Combatting AI Hype with Participatory Audits: Critical AI Literacy in K-12 Contexts

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Sunday 11:45 am
  In Roundtable Session: Knowing and Learning in Context

Abstract

Generative AI is reshaping education and leaving many young people anxious about their futures. Data is Power, a year-long pilot across four urban classrooms, reframes that anxiety as possibility by engaging over 150 students as sociotechnical auditors of widely used AI tools. Aligned with core principles of the emancipatory AI framework and anchored in youth participatory action research, this project guided learners through the data-science lifecycle—from design to testing—while foregrounding histories of data colonialism and techno-cultural imperialism. Results suggest significant gains in teacher self-efficacy and student critical thinking all while reinforcing core mathematics content knowledge. Data is Power demonstrates that K-12 learners can learn math while critiquing AI toward imagining more just technological futures.

Authors

• Thema Monroe-White, George Mason University

• Evan Shieh, Young Data Scientists League