NSF FF: Planning: Developing Teacher and Parent AI Literacies: Building Shared Understanding to Support Student Learning in an AI-Driven World

Award ID: 2627525

This FINDERS Foundry award assists teachers, parents, and students in building stronger shared skills for using generative AI in STEM learning. Many students already use AI on their own, but they often lack guidance on how to use it safely, ethically, and in ways that truly support learning. Teachers and parents want to help but are unsure how AI fits into schoolwork or when its use is appropriate. This project will plan a webbased tool that helps adults and students understand what good AI use looks like and how it can support critical thinking and STEM readiness. Through input from teachers, parents, and students, the team will identify what people need to learn about AI and outline features for a tool that builds these skills. By improving AI literacy in homes and classrooms, the project prepares students for future STEM careers in a rapidly changing world. This FINDERS Foundry award strengthens shared AIliteracy capacity among teachers, parents, and students by developing guidance and infrastructure that supports safe, ethical, and instructionally meaningful use of generative AI in STEM learning. Although many learners already engage with AI independently, their use often lacks alignment with evidencebased learning practices, responsibleuse norms, and STEMreadiness goals. At the same time, teachers and parents report uncertainty about when and how AI should be integrated into academic work, reflecting a broader systemslevel need. By outlining a webbased tool that models highquality humanAI interaction, the project will specify the knowledge, skills, and decision frameworks adults and students require to evaluate AI output, apply AI as a thinking partner rather than an answer engine, and maintain ethical and dataprotection standards. Through structured input from educators, families, and students, the planning work identifies key competencies, design features, and implementation conditions needed for scalable impact. Improving AI literacy across home and school settings will strengthen students longterm preparedness for STEM pathways in an increasingly AImediated world. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF Program Director: Lindsay Portnoy