Recent articles: AI literacy education in schools; Gen AI and critical thinking; AI and scholarly research

Yim, I.H.Y., Su, J. (2025). Artificial intelligence literacy education in primary schools: a review. International Journal of Technology and Design Education. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10798-025-09979-w  (open access)
"Twenty-five empirical studies focusing on the primary school context were selected. The review revealed that (1) AI literacy encompasses a fluid conceptual understanding of digital literacy in terms of interacting and collaborating with AI, computational thinking, critical data literacy, and AI ethics; (2) constructionism, the constructivist theoretical framework, and the ARCS (Attention, Relevance, Confidence, and Satisfaction) model of instructional design were the dominant means of constructing the research design of the selected studies; (3) constructivist methodologies, project-based learning, programming, and human-agent interaction were commonly used by the selected studies, and AI learning tools, particularly intelligent agents, were often adopted in AI literacy teaching and learning research; (4) mixed-research methods were the most common, with surveys, interviews, and artifacts being employed to evaluate students’ learning outcomes; and (5) there were positive academic, affective, and behavioral educational outcomes, as well as course satisfaction. "

Hao-Ping (Hank) Lee, Advait Sarkar, Lev Tankelevitch, Ian Drosos, Sean Rintel, Richard Banks, and Nicholas Wilson. (2025). The Impact of Generative AI on Critical Thinking: Self-Reported Reductions in Cognitive Effort and Confidence Effects From a Survey of Knowledge Workers. In CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI ’25), April 26–May 01, 2025, Yokohama, Japan. ACM. https://doi.org/10.1145/3706598.3713778 1

Wong, E. K. C., & Chiu, D. K. W. (2025). AI literacy instruction program in international school libraries: A qualitative study under the lens of the Big Six Information Literacy model. Journal of Librarianship and Information Science. https://doi.org/10.1177/09610006251331977 (not open access) "Eight ESF Year 12 students (five males and three females) studying IBDP were selected for interviews to learn about their perceptions, needs, and challenges in using GenAI, including their understanding of the ethical application of using GenAI at ESF King George V School. Two ESF secondary school librarians were interviewed at ESF Sha Tin College and ESF King George V School to seek their ideas and experiences in instructing students on AI literacies or competencies." 

Barber, S. T. (2025). A 2010s-Era MLS Library Reference Assignment Meets 2025-Era AI: An Assessment of the Suitability of AI Tools to Support Scholarly Research. Internet Reference Services Quarterly, 1–84. https://doi.org/10.1080/10875301.2025.2490489 (not open access)
Photo by Sheila Webber: memories of early spring, March 2025.