Vakil Helps Shape National AI Curriculum
Northwestern University Professor Sepehr Vakil contributed to a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine that offers strategies for integrating data and computing into K-12 education.
Vakil, an associate professor of learning sciences at the School of Education and Social Policy, was part of a 16-person consensus committee tasked with identifying the core skills students and educators need to thrive in the age of artificial intelligence.
The committee examined everything from ethics and obstacles to novel ways to weave computing-related fields into existing school subjects. It also reported on the status of research in this area and outlined new directions needed to expand the field.
In addition to a range of recommendations, the committee named seven foundational skills that should be incorporated across K-12 curricula, including the ability to:
- Ask questions and solve problems
- Collect and understand information
- Think in steps and automate repetitive tasks
- Reason under uncertainty
- Represent reality with models
- Understand technology's impact on society
- Understand how computers store and process information
Vakil is the faculty director of the Center for Technology, Policy, and Opportunity and the master's program in Technology, People, and Policy. He is currently serving as senior adviser to the Spencer Foundation on its artificial intelligence initiative. The committee's focus aligns with his work on Northwestern's Data Science and Artificial Intelligence Steering Committee.
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine committee was formed because new standards, courses, and initiatives for data and computing lack consistency across states, districts, and schools. Many students encounter data and computing only through short-term or isolated experiences, especially in elementary school.
The report found that when selecting curricula, school districts should prioritize materials that explicitly connect data, computing, and other school subjects. They should also provide a progression of experiences starting in kindergarten that gradually build more sophisticated knowledge.
The report also noted that both digital and "unplugged" experiences play an important role, particularly in K-8, where analog activities can strengthen conceptual understanding.
Students should also be able to take standalone courses on data and computing in middle and high school, and all students should learn about the possibilities, limitations, risks, and ethical considerations associated with artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies.
Educators may have had limited training in data and computing and may benefit from professional development to help them integrate these skills into courses, the report found. Teacher preparation programs should also expand training pathways and build stronger partnerships between education schools and departments like computer science and statistics.
The School of Education and Social Policy is already leading the way. The school has four faculty members jointly appointed in learning sciences and computer science, and offers a joint doctoral program in those fields with the McCormick School of Engineering. A fifth, alumnus Connor Bain — who earned the nation's first CS + LS PhD — is now a faculty member at McCormick.
The study — undertaken by the Committee on Developing Competencies for the Future of Data and Computing: The Role of K-12 — was sponsored by the National Science Foundation.