The overwhelming majority of teachers, principals, and district leaders in the United States believe that students should learn how artificial intelligence works at some point in their K-12 education, according to recently released survey data from the EdWeek Research Center.
Nearly 9 in 10 educators feel that students should be taught how AI works in a developmentally appropriate manner sometime before they graduate from high school, according to the survey.
These survey findings illustrate how quickly AI has gained prominence as a need-to-know subject in K-12 education circles.
But at what age should K-12 students begin to learn about AI? Opinions among educators vary, often depending on what grade level they are teaching and whether they are a classroom teacher or administrator.
Six percent of educators say that the topic shouldn鈥檛 be taught until the postsecondary levels and another 6 percent say that AI should never be taught. Most鈥�65 percent鈥攕ay it should be introduced to students in middle or high school.
That鈥檚 a reassuring finding, said Pat Yongpradit, the chief academic officer for code.org and lead of TeachAI, an initiative to support schools in using and teaching about AI, given how artificial intelligence is poised to transform both K-12 education and the workforce.
For the most part, teachers鈥� views align with administrators鈥� when the survey responses are broken out by job title, with some notable exceptions, said Alex Harwin, a research analyst with the EdWeek Research Center.
鈥淚f you look at district leaders and school leaders, a quarter of them are really gung-ho about introducing artificial intelligence in grades 3 through 5,鈥� she said. 鈥淗owever, only 14 percent of teachers agree.鈥�
But, interestingly, the survey shows different perspectives among teachers, depending on what age group they teach.
For instance, while administrators were more likely to say that students should start learning about AI in elementary school than teachers overall, elementary teachers were just as likely as school and district leaders to say that students in grades 3-5 should learn about AI.
Twenty-six percent of elementary teachers said students should start learning about AI in grades 3-5, compared with 11 percent of middle school teachers, and 8 percent of high school teachers.
That is something Yongpradit said he sees among elementary teachers all the time: outsized enthusiasm for teaching about computer science and technology, even though most educators鈥攁nd people in general鈥攎ay think these are more middle and high school level topics.
鈥淗ere鈥檚 the thing: What鈥檚 the role of an elementary school teacher? Providing the foundation鈥攖hey are always thinking about foundational skills,鈥� said Yongpradit. 鈥淪o, in the same way, these data show that elementary school teachers are way more excited about introducing and teaching students about how AI works early on because of their role in the education system. They understand that this needs to be taught early.鈥�
But the survey also reveals that some of the different perspectives between administrators and teachers overall may be due to teachers feeling overwhelmed by the prospect of adding yet another task to their plates, according to the survey data.
鈥淭here鈥檚 also a really small but statistically significant percentage of 8 percent of teachers who think that AI should be taught in college/postsecondary, meaning, they don鈥檛 want to teach it, compared to only 1 percent of district leaders and 4 percent of school leaders,鈥� said Harwin.
Is teacher fatigue driving opinions about when to introduce kids to AI?
Some of these perspectives about when to introduce AI to K-12 students could be driven, in part, by teachers feeling overwhelmed with their current job responsibilities, according to the survey.
The EdWeek Research Center asked educators if they or the teachers in their schools have the time or bandwidth to teach students how to think about and use artificial intelligence.
Seventy-eight percent replied that no, they and their teachers don鈥檛 have the bandwidth because their plates are overloaded with academic challenges, social-emotional-learning priorities, safety issues, and more. Among teachers alone, the share was even higher at 82 percent.
鈥淧eople said: 鈥極ur plates are full, we can鈥檛 make space for AI,鈥欌�� said Harwin. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 why some teachers are like, 鈥榃e have enough on our plates, let鈥檚 let the higher ed. folks deal with it.鈥欌��
So, what can be done about teacher AI fatigue?
New AI tools should look at solving the actual instructional challenges that teachers face day to day, said Yongpradit, to help relieve the pressure that makes teachers feel like they don鈥檛 have the time to teach students how artificial intelligence works.
鈥淭hese survey results are just a reminder that curriculum providers, professional development providers, and tool developers need to start with teachers鈥� pain points and goals,鈥� he said, 鈥渞ather than trying to start with new and innovative things that can be done with AI that don鈥檛 necessarily align with teachers鈥� everyday realities.鈥�
Data analysis for this article was provided by the EdWeek Research Center. Learn more about the center鈥檚 work.
