1. Appreciation of Artificial Intelligence
- Discussions
Artificial Intelligence (AI) Education
A Learning Module for AI Literacy
Increasing AI Literacy with a Learning Module Using Machine Learning Platforms
About Our Project
How can young learners’ AI literacy be enhanced? We designed a learning module for the first timer who learns about AI using Machine Learning Platforms. This module was introduced at the 2022 AECT International Convention.
The overall learning module has learning activities in following order.
2. Unplugged Activities
- Role-playing
3. Hands-on Activities
- Teachable Machine
- Scratch
- Educational Robots
4. Implementing AI in the Real World
- Real-world problem-solving
We investigated the effectiveness of this learning module. Thereafter, we submitted a manuscript regarding the effectiveness of this learning module in terms of learning effects and satisfaction (submitted to TechTrends, 2024).
Relevant Presentations and Publications
Yu, W., & Huang, W. (under review). Analyzing learning experience in an AI education program for young learners. Submitted to Techtrends 2024.
Huang, W., & Yu, W. (2022, October 24-28). Increasing AI literacy with a learning module using machine learning platform [Conference presentation]. AECT 2022 Convention, Las Vegas, NV, United States. https://convention.aect.org/
CARE Project
CARE (Chips, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics for Education) is a service learning grant for a community service/service learning project (Awarded $1,500).
About Our Project
We are conducting research on CARE by collaborating with our community partners (e.g., Daegu Yeon-gyeong elementary school, IU online high school, etc). Specifically, we will serve educational and scholarly support to our community partners related to CARE.
Project Threads
- Chips: Using sensor boards
- Artificial Intelligence (AI) education
- Robotics for education: Using educational robots
Relevant Presentations and Publications
Huang, W. & Yu, W. (2022). CARE project. Service learning grant for Community Service / Service Learning Project at Purdue University.
AI Education Integration in South Korea
Background
South Korean government is updating its curriculum – aiming to fully adopt AI education in all K-12 schools by 2025 (South Korean Government, 2020). To ensure the initiative’s success, the government began piloting the curriculum with AI-leading schools in 2020, laying the groundwork for national integration (247 schools in 2020, 566 schools in 2021, and 1095 schools in 2022) (Lee et al., 2022).
About Our Project
We are conducting research on AI education integration in South Korea to support the successful start of AI education. This research scope will be expanded to the context of the United State.
Research Threads
- Investigating teachers’ barriers to implementing AI education
Relevant Presentations and Publications
Yu, W., Huang, W. Design and Development of an AI Education Program for Young Learners: A Case Study. TechTrends 68, 1183–1194 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11528-024-01013-5
Huang, W., & Yu, W. (2024, April 14). Top-down vs. Grassroot: A comparative study on AI integration barriers in K-12 in South Korea and the United States [Conference presentation]. 2024 American Educational Research Association (AERA) Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, PA, United States. https://www.aera.net/
Huang, W., & Yu, W. (2023, December 1). Artificial Intelligence (AI) and education – voices from K-12 educators in South Korea and the United States [Conference presentation]. Trustworthy AI Lab for Education Summit, Notre Dame, IN, United States. https://lucyinstitute.nd.edu/trustworthy-ai-lab-for-education-summit/
Huang, W., & Yu, W. (2023, October 15-19). AI education integration in South Korea from early adopter’s perspectives: A case study [Conference presentation]. AECT 2023 Convention, Orlando, FL, United States. https://convention.aect.org/
Yu, W. (2023, April 13-16). Investigating the barriers to introducing Artificial Intelligence (AI) education for elementary school teachers in South Korea [Conference presentation]. 2023 AERA Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL, United States. https://www.aera.net/Events-Meetings
Robotics
Robotics with Community Engagement
Introduction
Since Fall 2023, our team has planned a service-learning & engagement activity on the topic of robotics for young learners in our community. This project aims to provide more experiential opportunities in robotics for children in the community. We have collaborated with a community partner, Imagination Station, in Lafayette, Indiana. Our first activity plan was presented in the ‘Trustworthy AI Lab for Education Summit’ at Notre Dame University on December 1st, 2023. Thereafter, by continuing to communicate with our community partner, we have updated our plan and presented the updated one at the ‘Engagement and Service-Learning Summit at Purdue’ on February 29, 2024. After finalizing our preparation, we implemented our first robotics program with our community partner on April 7th, 2024. Our team is planning to imeplement the same project in the future.
Main Activities
Kids first explored the basic principle of algorithms by listing the order of the cards. By inputting the order of commands to the robot one by one, kids could see whether the robot moved to the goal in the right direction, which was the Cheese. Kids iteratively revised their commands to solve each problem and procedurally solved three main challenges. Throughout the problem-solving activities with robotics, kids experienced the basic principles of Computational Thinking (CT), such as abstraction, decomposition, and algorithms.
The three main activities were:
- Unplugged activities
- Robotics with procedural algorithmic thinking
- Debugging for problem-solving
Relevant Presentations and Publications
Kang, S., & Yu, W. (2024, February 29). Reflection on the growth of graduate students: From engagement & service-learning experiences [Conference presentation]. Engagement and Service-Learning Summit at Purdue, West Lafayette, IN, United States. https://www.purdue.edu/engagement/summit/
Yu, W., Kang, S., & Huang, W. (2023, December 1). C.A.R.E (computer science, artificial intelligence, robotics, and emerging technologies) @ Purdue [Conference presentation]. Trustworthy AI Lab for Education Summit, Notre Dame, IN, United States. https://lucyinstitute.nd.edu/trustworthy-ai-lab-for-education-summit/
Huang, W., & Yu, W. (2022). CARE project. Service learning grant for Community Service / Service Learning Project at Purdue University.
Emerging Technologies in Education
VR Classroom Management Application
About Our Project
Approximately 50% of new teachers leave the field within their first five years; struggles with classroom management are a vital reason. We know that classroom norms are established early in the academic year, so starting this process successfully is crucial to successful teaching. Virtual reality offers a unique context to practice such crucial skills because it allows initial failure to be productive while avoiding lasting harm (to candidates, supervising teachers, or their students). While others have used VR to train specific teaching strategies or to assess candidates’ self-efficacy, VR is still relatively new to teacher preparation, and much remains to be learned about its optimal application.
This VR application serves as a training tool for pre-service teachers (undergraduate students) to practice giving presentations to classes where misbehavior occurs. The goal is for the pre-service teachers to practice establishing classroom norms via redirects as responses to varying levels of distracting misbehaviors. This application provides an immersive environment (a k-6 themed VR classroom) where the users can freely walk around, explore the classroom, and interact with the students (avatars). Most importantly, the application enables a coach or proctor to dynamically control the avatars’ misbehaviors, creating different realistic scenarios for the pre-service teachers to react to.
The virtual classroom has 20 non-descriptive students sitting at five large tables to show different scenarios. Each table has four students. Each of the 20 students has a range of five categories for misbehaviors to distract from the lecture being given. Examples of the misbehaviors: daydreaming; talking to a neighbor; humming/singing to self; refusing to stay on task; phone going off; chatting with a neighbor; throwing paper planes/items; throwing paper balls at teacher; emotional breakdown (flipping desk, flailing arms). See the video and photos below.
Video Demonstration
Video Demonstration
Acknowledgement
This project was funded by Purdue Instructional Innovation Grants.
Effectiveness of Multimedia Educational Intervention
In this research thread, we focus on the effective use of multimedia for educational purposes
Relevant Publications and Presentations
Huang, W. J. (2020). Cultivating teaching presence and social presence through multimedia intervention. In Glick, D., Cohen, A., & Chang, C. (Eds.), Early Warning Systems and Targeted Interventions for Student Success in Online Courses (pp. 140-160). IGI Global. http://doi:10.4018/978-1-7998-5074-8.ch007
Enhancing Fall Protection Training for Construction Sites with Virtual Reality
(AECT 2020 presentation)
About Our Project
Falls continue to be the leading cause of injury or death at construction sites. Traditional protection training is often delivered using PowerPoint slides with no opportunity to practice. This design case demonstrates a Virtual Reality training program guided by Self-Determination Theory and scenario-based learning. Feedback from a small-scale pilot suggested the VR training provided a more realistic learning experience than traditional lecture style training and enhanced the participants’ competency in identifying safety issues at work.
Relevant Publications and Presentations
Jenkins, J. L., Takahashi, G., Huang, W. J., McGraw, J., Luginbuhl, A. D., Theademan, L. (2020). OSHA funded Fall Safety VR Training Simulator. Purdue University Research Repository. doi:10.4231/Z77S-QH47
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