EAGER: Teaching AI in Advanced Placement Computer Science A (APCSA)

This project is focused on advancing the goals of the Executive Order on Advancing Artificial Intelligence (AI) Education for American Youth by providing resources for K-12 AI education, as called for in the Dear Colleague Letter NSF 25-035. Specifically, the project will expand AI curricular resources for students taking the Advanced Placement Computer Science A (APCSA) course. APCSA classrooms provide a wide audience for this work; in 2025, almost 100,000 students took the APCSA exam. Additionally, the research team will support 130 teachers in implementing these AI curricular resources in their courses. The AI curricular resources will focus on two essential sets of knowledge: (i) how AI works and (ii) how to use AI to write code. All training and curricular materials will be publicly shared on a project website, CSTeachingTips.org, as well as on relevant AI and CS curriculum repositories. There is broad interest among teachers in integrating AI, and this project aims to meet the needs of teachers and students. However, three key questions remain that can guide AI curricular resources to be more effective. (1) What AI content are students and teachers most interested in? (2) What of students' existing knowledge can we leverage to support robust AI knowledge? (3) What opportunities are there to improve the AI curricular resources to be more effective and better aligned with students' interests and existing knowledge? This project addresses these key questions and will substantially expand high school students’ access to AI learning by providing AI curricular resources and teacher training. 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: 2619404 | Program: 01002627DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT | Principal Investigator: Colleen Lewis | Institution: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, URBANA, IL | Award Amount: $134,000 View on NSF Award Search: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/show-award/?AWD_ID=2619404 View on Research.gov: https://www.research.gov/awardapi-service/v1/awards/2619404.html