Project Profile

Science communication, defined as the ability to communicate scientific concepts and discoveries to broad audiences, is an important scientific literacy skill. It can promote public efforts to protect the biodiversity and livelihood of communities around the world. Yet, K-12 students have limited opportunities to engage in inclusive science communication approaches that incorporate their lived experiences and account for the diverse socioeconomic, language, and cultural backgrounds of potential audiences. This project will engage high school students from predominantly Latinx, Title I schools in Orange County, California, in an AI-guided science curriculum for learning and practicing inclusive science communication and marine biodiversity. Students will interact with conversational agents that represent different community perspectives around the local marine ecosystems. They will also collaborate with peers to train and create their own conversational agents to share views on marine conservation. Project activities aim to offer meaningful engagement to deepen students? understanding of science communication, AI literacy, and interest in careers in AI and broader science fields. This project is funded by the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program, which supports projects that build understandings of practices, program elements, contexts and processes contributing to increasing students' knowledge and interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and information and communication technology (ICT) careers.

In partnership with Crystal Cove Conservancy, an environmental nonprofit in Orange County, California, the project will invite students, formal and informal educators, community members, and marine scientists to co-design the conversational agents? interface and exchange. The project team will interview additional community members to integrate their perspectives to refine the agents? dialogues. 90 students in grades 9-11 will engage in the AI-guided curriculum. Researchers in STEM education and education technologies from University of California, Irvine and Utah State University will explore research questions surrounding Equitable Partnership and Learning including (1) How can the co-design and implementation of conversational agents with informal educators, community partners, and students be facilitated in equitable, collaborative ways?, (2) How does the AI-integrated curriculum support inclusive science communication about environmental systems, interest in STEM careers, and AI literacy?, and (3) What instructional adaptations do teachers make to facilitate these learning outcomes? The project will draw from equity-centered research-practice partnership and design tension frameworks to answer research questions around how to facilitate equitable design work and adapt the curriculum in instruction. Regression analyses will be used to test the hypothesis that students significantly improve in science communication, interest in STEM careers, and AI literacy, as indicated by pre- and post-assessments. The outcomes of this work include (1) an innovative AI-integrated high school curriculum around inclusive science communication, (2) co-design principles to collaborate with community members to develop the technology, and (3) a student-constructed language corpus of conversations to train future conversational agents in STEM contexts. The research takes important advancing steps in the emerging field of AI-integrated education supporting diverse K-12 populations to deepen scientific and AI literacy.

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.