Artificial intelligence in education: Addressing ethical challenges in K-12 settings

Abstract

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a field of study that combines the applications of machine learning, algorithm productions, and natural language processing. Applications of AI transform the tools of education. AI has a variety of educational applications, such as personalized learning platforms to promote students’ learning, automated assessment systems to aid teachers, and facial recognition systems to generate insights about learners’ behaviors. Despite the potential benefits of AI to support students’ learning experiences and teachers’ practices, the ethical and societal drawbacks of these systems are rarely fully considered in K-12 educational contexts. The ethical challenges of AI in education must be identified and introduced to teachers and students. To address these issues, this paper (1) briefly defines AI through the concepts of machine learning and algorithms; (2) introduces applications of AI in educational settings and benefits of AI systems to support students’ learning processes; (3) describes ethical challenges and dilemmas of using AI in education; and (4) addresses the teaching and understanding of AI by providing recommended instructional resources from two providers—i.e., the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Media Lab and Code.org. The article aims to help practitioners reap the benefits and navigate ethical challenges of integrating AI in K-12 classrooms, while also introducing instructional resources that teachers can use to advance K-12 students’ understanding of AI and ethics.

Full text

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AI and Ethics (2022) 2:431–440
https://doi.org/10.1007/s43681-021-00096-7
REVIEW
Artificial intelligence ineducation: Addressing ethical challenges
inK‑12 settings
SelinAkgun1 · ChristineGreenhow1
Received: 9 July 2021 / Accepted: 1 September 2021 / Published online: 22 September 2021
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
Abstract
Artificial intelligence (AI) is a field of study that combines the applications of machine learning, algorithm productions, and
natural language processing. Applications of AI transform the tools of education. AI has a variety of educational applica-
tions, such as personalized learning platforms to promote students’ learning, automated assessment systems to aid teachers,
and facial recognition systems to generate insights about learners’ behaviors. Despite the potential benefits of AI to support
students’ learning experiences and teachers’ practices, the ethical and societal drawbacks of these systems are rarely fully
considered in K-12 educational contexts. The ethical challenges of AI in education must be identified and introduced to
teachers and students. To address these issues, this paper (1) briefly defines AI through the concepts of machine learning
and algorithms; (2) introduces applications of AI in educational settings and benefits of AI systems to support students’
learning processes; (3) describes ethical challenges and dilemmas of using AI in education; and (4) addresses the teaching
and understanding of AI by providing recommended instructional resources from two providers—i.e., the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Media Lab and Code.org. The article aims to help practitioners reap the benefits and navigate
ethical challenges of integrating AI in K-12 classrooms, while also introducing instructional resources thatteachers can use
to advance K-12 students’ understanding of AI and ethics.
Keywords Artificial intelligence· K-12 education· Ethics· Teacher education
1 Introduction
“Success in creating AI would be the biggest event in human
history. Unfortunately, it might also be the last, unless we
learn how to avoid the risks.”—Stephen Hawking.
We may not think about artificial intelligence (AI) on a
daily basis, but it is all around us, and we have been using it
for years. When we are doing a Google search, reading our
emails, getting a doctor’s appointment, asking for driving
directions, or getting movie and music recommendations, we
are constantly using the applications of AI and its assistance
in our lives. This need for assistance and our dependence
on AI systems has become even more apparent during the
COVID-19 pandemic. The growing impact and dominance
of AI systems reveals itself in healthcare, education, commu-
nications, transportation, agriculture, and more. It is almost
impossible to live in a modern society without encountering
applications powered by AI [10, 32].
Artificial intelligence (AI) can be defined briefly as the
branch of computer science that deals with the simulation
of intelligent behavior in computers and their capacity to
mimic, and ideally improve, human behavior [43]. AI dom-
inates the fields of science, engineering, and technology,
but also is present in education through machine-learning
systems and algorithm productions [43]. For instance, AI
has a variety of algorithmic applications in education, such
as personalized learning systems to promote students’
learning, automated assessment systems to support teach-
ers in evaluating what students know, and facial recogni-
tion systems to provide insights about learners’ behaviors
[49]. Besides these platforms, algorithm systems are prom-
inent in education through different social media outlets,
such as social network sites, microblogging systems, and
mobile applications. Social media are increasingly inte-
grated into K-12 education [7] and subordinate learners’
* Selin Akgun
akgunsel@msu.edu
Christine Greenhow
greenhow@msu.edu
1 Michigan State University, EastLansing, MI, USA
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