Design AI for My Community: A Case Study of Collaborative Learning in a Freedom-to-Read Summer Camp

Fostering AI literacy among youth from diverse communities with unique values and challenges is crucial.This requires critical pedagogy and education inclusion that empower students-especially those from marginalized backgrounds-to engage with technology meaningfully and address societal inequities.We developed a summer camp with the theme "Protect the Freedom to READ".By inviting students to collaboratively design AI for their community, the camp deepened their AI understanding and empowered them to create applications that honor their community's values.Collaborative AI design developed higherorder thinking skills.Additionally, critical pedagogy played a key role in enabling children to apply AI skills toward innovative, community-focused applications, positioning them as advocates for ethical and inclusive technology.