A Research Course to Develop AI Tools for K–12 Learning

In this Experience Report, we describe a semester-long course in which university students develop original software products to teach K--12 learners ideas in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). The university students develop their knowledge of AI/ML, build expertise in software development, and gain skills in education research. We test the educational software tools with K--12 learners at ''AI Expos'' held at partner public schools. We teach our university students about human-subjects research and collaboratively obtain IRB approval for the school-based work. We develop pre/post surveys and conversation questions for the K--12 participants. Our students instrument their software tools to gather live interaction data from the K--12 student use. The university students complete final course papers which describe their tool design and present evidence of student understanding of AI/ML concepts based on the data they have gathered. Students of the course often continue their scholarship beyond the semester, successfully submitting their work to conferences. We are developing a growing collection of software tools to teach AI/ML that are available for use by curriculum developers. For many students, the course provides their first opportunity to create a working software product used by others; seeing others use one's system is deeply satisfying and motivational. The course also provides a full-cycle research experience, including experimental research design, data collection, analysis, and writeup; nearly all students gain their first introduction to educational research in the course. This paper presents the university course design and our insights from teaching four iterations of the course.