Abstract: Today’s children are the first generation to grow up with AI seamlessly integrated into their daily lives, benefiting from its opportunities, while also facing AI-related risks such as privacy invasion, exposure to biased or harmful content, manipulation, and over-dependency. As a result, developing AI competences – or AI literacy – is increasingly recognised as a critical component of K-12 education. However, integrating AI literacy poses challenges due to the unfamiliarity of the topic among most educators and the lack of consensus on what to teach, when and how. In this talk, I will share insights from our work on co-designing an AI literacy curriculum for middle school students (grades 3–6) and framing AI literacy for K-12 education through an international multi-perspective expert panel.

Speaker:  Associate Professor Linda Mannila leads the research group on AI in Society and Education at the Department of Computer Science of the University of Helsinki. She also holds a Visiting Associate Professorship in Computer Science Education at Linköping University in Sweden. Her current research focuses on public perceptions of AI and the role of AI in education, with a particular emphasis on AI literacy. She also leads NordicEdAI, a Nordic network funded by the Swedish Research Council, aimed at fostering interdisciplinary collaboration and research on AI in education across the Nordics.

Affiliation: University of Helsinki

Place of Seminar:  Kumpula Exactum BK114 (in person) & zoom ( Meeting ID: 640 5738 7231 ; Passcode: 825217)