Artificial Intelligence and K-12 Education : Possibilities, Pedagogies and Risks

This book problematizes and explores appropriate ways of using AI technology that can augment educational practice, especially in K-12 teaching and learning.

Since the launch of OpenAI ChatGPT in November 2022, people have been debating “to chat or to cheat” while more and more educators have started to explore “to add or to integrate” it into teaching and learning. A list of questions has been on the way. What can ChatGPT produce? How accurate can the contents produced by the GPT be? What are the considerations that an instructor should have when using AI technology for student learning? To what extent can ChatGPT compete with humans in terms of learning? ChatGPT is just a technology tool, but it drops a huge bomb in the field of education, and even changes the way many think about education. The contributors of this book, as well as probing the ethical conundrums presented by generative AI and other new technologies in AI&ED, summarize an overview of practice, provided first-hand experiences, and suggested strategies and methods that are workable in the field.

This cutting-edge volume will be of interest to researchers, scholars and practitioners of education, education technology, sociology, ethics and artificial intelligence. It was originally published as a special issue of Computers in the Schools.

Joseph Mintz, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the IOE, UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society, at University College London (UK). His research interests focus on special educational needs, inclusive education, teacher education for inclusion, autism education, and educational technology for children with special needs. He has successfully led over 20 research and evaluation projects. Funding for these has come from the European Union, Department of Education in England, the National Council for Special Education in Ireland and the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Science. He also has a track record in knowledge exchange, and has worked closely with a number of commercial, governmental and third sector organizations on development and evaluation projects. He is currently co-leading a project on using text analytics to support the learning of children with special educational needs with colleagues at the University of Cambridge and the Federal University of Rio Grande du Sol in Brazil. He is also co-leading a project on using a technology supported learning outcomes approach to support the learning of children with barriers in math learning, in conjunction with Kuwait University. He was on secondment to England’s Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) for 15 months from July 2023 and led on national research projects. He regularly publishes in leading academic journals and also regularly consults for government on a variety of areas. He is a member of the editorial boards of the European Journal of Special Needs Education and Frontiers Special Education and is Editor in Chief of Computers in the Schools.

Wayne Holmes, PhD, is a Professor of critical studies of artificial intelligence and education in the IOE, UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society at University College London (UK). His research takes a critical studies perspective to the teaching and application of AI&ED, and their ethical, human, and social justice implications. Wayne is leading the Council of Europe’s expert group on AI&ED, which is developing legislation to protect the human rights of students and teachers engaging with AI- enabled systems. He is also Consultant for the Technology and AI in Education unit at UNESCO, Associate Professor (Adjunct) at the University of Nova Gorica (Slovenia), and a Senior Researcher in AI&ED for the International Research Center on Artificial Intelligence under the auspices of UNESCO. Wayne has co- written several books on AI&ED and given keynotes on AI&ED in countries around the world.

Leping Liu, PhD, is a Professor of information technology and statistics at the University of Nevada (USA). Her research focuses on developing and validating static and dynamic models for technology integration, instructional design, online teaching and learning, AI- based learning, and evaluation and assessment. She also initiated and examined the model and methods to conduct data- driven dynamic assessment in technology- based learning, and new methods to conduct quantitative content analysis. She has authored fifteen books, edited over ten books, and published more than a hundred academic data- based journal articles in the above areas. She has developed and taught twenty- four graduate level courses in instructional technology and educational measurement and statistics. She is the editor- in- chief of a peer- reviewed online journal – International Journal of Technology in Teaching and Learning, and Research Associate Editor for Computers in the Schools.

Maria Perez-Ortiz, PhD, is an Associate Professor at the Center for Artificial Intelligence and the Department of Computer Science at University College London (UK). She is co- founder and co- director of the first MSc programme on Artificial Intelligence for Sustainable Development, where she leads two courses on the intersection of emerging technologies, sustainability, and ethics. Perez- Ortiz calls her line of work "Planet- centered AI", developing responsible AI technologies for people and the planet, and tackling the challenges of the Anthropocene (e.g., climate change mitigation and adaptation, and supporting policy makers). She serves as UNESCO Co- Chair in AI and is leading the work to bring sustainability and responsible innovation into computer science education.