Thinking Strategies Training to Support the Development of Machine Learning Understanding. A study targeting fifth-grade children

Artificial Intelligence applications permeate our lives and are increasingly making the news, surprising society with applications that until a few years ago would have been relegated to the science fiction genre. Thanks to generative artificial intelligence, tools that once could only be used by highly qualified technical personnel are now in the hands of potentially inexperienced users, but unfortunately, the understanding of the layman is very far from the machinery behind the scenes. More than ever, it is necessary to help people develop an awareness that allows them to use these tools in an appropriate way and with the appropriate expectations. We believe this problem should be addressed by exploring ways to train thinking strategies to facilitate understanding of machine learning concepts that can be applied in daily life, not just by developing teaching tools on this or that topic. We describe our current activities with 9-10 years old children attending primary school and the ad hoc unplugged training we have developed to foster an understanding of machine learning mechanisms.