Perspectives of Rural Primary School Students on the Concept of Artificial Intelligence

The popularity of artificial intelligence (AI), which represents the latest outcome of technological advancement, is increasing day by day. Various scenarios are being written about the possible future of AI. As artificial intelligence is sometimes regarded by people as a savior and at other times as a major threat, the opinions of children—who will become the adults of the future—are of great importance. The main purpose of this study is to reveal the metaphorical perceptions of primary school students living in rural areas toward the concept of artificial intelligence and to examine their thoughts on this concept in depth. In this research, the phenomenology design, one of the qualitative research methods, and the convenience sampling method, one of the purposive sampling techniques, were used. The study group consisted of 71 students studying at a primary school located in a rural neighborhood of the Terme district in Samsun. A semi-structured interview form was used as the data collection tool. Through open-ended questions, the study aimed to determine the rate at which rural primary school students had heard of the concept of artificial intelligence according to their grade levels, the sources from which they learned about it, the metaphors they produced, the AI tools they recognized and used, and their perceptions of its effects on daily life. The obtained data were analyzed through content analysis. As a result of the research, it was found that the rate at which rural primary school students had heard of the concept of artificial intelligence was high, and the level of familiarity increased as the grade level rose. It was determined that students had heard about artificial intelligence mostly from mobile phones, television commercials and cartoons, and family members. They produced a total of 20 metaphors, the most frequent being robot, phone, friend, and human. Siri was identified as the most well-known artificial intelligence tool, with its use being most common among fourth-grade students. It was also found that third-grade students tended to perceive digital devices, while fourth-grade students were more likely to perceive search engines as artificial intelligence. The majority of students expressed generally positive views about artificial intelligence. It is recommended that animated cartoons be developed to introduce artificial intelligence concepts to young age groups and that policies be established to improve technological access for students living in rural areas.