Integrating Artificial Intelligence in Early Childhood Education: A Review of Current Practices and Future Directions

Background-With the rapid technological development in the world with Artificial intelligence in Early childhood education (AIED) and development is a new focus in digital literacy education research. Despite its expanding importance, AI literacy is mostly unexplored in early childhood education (ECE), as AI courses for young children have only recently emerged. It is vital to establish AI competencies in the next generation and educate them on properly engaging with numerous toolkits and curricula to enable young children to learn about AI by creating, programming, training, interacting, and using AI. Methods-Previous studies on AI in education have primarily focused on curriculum design for kindergarten, secondary, and university levels and toolkits like social robots, addressing challenges and opportunities. However, research on AI in early childhood education (ECE) remains limited. This study evaluates various research designs, pedagogical approaches, and interventions, exploring how different AI tools help young children to know how to foster AI literacy in terms of concepts, practices, and perspectives. Results-The selected articles published from the year 2019 to 2024 which studied AI in Education and Development, Current research, technology, and applications in AI education have shown that activity-based learning is more effective than other modes of learning and has potential educational benefits. This study also looked at how well children comprehended AI ideas according to their age and gender, in addition to their direct involvement with social robots and AI courses. Conclusion-It highlights the potential and importance of AI literacy in ECE, that young children can quickly grasp AI concepts through interactive activities with a social robot, suggesting that hands-on exploration effectively enhances AI literacy. Future research should focus on expanding the curriculum to include more comprehensive materials and adapting it for diverse educational contexts.