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An Effectiveness Study of Teacher-Led AI Literacy Curriculum in K-12 Classrooms
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Quasi-experimental study comparing middle school students taught a 22-lesson AI literacy curriculum (DAILy) by trained teachers against a prior-year comparison group, measuring AI concept understanding and AI empowerment attitudes.
Problem
K-12 AI literacy education has few classroom-tested curricula, and there is little evidence on how teachers (rather than curriculum developers) can teach AI literacy and affect student learning.
Approach
Tests a teacher-led implementation of the DAILy AI literacy curriculum after a teacher professional development program, comparing students across two consecutive academic years and analyzing how two teachers' different implementation frequencies affected outcomes.
Key results
- Experimental group (n=89) scored higher on the AI-CI post-test (mean .64, SD .12) than the comparison group (n=69, mean .56, SD .16), ANCOVA F(1,155)=19.08, p<.0001, Cohen's d=.88.
- Experimental group achieved greater gains than comparison on perceived AI relevance, anxiety, career awareness, and career adaptability, while interest declined slightly (3.45 to 3.31, n.s.).
- Teacher who taught daily (Mr. BK) had students outperform the weekly teacher (Ms. JT) on AI-CI post-test (.68 vs .61, F(1,86)=5.14, p<.05).
Measured effects reported in the paper
| What was changed | Where | Measured | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Add teacher-led DAILy curriculum lessons | Middle school technology classes · AI-CI | AI literacy conceptual understanding: .56 -> .64 | Helped |
| Add teacher-led DAILy curriculum lessons | Middle school technology classes · Machine Learning general concepts | mean score: .64 vs .58 | No clear effect |
| Add teacher-led DAILy curriculum lessons | Middle school technology classes · AI interest | mean Likert score: Pretest Mean= 3.45, Posttest Mean=3.31 | No clear effect |
| Teach the DAILy curriculum every day instead of once per week | DAILy classroom implementation · AI-CI | mean score: .61 -> .68 | Helped |
| Teach the DAILy curriculum every day instead of once per week | DAILy classroom implementation · Supervised learning questions | mean score: .53 -> .66 | Helped |
| Teach the DAILy curriculum every day instead of once per week | DAILy classroom implementation · GAN questions | mean score: .65 -> .79 | Helped |
| Teach the DAILy curriculum every day instead of once per week | DAILy classroom implementation · AI attitudes and career futures survey | survey subscales | No clear effect |
Surprising findings
- Student interest in AI decreased after the curriculum, possibly because learning about AI bias and ethical issues challenged assumptions that technology is correct and fair.
- On the machine learning general concepts subscale, the comparison group scored higher on the posttest than the experimental group (.64 vs .58), though not significantly.
Limitations
- Quasi-experimental design with non-equivalent cohorts from two different academic years and only immediate pre-post measurement.
- Only two teachers, with different implementation frequencies and unmeasured teaching practices confounding comparisons.
- Measures immediate effects; affective constructs like interest may need delayed post-tests.
Experimental setup
Datasets: AI Literacy Concept Inventory (AI-CI) AI attitudes and career futures survey
Benchmarks: AI Literacy Concept Inventory (AI-CI) AI attitudes and career futures survey
Metrics: ANCOVA F-statistic Cohen's d paired t-test effect size Cronbach's alpha
Baselines: comparison group of students who did not learn the DAILy curriculum
Builds on: DAILy curriculum AI4K12 guidelines Guskey's Model of Teacher Change Rogers diffusion of innovation
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