Early Introduction of AI in Spanish Middle Schools. A Motivational Study

Abstract

This paper describes the practical initiative to include Artifcial Intelligence (AI) in the Spanish educational system’s curriculum at an early age. This proposal is in line with the current trend of introducing AI in school curricula all over the world. To this end, we propose an Artifcial Intelligence workshop for middle schools within the existing subject, Technology, Programming and Robotics. In order to test the suitability of introducing AI at an early age, we conducted the activities at a bilingual middle school in Madrid. As evaluation tools, a quiz and motivational study of the students concerning AI was carried out using Situational Motivational Scale (SIMS) before and after introducing the activities. Responses of 84 students were analysed and the conclusion was reached that it is slightly better to introduce AI at an early age.