Research Projects

We engage in multidisciplinary, iterative, and evidence-based research and development with diverse stakeholders to create new technologies, activities, practices and programs for real-world impact in homes, schools, afterschool programs and online communities. A list of publications for these projects can be found here.

Facemesh Camera Filter

Would you like to make your own facial filters? In this tutorial, we will be using facial landmark detection to create a filter camera using a new AI technology called Facemesh.

Awesome Dancing with AI Tutorial

Here you will learn how to use the new AI technology PoseNet to track key points of your body to create a skeletal model; develop some basic methods to quantify, measure and identify some dance moves.

Careers in AI

A video series about experts in AI.

PRG AI Blocks

Various extensions to the Scratch programming languages allow students to build AI-enabled projects.

Creativity & GANs for Middle School

Teaching middle school students the practices and ethical implications of creative machine learning techniques, such as GANs and style transfer.

Voice Calculator

In this project you are challenged to create your very first own Voice User Interface (VUI) as you build a voice-driven calculator that can do basic arithmetic operations.

Gizmo & ScratchX

Gizmo is a simple Arduino robot based off of the PopPet robot created by Jaidyn Edwards, and customized for our K-2, 3-5, and 6-8 grade AI curricula.

Personal Audio Classifier

This student guide/tutorial shows you how to use the Personal Audio Classifier website to train an audio model using short 1-2 second recordings.

Therapist Bot Tutorial

Can an app on your phone be your next therapist? This tutorial will show you how to make your own therapist bot app using App Inventor.

Rock Paper Scissors Tutorial

Use Rock Paper Scissors to create a program that allows the machine to observe and learn from its user's game choices using a Markov Model!

At-Home AI Conversations

4-Steps to Debating technology and AI with your child.

Primary School AI for 3-5th Grade

Primary AI for 3-5th grade introduces upper elementary school students to robotics, artificial intelligence, and design thinking.

Selected Publications

AI Education Peer-reviewed Research Articles and Preprints

MIT App Inventor - 2021

Development of an Instructional Tool for Young Children to Learn AI

Ting-Chia Hsu, Hal Abelson, Natalie Lao, Yu-Han Tseng. (2021). Behavioral-Pattern Exploration and Development of An Instructional Tool for Young Children to Learn AI. Computers and Education: Artificial Intelligence, 100012..

Developing Middle School Students’ AI Literacy

Lee, I., Ali, S., Zhang, H., DiPaola, D., & Breazeal, C. (2021). Developing Middle School Students’ AI Literacy. Proceedings of the 52nd ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE’21)

How to Train Your Robot: Project-Based AI Education for Middle School Classrooms

Williams, R. (2021). How to Train Your Robot: Project-Based AI Education for Middle School Classrooms. Proceedings of the 52nd ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE’21).

Text Classification for AI Education

Reddy, T., Williams, R., & Breazeal, C. (2021). Text Classification for AI Education. Proceedings of the 52nd ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE’21).

The Contour to Classification game

Lee, I., & Ali, S. (2021). The Contour to Classification game. Proceedings of the 10th Symposium on Education Advances in Artificial Intelligence (EAAI ’21).

What are GANs?: Introducing Generative Adversarial Networks to Middle School Students

Ali, S., DiPaola, D., & Breazeal, C (2021). What are GANs?: Introducing Generative Adversarial Networks to Middle School Students. Proceedings of the 10th Symposium on Education Advances in Artificial Intelligence (EAAI ’21).

PoseBlocks: A Toolkit for Creating (and Dancing) with AI

Jordan, B., Devasia, N., Hong, J., Williams, R., & Breazeal, C (2021). PoseBlocks: A Toolkit for Creating (and Dancing) with AI. Proceedings of the 10th Symposium on Education Advances in Artificial Intelligence (EAAI ’21).

Teacher Perspectives on How to Train Your Robot, A Middle School AI and Ethics Curriculum

Williams, R., Kaputsos, S., & Breazeal, C (2021). Teacher Perspectives on How to Train Your Robot, A Middle School AI and Ethics Curriculum. Proceedings of the 10th Symposium on Education Advances in Artificial Intelligence (EAAI ’21).

K-12 Conversational Artificial Intelligence Literacy Curriculum and Development Tools

Jessica Van Brummelen, Tommy Heng, Viktoriya Tabunshchyk, (to appear 2021). Teaching Tech to Talk: K-12 Conversational Artificial Intelligence Literacy Curriculum and Development Tools. AAAI Symposium on Educational Advances in Artificial Intelligence (EAAI-21).

An Exploration of Machine Learning Interface Design

Jessica Van Brummelen, Kevin Weng, Phoebe Lin, Catherine Yeo, (2020). CONVO: What does conversational programming need? An exploration of machine learning interface design. IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing (VL/HCC).

Decoding Design Agendas: an Ethical Design Activity for Middle School Students

DiPaola, D., Payne, B.H., & Breazeal, C. (2020). Decoding Design Agendas: an Ethical Design Activity for Middle School Students. Proceedings of the Interaction Design and Children Conference (IDC 2020), 1—10.

Constructionism, Ethics, and Creativity: Developing Primary and Middle School Artificial Intelligence Education

Ali, S., Payne, B.H., Williams, R., Park, HW., & Breazeal, C. (2019). Constructionism, Ethics, and Creativity: Developing Primary and Middle School Artificial Intelligence Education. International Workshop on Education in Artificial Intelligence K-12 (EDUAI’19), 13381—13388.