A Summer Camp Experience to Engage Middle School Learners in AI through Conversational App Development

The ubiquity of AI-based conversational apps such as Siri, Alexa and Google Assistant means more young users are interacting with these apps. The increasing popularity of these conversational applications brings a potential opportunity to attract learners to AI, CS and STEM fields. CS Education researchers need to explore how to leverage this opportunity, in particular to serve learners who are underrepresented in CS and STEM. This experience report describes the design and iterative refinement of a series of two-week summer camps in which 62 predominantly Black students participated in hands-on AI-based learning experiences to design and develop their own conversational AI apps. We discuss the organization of this summer camp experience, including strategies for recruiting from and building trust within the target community, designing professional development for camp facilitators, structuring the camp activities, and encouraging projects that are personally and socially relevant. We share challenges and lessons learned from this AI summer camp in the hopes that they will inform other researchers and practitioners who are interested in designing and deploying similar experiences.