Building to Understand: Examining Teens' Technical and Socio-Ethical Pieces of Understandings in the Construction of Small Generative Language Models

Fuente: arXiv
Salvato in:
Dettagli Bibliografici
Autori principali: Morales-Navarro, Luis, Noh, Daniel J., Servat, Lucianne, Netting, Carly, Kafai, Yasmin B., Metaxa, Danaé
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2026
Soggetti:
Accesso online:
Tags: Aggiungi Tag
Nessun Tag, puoi essere il primo ad aggiungerne!!
_version_ 1866915939180609536
author Morales-Navarro, Luis
Noh, Daniel J.
Servat, Lucianne
Netting, Carly
Kafai, Yasmin B.
Metaxa, Danaé
author_facet Morales-Navarro, Luis
Noh, Daniel J.
Servat, Lucianne
Netting, Carly
Kafai, Yasmin B.
Metaxa, Danaé
contents The rising adoption of generative AI/ML technologies increases the need to support teens in developing AI/ML literacies. Child-computer interaction research argues that construction activities can support young people in understanding these systems and their implications. Recent exploratory studies demonstrate the feasibility of engaging teens in the construction of very small generative language models (LMs). However, it is unclear how constructing such models may foster the development of teens' understanding of these systems from technical and socio-ethical perspectives. We conducted a week-long participatory design workshop in which sixteen teenagers constructed very small LMs to generate recipes, screenplays, and songs. Using thematic analysis, we identified technical and socio-ethical pieces of understandings that teens exhibited while designing generative LMs. This paper contributes (a) evidence of the kinds of pieces of understandings that teens have when constructing LMs and (b) a theory-backed framing to study novices' understandings of AI/ML systems.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2603_25852
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Building to Understand: Examining Teens' Technical and Socio-Ethical Pieces of Understandings in the Construction of Small Generative Language Models
Morales-Navarro, Luis
Noh, Daniel J.
Servat, Lucianne
Netting, Carly
Kafai, Yasmin B.
Metaxa, Danaé
Human-Computer Interaction
Computers and Society
H.5.0; K.3.2
The rising adoption of generative AI/ML technologies increases the need to support teens in developing AI/ML literacies. Child-computer interaction research argues that construction activities can support young people in understanding these systems and their implications. Recent exploratory studies demonstrate the feasibility of engaging teens in the construction of very small generative language models (LMs). However, it is unclear how constructing such models may foster the development of teens' understanding of these systems from technical and socio-ethical perspectives. We conducted a week-long participatory design workshop in which sixteen teenagers constructed very small LMs to generate recipes, screenplays, and songs. Using thematic analysis, we identified technical and socio-ethical pieces of understandings that teens exhibited while designing generative LMs. This paper contributes (a) evidence of the kinds of pieces of understandings that teens have when constructing LMs and (b) a theory-backed framing to study novices' understandings of AI/ML systems.
title Building to Understand: Examining Teens' Technical and Socio-Ethical Pieces of Understandings in the Construction of Small Generative Language Models
topic Human-Computer Interaction
Computers and Society
H.5.0; K.3.2
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.25852