AI PD Weeks: CS Foundations for Creating with AI

Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming work, civic life, and learning, yet most K-12 teachers lack the preparation needed to understand how AI systems work, how they connect to foundational computer science, and how to design instruction in which students meaningfully create with AI rather than simply consume AI-generated outputs. This project responds to the national need for teacher preparation by extending a proven, multi-state computer science teacher professional development model into a coherent, AI-focused initiative that will prepare K-12 teachers to integrate AI and computer science concepts at scale. AI Professional Development Weeks combine intensive, strand-based summer professional learning with sustained community support through existing state and local networks, creating a scalable infrastructure for rapidly expanding AI teaching capacity. This project will expand AI and computer science learning opportunities for hundreds of thousands of students by equipping thousands of teachers across multiple states with the content knowledge and instructional strategies needed to teach foundational AI and computer science content. This project examines how teachers integrate AI concepts, tools, and ethical considerations into instruction when supported by intensive professional learning and ongoing community. It also documents the infrastructure, partnerships, and conditions that enable AI-focused professional development to scale efficiently across varied state and local contexts. Research activities include systematic collection of pre- and post-assessments, surveys, instructional artifacts, and participation records. Findings contribute to research on teacher knowledge development, AI pedagogy, and large-scale teacher learning systems at a moment of urgent national need. The project will produce a replicable AI Professional Development Week and mini-week model, implementation toolkit, and openly shared resources that states and districts can adopt to build sustainable AI teaching capacity. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria. NSF Award ID: 2607763 | Program: 04002526DB NSF STEM Education,01002728DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT,01002627DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT,04002829DB NSF STEM Education,04002728DB NSF STEM Education,01002829DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT | Principal Investigator: Bryan Twarek | Institution: COMPUTER SCIENCE TEACHERS ASSOCIATION, LLC., NEW YORK, NY | Award Amount: $3,779,879 View on NSF Award Search: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/show-award/?AWD_ID=2607763 View on Research.gov: https://www.research.gov/awardapi-service/v1/awards/2607763.html