The Cotton Gin and The Westward Expansion: AI Concepts in Middle School Social Studies

Through a NSF funded ITEST program, titled ImageSTEAM, a summer workshop was conducted during June 2023 with diverse middle school teachers. Specifically, we focused on introducing artificial intelligence (AI) in the K-12 curriculum through computer vision and AI tools that fundamentally will augment science and technology in educating children in the future. We introduce the use of visual media as a key bridge technology to engage students in middle school, especially in 7th grade social studies with AI topics. After co-design and development of the lesson module with the team, the teacher practiced the lesson module titled "The Cotton Gin and The Westward Expansion" with students at the workshop. Based on the feedback, the teacher further improved the lesson module to present to the social studies class she teaches during Fall 2023. The results and experiences of the teacher as well as students learning and impact of AI evaluated through a survey will be shared and discussed in the conference and presented in the paper.