Teaching with and about AI in K-12 education: A clear-eyed approach to navigating the road ahead

Title of the talk: Teaching with and about AI in K-12 education: A clear-eyed approach to navigating the road ahead

Speaker: Shuchi Grover, Director of AI and Education Research at Looking Glass Ventures in Austin, TX

Date: 3 December 2024

Talk summary: This talk explored the dual aspects of artificial intelligence (AI) in K-12 education, focussing both on its potential as a teaching tool and the necessity of fostering AI literacy. This talk addressed ‘teaching with AI’, highlighting the uses of Generative AI (in particular) in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) classrooms to support teaching and learning while also examining the ethical considerations of integrating AI technologies into K-12 learning designs. It also covered ‘teaching about AI’, which includes developing both, a foundational AI literacy as well as AI concepts as a part of computer science (CS) curricula, aimed at developing students’ understanding of AI and machine learning as well as AI ethics. Through concrete examples and recently-developed frameworks, this talk also shared practical insights to navigating the future of K-12 education in the age of AI.

Speaker bio: Shuchi Grover is the Director of AI and Education Research at Looking Glass Ventures in Austin, TX. She is a computer scientist and learning scientist by training who has been committed to PK-12 computing education in formal and informal settings for over two decades. She has led several National Science Foundation-funded projects involving research and design of curriculum, assessments, tools, and environments that help develop 21st-century competencies in computing, data science, AI, and cybersecurity, as well as the integration of STEM, CS, and data science. She created, co-authored, and edited Computer Science in K-12: A-to-Z Handbook on Teaching Programming, a popular resource for preparing K-12 CS teachers. She advises several national and international efforts related to advancing computing and AI education at the K-12 level. She is the recipient of the 2024 Henry and Beyna David Award from the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Mathematics in the US.  Grover has a PhD in Learning Sciences and Technology Design (Stanford University), Master’s degrees in Education (Harvard University) and Computer Science (CWRU, Cleveland), and Bachelor’s degrees in Computer Science and Physics (BITS Pilani, India).