RAICA is composed of project-based modules, each one focusing on a different area of AI (for example, image classification). Modules can be run in any order. Each module takes approximately 15 hours to complete, including whole class lessons and project build time.

Each RAICA module includes:

• A daily facilitation guide featuring learning targets, key vocabulary, teacher tips, and a flow of timed activities to guide student making and learning.
• Facilitation slides
• Student resources and printables
• Exit tickets

No! AI edtech tools use artificial intelligence to help students learn, while RAICA is a curriculum for students to learn about AI. However, RAICA modules do feature AI tools so students can create their own AI projects. RAICA works hard to make sure the AI tools prescribed in the curriculum are free and accessible to all of our users.

Not without your consent! RAICA is a research project and we work with select schools and extra curricular programs to test our materials. We only collect data from consented students (with the permission of their guardians) for the sake of research and curriculum design.

“Computational action, a new framing for computing education, proposes that while learning about computing, young people should also have opportunities to create with computing that have direct impact on their lives and their communities. In this Viewpoint, we outline two key dimensions of computational action—computational identity and digital empowerment—and further argue that by focusing on computational action in addition to computational thinking, we can make computing education more inclusive, motivating, and empowering for young learners. Learners have the capacity to develop computational products that can have authentic impact in their lives from the moment they begin learning to code, all they need is to be situated in contexts that allow them to do so.” (Tissenbaum et al., 2019) Click here to see the full article in Communications of the ACM.

For the purpose of our research, we think computational action looks like students making projects for a community or cause they care about.

To adapt the design thinking process for project-centered learning in a middle school AI literacy curriculum, RAICA applies the following model of Responsible Design as a pedagogical process:

1) Students’ projects center on one computational tool to ensure mastery of AI concepts. Instead of considering all possible tools to solve a problem, students brainstorm a project that can be addressed with the tool.

2) Project groups engage in ethical thinking to design with impact, stakeholders, and values in mind.

3) Students explore computational tools early in the process, leading to higher rates of engagement and better understanding of the tool and AI concept.

“Consider the analogy with learning a foreign language. Imagine someone who learned a few phrases so that they could read menus in restaurants and ask for directions on the street. Would you consider them fluent in the language? Certainly not. That type of phrase-book knowledge is equivalent to way most people use [AI] today. Is such knowledge useful? Yes. But it’s not fluency. To be truly fluent in a foreign language, you must be able to articulate a complex idea or tell an engaging story – that is, you must be able to “make things” with language. Similarly, [AI fluency involves] not only knowing how to use [AI] tools, but also knowing how to construct things of significance with those tools.” – Adapted from Mitchel Resnick.

Most simply put, constructionism is the pedagogical belief that students learn best by using tools and materials to construct their understanding of the world. It is well aligned with other pedagogical models such as project-based learning and student-centered learning. “The word constructionism is a mnemonic for two aspects of the theory of science education underlying this project. From constructivist theories of psychology we take a view of learning as a reconstruction rather than as a transmission of knowledge. Then we extend the idea of manipulative materials to the idea that learning is most effective when part of an activity the learner experiences as constructing a meaningful product.”

(Sabelli, N. (2008). Constructionism: A New Opportunity for Elementary Science Education. DRL Division of Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings. pp. 193–206. Retrieved September 20, 2017.)

TPACK stands for Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge. It is a framework that supports teachers technological knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and content knowledge for successful integration of technology into teaching. More information can be found at tpack.org.

UDL stands for Universal Design for Learning. It is a framework designed to optimize learning for everyone, based on neuroscience and how people learn. UDL promotes learner agency that is purposeful, reflective, resourceful, authentic, strategic, and action-oriented. More information can be found here.

Each RAICA module goes through the same four design steps:

1. Ideate and prototype
2. Beta test and revise
3. Public release
4. Pilot and revise

There are opportunities for students and teachers to work with us each step of the way as co-designers (ideate and prototype), beta testers, or as pilot sites. Once a module has been publicly released that means it is freely available to any teacher anywhere in the world to use under the creative commons license. Check out each module’s page for more details on where it’s at in the design process and how you can get involved.

We like to work with students and teachers as early as possible in the design process. Co-design has taken many different shapes as we’ve worked with different students and teachers across the world, but it always starts during the ideation and prototyping phase of design. We prototype lessons and structure the curriculum based on ideas generated by co-designers. If there is an opportunity to co-design a module, you will find details on that module’s page.

Beta testing is the first round of testing a RAICA module. During this phase of testing, we work closely with selected teachers to gather data on how our materials are (or aren’t) being used and how students are understanding the information. You must apply to beta test with RAICA. If a module is ready to be beta tested, you can find that information on the module’s page.

Piloting is an opportunity to test and provide feedback on the RAICA curriculum at scale, like across a district or at multiple sites for an after school program. You must apply to be a pilot site. Piloting is part of RAICA research and requires a consent process for data collection. If a module is ready to be piloted, you can find that information on the module’s page.