Conference: Workshop: on Research and Practice in the Use of Artificial Intelligence in K–12 Science, Engineering, and Mathematics Education

Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly becoming part of teaching and learning in K–12 classrooms, creating new opportunities to support science, engineering, and mathematics education. Educators, school leaders, technology developers, researchers, and policymakers are increasingly making decisions about how AI can best support learning, yet the field is evolving quickly, as is the technology itself. This project will bring together these communities to share promising and problematic approaches, identify priorities for future research, and strengthen understanding of the evidence and practical considerations that can inform the responsible use of AI in education. The project will align pressing educational needs with emerging research questions, elevate promising approaches from practice, strengthen connections across research and policy communities, and illuminate the evidence and practical factors that should guide responsible AI use in K–12 science, engineering, and mathematics education. As AI capabilities continue to advance and new educational applications emerge, educators, school leaders, developers, researchers, and policymakers face consequential decisions about whether, when, and how AI should be incorporated into various educational contexts. These decisions influence how students engage in learning, how teachers design instruction, how schools allocate resources, and how educational systems define appropriate roles for AI. Yet advances in AI are occurring more rapidly than the evidence needed to inform these decisions. The workshop will convene researchers, educators, policymakers, developers, and other stakeholders to document trade-offs of current and emerging AI uses in K–12 science, engineering, and mathematics education; identify emerging research needs and priorities; examine the evidence and practical considerations needed to guide responsible decision making; and develop collaborative strategies to advance the effective use of AI in K–12 education. Workshop proceedings will be made publicly available, capturing promising approaches and cautions from practice, considerations for responsible AI decision making, and directions for future research on the effective use of AI in K–12 science, engineering, and mathematics education. This project was funded by the STEM K-12 program, which supports fundamental, applied, and translational research on STEM learning in both formal K-12 education and informal learning environments. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.