This guide is for educators who teach grades K–5. Why devote a guide to elementary education? Once the stuff of
science fiction, AI now permeates nearly every facet of our lives. Many children are aware of tools like voice-activated
assistants or navigators, but we may not recognize the importance of helping even our youngest students begin
to understand that they are interacting with AI-supported tools and devices, and how these AI agents work. For
example, we can help students realize that:
• AI does some things very well, such as image/speech recognition, but other tasks like discerning emotions or
making ethical decisions are currently done better by humans.
• AI robots are able to interact with the environment around them because they have sensors that mimic animal
senses.
• AI navigation systems are trained to analyze different ways to get from one place to another and make
independent decisions regarding the shortest or fastest route to a destination.
• There are basic best practices for data collection for machine learning, including how data are gathered,
classified, and organized using rules.
The beauty of AI-supported tools and devices is that they blend often seamlessly into our lives; we can employ them
without having to give much thought about how they work. This is obvious to adults who grew up in a pre-AI world,
but AI may appear to be mysterious or magical to children. They need to be explicitly taught that AI agents can be
trained to imitate human intelligence, but they are not human. Awareness at this level does not require specific
technical expertise. Educators with little or no prior experience with AI may still help their students become more
informed about AI technologies. They can help by identifying instances of AI use, exploring the ethics of machines
influencing the decisions we make, and understanding AI concepts enough that they can remind students that AI is a
tool created by humans.