An unplugged AI learning activity about facial recognition showed significant positive impacts on female middle school students' attitudes toward AI in rural settings, suggesting such approaches can help close gender and geographic gaps in AI education.
Objective: The study aimed to introduce foundational AI concepts to rural middle school students using an unplugged game-based learning activity called "Guess Whose Face," while examining gender differences, conceptual understanding, and teacher implementation experiences.
Methods: Researchers designed and refined a card game that simulates facial recognition technology by having players extract facial features using dots on tracing paper. The game was implemented in two rural middle schools with approximately 90 academically gifted students across grades 6-8. Two teachers received professional development on AI concepts and the game before leading classroom implementations. Pre- and post-surveys assessed students' attitudes toward AI and their conceptual understanding, while teacher interviews provided insights on implementation experiences.
Key Findings:
- Female students demonstrated statistically significant positive changes in their attitudes toward AI after playing the game, while male students showed only marginal, non-significant increases.
- Students across all grades showed increased conceptual understanding of AI, but these changes did not reach statistical significance.
- 7th-grade students showed the most notable improvements in both attitudes toward AI and conceptual understanding.
- Teachers reported high student engagement and observed that the game helped students develop deeper insights into how facial recognition technology works.
- Teachers found the hands-on experience during professional development and supporting materials essential for successful implementation.
- Time constraints and game logistics posed challenges, leading teachers to make real-time adaptations to game rules.
Implications: The study demonstrates that unplugged AI learning activities can effectively introduce rural middle school students to complex AI concepts like representation and reasoning. The significant positive impact on female students' attitudes toward AI is particularly promising for addressing gender disparities in computing education. The findings also highlight the importance of providing adequate support and resources for teachers implementing new AI learning activities in their classrooms.
Limitations: The study had several limitations, including a small sample size, participants being limited to academically gifted students from the same school system, brief intervention duration, and limited survey depth. These factors may have contributed to the lack of statistically significant changes in certain measures.
Future Directions: Future research should include more extensive studies with larger groups of students, revised survey instruments, and longer intervention periods to better measure conceptual understanding changes. The researchers also suggested pairing unplugged and plugged activities on representation and reasoning over several learning sessions, developing extension activities to guide discussions about AI's broader impacts, and creating additional unplugged activities that emphasize ethical implications of AI.
Title and Authors: "Shaping AI Interest in Rural Middle Schools with Unplugged Learning: Gender Differences and Teacher Insights" by Hansol Lim, Danielle Boulden, Jessica Vandenberg, Veronica Cateté, Wookhee Min, and Bradford Mott.
Published on: 2025
Published by: The Thirty-Ninth AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI-25)