Co-designing Artificial Intelligence Curriculum for Secondary Schools: A Grounded Theory of Teachers' Experience

In response to the need to equip Hong Kong secondary students with Artificial Intelligence (AI) literacy, a joint effort was made by university professors from engineering and education and secondary school teachers to co-design an innovative AI curriculum. This paper investigated the experience of teachers in co-designing the curriculum. A total of 17 semi-structured interviews were conducted with 8 secondary school teachers involved in the curriculum design. Using the grounded theory approach, the teachers' perspectives and experiences during the co-design processes were unpacked. First, the teachers were motivated by the perceived need of students to join in the co-design of such AI curriculum. Second, the teachers appreciated the professor-led knowledge input that addresses their gaps in technical knowledge. Third, the teachers contributed their pedagogical knowledge and classroom experiences to guide the design of the curriculum so that it may be contextualized to the school environment and students' needs. The outcomes of the co-design were a usable curriculum and teachers' growth, which was translated to students' AI literacy and confidence in learning about AI. This paper contributes to the current educational effort in preparing students for an AI pervasive society.