Artificial Intelligence is a topic that so many people are trying to understand and to understand how, when and if to use at all. AI is being discussed in all sectors of our society, business, law, government and especially education. Many educators are wrestling with when and if to allow students to use AI and how to present this tool to students. In my practice I have been thinking about AI and when to share it with students. Over the current school year, I have introduced the AI tool in Canva to fourth and fifth grade students to integrate in a project, but how might I introduce and share AI with younger students?
Several years ago, I attended a presentation at SXSW about robotics and younger learners. The presenter, a professor from the University of Wisconsin, shared that it was essential to introduce robots and robotics to the youngest learners and start to have conversations about how they might be used. Her theory was that if you wait till students could understand all the complexities of a concept it is too late. Educators need to start having developmentally appropriate conversations about complex technology at a young age so that students can build their understanding about a technology that has the potential to have a great impact on their lives and on society. When thinking about AI it has the same potential to have a positive impact or negative impact on society and it is essential to start introducing the technology to young students, so as they grow and are able to more deeply understand the potential and pitfalls of AI they are better equipped to have those conversations.
I set out to design a project that made connections for my younger students, in this case kindergarten, that introduced AI and was an opportunity for students to learn about this technology, engage in a project with their classmates and start to build the understanding about AI and how this tool might be used.
I started the project out with my kindergarten students by reading some books that would lead to a conversation about machine learning. We read The Hug Machine by Scott Campbell. The book follows a boy who pretends to be a hug machine and gives hugs to everyone and everything he sees, until he meets a porcupine and the usual way of hugging does not work. The hug machine needs to learn a new way to hug a porcupine. After reading the book, we talked about how people learn and try new things and we made connections with how a machine learns. Kindergarten students had spent time learning to code different robots. They were given different challenges to make the robot move to different spaces using the direction code. They learned that if the robot did not get to where it needed to go, students had to change the code to try again. We talked about how in the book the machine learned how to change and hug a different animal but the robots they coded could not learn what was wrong with the code and try a different way, the human needed to enter new code.
Next, we talked about machine learning and introduced the term artificial intelligence. We talked about how artificial intelligence is a type of computer that can learn. We shared a short simple video for young learners that was a simple explanation of machine learning. We talked about how different machines/devices that have AI are able to learn from the information that is collected, and students made connections with having an Alexa or Google Hub at home.
During the next session, we did an “experiment.” I introduced the Canva AI image generator and talked about how a user can describe what they want the picture to look like and explained how AI machine learning would try and create it for the user.
Students brainstormed together and gave Canva AI the name of an animal, a piece of clothing, and a type of food. We typed in the description of what we wanted the computer to make a picture of (for example: a dog wearing a dress and eating an ice cream cone). In some cases the AI was able to generate a great picture of what we were looking for, in other cases, the machine could not, and we had to give it a simpler idea, or describe what we wanted in a different way. These activities showed students some of the ways AI can produce something we are looking for, but also, how there are limitations with using AI.
Then, during the next class I read the book What If… by Samantha Berger. The descriptive picture book explores the idea of using your imagination and creativity. Kindergartners thought about making or creating something new. Then, we talked about students using their imaginations to make a creature. We brainstormed what it might look like: its head, ears, eyes, what would it be wearing, etc. Students used the kid pix app to draw a sketch of their idea. I then asked each student to pick the part of their creature they liked the best. I collected one idea from each student. Then, we used the AI program ChatGPT to input all of the descriptions of the creature. ChatGPT produced an image of that creature. The first time the creature was not exactly what the class wanted, so we added new descriptions and instructions to ChatGPT to help it make a cool new creature and mascot for each kindergarten class.
Then our new creature needed a name. Each student nominated a name and the whole class voted on the first, middle and last name for their class’s creature. Students had a fun time coming up with silly, fun names for their creatures. The final three names for each class: Lovey Pickle Seaweed, Sparkle Gribble Bill and Rosie Rocket Mega-Dave.
The final step in this project was to create a story about our new creatures that incorporated ideas from each student. Again, we went around the room and each student offered a hobby, activity, or something our creature likes to do. We asked ChatGPT to write a story about our creature that included all of the activities. Students also asked that our character be kind and funny and help others. Then, we imputed all of that data and the picture of our creature into ChatGPT. Each class had a fun story about their character that included one of their suggestions.
As a way to share this project with students and families, I had buttons and stickers made with each class’s character. Each student received a sticker and button in a little bag. I also included a QR code that linked to a website, sharing all about the project and the connections students made and the stories they wrote with ChatGPT. The website and stickers and buttons were also shared with the classroom teachers so they could see the work students had been engaging in during their library time.
I think that this project was a good start to introducing and making connections with AI for young learners. They are not able to completely understand how AI works and the ethical and larger implications it can and will have on our society but I think it is essential to start the conversation even with our youngest students so as they grow their understanding can grow. The hope is that they will be better prepared to tackle the complexity of this topic because they have a good understanding and foundation. The project also made connections with books and research resources. It connected previous learning and projects to build understanding. The project also met many of the collaboration goals. Students made connections with other learners (Leaner III.A.2). Kindergarteners actively contributed to group discussions (Learner III.D.1).
The goal in the coming years is to continue to build on the knowledge kindergarteners gained this year and grow their understanding of AI as they grow as learners.
