Promoting Students’ Well-Being by Developing Their Readiness for the Artificial Intelligence Age

Yun Dai,Pei-Yi Lin,Morris Siu-Yung Jong,Yanmei Guo,Jianjun Qin,Ching-Sing Chai

doi:10.3390/su12166597

Abstract

This study developed and validated an instrument to measure students’ readiness to learn about artificial intelligence (AI). The designed survey questionnaire was administrated in a school district in Beijing after an AI course was developed and implemented. The collected data and analytical results provided insights regarding the self-reported perceptions of primary students’ AI readiness and enabled the identification of factors that may influence this parameter. The results indicated that AI literacy was not predictive of AI readiness. The influences of AI literacy were mediated by the students’ confidence and perception of AI relevance. The students’ AI readiness was not influenced by a reduction in their anxiety regarding AI and an enhancement in their AI literacy. Male students reported a higher confidence, relevance, and readiness for AI than female students did. The sentiments reflected by the open-ended responses of the students indicated that the students were generally excited to learn about AI and viewed AI as a powerful and useful technology. The student sentiments confirmed the quantitative findings. The validated survey can help teachers better understand and monitor students’ learning, as well as reflect on the design of the AI curriculum and the associated teaching effectiveness.

Highlights

Today’s students are facing massive challenges because new bodies of knowledge have been created due to the rapid development of technology
Artificial intelligence (AI) is crucial for sustainable economic growth and it is currently applied in fields such as green building, smart agriculture, medical diagnosis and modeling of disease spread, etc., all of which are related to the sustainability of human well-being [5]
Through the literature review conducted in this study, we identified four emotional and psychological factors that are theoretically associated with and are likely to affect student readiness: AI literacy, confidence, relevance, and anxiety

Summary

Introduction

Today’s students are facing massive challenges because new bodies of knowledge have been created due to the rapid development of technology. Artificial intelligence (AI) is an emerging field that has transformed modern society [1,2]. AI is crucial for sustainable economic growth and it is currently applied in fields such as green building, smart agriculture, medical diagnosis and modeling of disease spread, etc., all of which are related to the sustainability of human well-being [5]. If the educational system is to prepare its students to meet the demand of an AI-infused future, it needs to integrate AI technology as a topic of the academic curriculum to equip students with essential knowledge and skills about AI. As AI technology is a new subject, to sustain students’

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