This book brings together global experts to explore the transformative potential of artificial intelligence (AI) in early childhood and primary education.
This book brings together global experts to explore the transformative potential of artificial intelligence (AI) in early childhood and primary education.
Through a combination of theoretical insights and practical case studies, it examines how AI technologies can enrich learning, empower educators, and address key challenges, from the evolving needs of young learners to ethical considerations, digital equity and teacher preparedness. Topics covered in the book include AI-assisted bilingual language development, robot-supported pedagogy, generative AI integration and AI-driven assessment tools. Through real-world examples and research-based strategies, the book demonstrates how AI can support personalised learning, foster creativity and improve educational outcomes without replacing the vital role of teachers. It encourages educators to engage with AI in a confident and critical manner, offering guidance on implementation while maintaining a strong focus on inclusion, child development and responsible practice. Written in clear, accessible language, this book is a practical guide to the opportunities and challenges of AI-enhanced education in the years ahead.
This timely resource will appeal to educators, researchers, and students of educational technology, early childhood education and primary education, as well as policy professionals interested in understanding how to meaningfully integrate AI into early learning environments.
Part I Foundations & Ethics: Historical Context, Ethical framing, and
Why AI Matters for Young Learners
1. Developing Minds, Smart Classrooms and
Artificial Intelligence:A Present-Future Merger
2. Starting Early: Ethics and
AI in Education
3. Empowering Literacy with AI: Implications for Teaching,
Ethics, and Policy Part II Building Educator Capacity & AI Literacy:
Equipping Teachers with AI lLiteracy, Prompt-Engineering Skills, and
Equitable Training
4. Fostering AI Literacy in Primary Education with
LearningML: Practical Classroom Examples Using Machine Learning
5. The
AI-Ready Educator: Prompt Engineering for Empowerment in Early Childhood
Education and Care
6. Evaluating AI Teacher-Training Curricula through a Lens
of Equity, Ethics, and Justice
7. AI in Early and Primary Education:
Societal, Classroom, and Teacher Perspectives on Ethical and Pedagogical
Integration Part III Classroom Tools & Assessment Practices: Hands-on AI
Tutors, Chatbots, Generative-AI Question Design, and Assessment Pipelines
8.
AI Tutors and Multilingual Development: A Literature-Based Analysis
9. AI
Tutors: From Promise to Practice in Primary and Early Education
10. AI-Driven
Chatbots in Flipped-Classroom Mathematics Education: Enhancing Learning
Achievement and Self-Efficacy in Pre-Service Primary Teachers
11. Designing
Classroom Assessments with Generative AI: A Teacher-in-the-Loop Framework
Part IV Policy, Implementation & Future Directions: System-Level Governance,
Adaptive-Learning Policy, and Visionary Outlook
12. AI-Driven Assessment in
Early and Primary Education: Tools, Strategies, and Ethical Considerations
13. Generative AI in Primary Education: Policies, Practices, and
Adaptive-Learning Innovations
14. Nurturing the Future: AIs Role in Shaping
Early and Primary Education
Stamatios Papadakis is an assistant professor at the University of Crete, Greece. His research interests include educational technology, computational thinking, educational robotics, and the pedagogical integration of generative artificial intelligence.
