLori and Michael Milken President’s Distinguished Professor Yasmin B. Kafai and Penn AI Fellow and Ph.D. candidate Luis Morales-Navarro, the course draws on work from the history of AI, computing education, the learning sciences, child-computer interaction, and ethical issues around digital technologies.
“It’s essential that today’s university students not only know how to use generative AI in an efficient manner but also understand how the data and technology works and where it falls short, so they can design effective solutions," says Yasmin Kafai.
“Many AI literacy efforts center on preparing children to be users of AI,” says Morales-Navarro. “When Yasmin and I designed the class in 2023, we wanted to provide a space where students could learn about approaches to AI literacy in which children have opportunities to create AI systems and evaluate them.”
The interdisciplinary approach to the seminar “allows our students to learn about how tools for children are designed, how and what children learn when creating AI applications, and how ethics and values are embedded in AI systems,” Morales-Navarro says.
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