Artificial Intelligence in Pre-College Education: Learning within a Philosophy of the Mind Framework

In this paper we present an approach for integrating AI and philosophy of the mind in the K-12 classroom. Our rationale for this approach includes its capability to promote discourse and frame learning and the need to take a more holistic approach to engineering. We hare dei,eloped a curriculam unit based, upon the integrated approach that includes intended learning outcomes, a concept map and two example activities for the classroom. We present this curriculum unit together with the preconception's of middle and high school students related to the concepts in the unit. The collected data shows high levels of interest in the possibilities of thinking machines, but only a naive understanding of the issues. Some gender differences are also indicated. Finally we present two applications where the curriculum was used in the classroom. The first is a one-week unit in a middle school language at-is classroom and the second is a full-year project-based high school course. Results from both settings showed high levels of engagement and were consistent with student achievement of intended learning outcomes.