FaunaForest: A Novel Software Tool for Teaching Decision Trees to Middle School Students

Artificial intelligence literacy is fast becoming a foundational skill for students to develop as artificial intelligence technology rapidly advances and integrates further into key areas of society and everyday life. Artificial intelligence literacy involves understanding key concepts such as decision tree algorithms, which are essential for making informed decisions in numerous fields. To support K-12 curricula that foster artificial intelligence literacy, we developed a novel, easy-to-use software tool to teach middle school students about decision trees. We present FaunaForest, an interactive web application that allows students to complete decision tree puzzles, helping them learn what decision trees are and how they function. In this work, our research questions were: (RQ1) What evidence is there of learning within FaunaForest?; (RQ2) Are there any differences in learning outcomes between different grade levels?; and (RQ3) Is FaunaForest engaging? We collected and analyzed both quantitative and qualitative data. Our findings showed that students who played Level 3 of FaunaForest multiple times demonstrated a statistically significant improvement in performance compared to those who played it only once. Overall, the students enjoyed playing FaunaForest and made meaningful connections to ideas they had encountered before.