Goals

Artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged as a powerful technology that will play a central role in biomedical careers. AI has captured the public’s imagination and sparked significant interest among K-12 students. The next generation of biomedical researchers and health science professionals will need to develop a deep understanding of how to creatively apply AI to solve challenging biomedical problems. Because adolescence offers a key window to promote interest in biomedical careers and increase self efficacy to pursue biomedical careers, given the rapidly growing interest in AI, introducing adolescents to biomedical careers with a focus on AI holds significant promise for developing the nation’s biomedical workforce. 

The goal of this project is to create AI4Health, the first game-based learning environment to introduce students to AI in the context of biomedical careers. AI4Health is designed to promote interest in biomedical careers through leveraging significant advances in game-based learning technologies to create engaging interactions that enable adolescents to virtually explore biomedical careers and learn how AI can be used to solve health science problems. 

To reach this goal, the AI4Health project has three specific aims:

• Design and develop AI4Health to engage students’ interest in biomedical careers utilizing AI-driven learning technologies that integrate the following components: (a) The AI4Health Career Adventure Game will introduce adolescents to the world of biomedical research and health science careers with a focus on AI through a series of interactive game episodes in which students will take on the role of biomedical researchers and health science professionals; (b) the AI4Health Student Discovery website, which will feature interactive video interviews with biomedical and health science professionals from various backgrounds about their careers and how they use AI; and (c) the AI4Health Teacher Resource Center website, which will provide online professional development materials and in-class support for teachers’ classroom implementation of AI4Health.

• Investigate the impact of AI4Health on students’ knowledge of, interest in, and self-efficacy for pursuing biomedical careers featuring AI. A matched comparison study in middle school classes will feature two conditions. In the intervention condition, middle school students will play each of the five episodes of the AI4Health Career Adventure Game, and both students and teachers will use the materials on the AI4Health project website. It is hypothesized that students in the AI4Health condition will (1) achieve significant gains on knowledge, interest, and self-efficacy for pursuing biomedical research and health science careers with AI from pre- to post-test, and (2) achieve gains that are significantly greater than for students in matched classrooms in the comparison condition. 

• Examine the effect of AI4Health on a wide range of adolescent students. Working closely with adolescents throughout all design and development phases of the project, the project team will design AI4Health to develop knowledge of, interest in, and self-efficacy to pursue biomedical careers in all adolescents across backgrounds and communities.