Should we use AI in ECEC? - Little Scientists Australia

International Day of Education (24 January) promotes the role of education for peace and development. The theme for 2025, “AI and education: Preserving human agency in a world of automation”, invites educators to reflect on the risks and concerns of emerging technologies like AI — for instance around children’s privacy — while also opening the door to innovative educational uses in your own service or classroom.

Read on for ideas and resources to support you to understand and consider embedding AI technology into your early learning setting.

To start, Little Scientists recently explored this topic in our 60-minute online STEM Hour “The Future of Artificial Intelligence in Early Learning” with Bruce Fuda (Grok Academy) and Professor Karen Murcia (Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child). You can purchase a recording of this for $30. We also invite you to join our Facebook group “Early STEM Educators Network” to exchange ideas and questions with other educators about the future of AI in your service or classroom.

What exactly is AI?

Broadly, artificial intelligence (AI) is technology that simulates or mimics the ways in which humans learn and operate. You’ve probably already had some firsthand experience with AI technology in your everyday appliances such as Siri and Alexa! There are different forms of AI technology, including:

Generative AI: generates new content or output in response to a prompt, such as ChatGPT. This type of AI tends to be most commonly discussed nowadays.
Expert systems: uses pre-determined or known conditions to provide output. This is a simpler form of AI.
Machine learning: classifies or sorts through large amounts of data to make predictions or conclusions.

Building children’s understanding of how computers and AI work is an important step in engaging with AI technology. Children may not understand that AI involves computers undertaking automatic processes based on inputs received from humans. You can liken it to our own automatic processes such as the heart beating and our breathing, which is controlled by our brain from inputs it receives through the senses.

Generative AI platforms: Test it out!

Interested in testing out what AI is capable of within the ECE context? Check out the generative AI platforms linked below. NOTE: Be mindful of inputting any sensitive or confidential information that could identify your children or staff, such as name or contact details.

LoveHeart is an AI educator-aide that assists early years educators in understanding a child’s development and uses your observations to create learning stories, learning plans, and more.
Khanmigo is an AI-powered teacher tool that also generates activity ideas, progress reports, and lesson plans based on your prompts.
Magic School provides assistance to educators on creating lesson plans and assessments, and improving clarity in communication. It also features a platform for older students to learn about AI and build AI technology literacy.

Here are a few ideas you can use to prompt the generative AI platforms (adapt these to your own setting and needs!):

🎶 Recommend a week-long lesson plan that focuses on developing fine motor skills for children 3-5 years inspired by International Music Day!

🧪 Generate a materials list for a STEM experiment related to chemical reactions in the kitchen for preschoolers.

👋 Provide tips for adapting early learning activities for children who may experience discomfort with certain sensory experiences, such as loud noises, bright lights, or unusual textures.

🦘 Suggest outdoor learning activities to explore Australian flora and fauna, while also integrating creative arts and crafts elements.

Ethical considerations

One of the biggest considerations around AI is how to responsibly use it within the ECE context. Professor Karen Murcia points out that “policy development should ideally be done in a co-designed way, where parents, educators, centre directors, and even the children have a voice in what they want digital technology use… to look like in their centre and how AI could feed into that space.” Approach the use of AI platforms with the rights of the child and families in the front of your mind: Think about confidentiality, make sure all information you enter is thoroughly anonymised, and try to learn where the data goes (though, this can be tricky as not all platforms are transparent).

Bruce Fuda highlights that we should beware of the generative AI ‘bloat’: Does your service need to use AI for documentation or do you need to practise writing in simpler language? Reflect on whether the AI outputs are providing valuable information for your community or just a big block of text with little value.

Here are more ethical considerations around AI in ECEC:

🧠 Bias in AI algorithms related to race, gender, and other factors.
🌏 Equitable access to AI and other digital technologies, especially in remote areas.
📱Excessive screentime for children and educators.

👩‍👧 Transparency on how or why AI is used with parents and the wider community. A policy document to share with your community can support this, but as with best practice for all policy writing, ensure that it is developed in a collaborative way with your community.

📝 Ownership of and reliance on the output produced by AI platforms, such as lesson plans. Note that AI cannot replace professional learning and development: Educators should be provided with resources to extend their knowledge. This does not mean simply providing generative AI platforms for educators to use. Educators need time to collaborate with peers, try out ideas and tinker to see what does and doesn’t work in their context.

To read more about the ethics of AI in ECE, check out these resources:

Competency and use frameworks

UNESCO: AI competency framework for teachers aims to address the need for educators to have proper guidance when implementing AI usage in their practices. It focuses on five dimensions:

Human-centred mindset.
Ethics of AI.
AI foundations and applications.
AI pedagogy.
AI for professional learning.

Australian Framework for Generative Intelligence in Schools provides a guide on how generative AI tools can be used in a responsible, ethical way that benefits students, schools, and broader society in Australia. It focuses on these key lenses:

Teaching and learning.
Human and social wellbeing.
Transparency.
Fairness.
Accountability.
Privacy, security, and safety.

Curriculum links

Here are some useful quick links related to curricula to spark conversations in your service or classroom around AI in early learning:

STEM Hour: “The Future of Artificial Intelligence in Early Learning”

Want to learn more about AI in the ECE context? Buy a recording of our STEM Hour: “The Future of Artificial Intelligence in Early Learning”. Bruce Fuda and Professor Karen Murcia share their professional expertise on:

💡 The opportunities and challenges of AI in early learning.
✍️ Strategies for integrating AI effectively into your setting.
📈 How AI can be harnessed to improve children’s learning outcomes.
🧠 Philosophical & ethical considerations of AI in early learning.

Develop your STEM skills with our pedagogy-based STEM PD: