Evaluating an artificial intelligence literacy programme for empowering and developing concepts, literacy and ethical awareness in senior secondary students

Artificial intelligence (AI) literacy education for senior secondary students can prepare them for an AI-pervasive future. Although senior secondary students have been targeted, whether they can learn abstract AI concepts, feel empowered to harness AI and understand AI ethical issues is under-researched. We report a 34-h AI literacy programme with three courses for senior secondary students, examining whether they can acquire machine learning, deep learning concepts and discuss related ethical issues in project-based learning. Fifty-nine, fifty-one and thirty-one students completed these three courses, respectively, with pre- and post-course tests, surveys and self-reflective writing measuring their performance. Concepts tests and self-reflective writing showed that the programme improved the senior secondary students’ AI concepts and ethical awareness. Programming knowledge was not a prerequisite for conceptual understanding and empowerment. The programme did not alter the students’ self-perceived comprehension of ethical principles in any year of study, suggesting that it is a challenge for senior secondary students to fully understand these abstract, higher-level concepts. The curriculum design and content coverage of the programme will be further refined. Copyright © 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.