{"id":{"repo_id":"mit","oai_identifier":"oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/139863"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/mit/oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/139863","repository":{"repo_id":"mit","name":"MIT","base_url":"https://dspace.mit.edu/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Learning from Experience: An Interactive and Ethical Curriculum for Teaching Reinforcement Learning","abstract":"As AI becomes prevalent in society, AI education and AI literacy are also increasingly important fields. Reinforcement learning (RL) plays and will continue to play an intense role in many systems, including online advertising, self-driving cars, and personalized tutoring. There is a corresponding need for education of RL. In my thesis work, I developed activities and materials that teach RL to middle and high school students who don’t necessarily have backgrounds in computer science or AI. Then, I evaluated these materials by teaching a series of pilot workshops. The project had two main goals: effectively educating the students in the workshops, and contributing insights to the ongoing research of AI education. In this thesis, I will go over the curriculum design, as well as the analysis of each pilot.","abstract_html":"As AI becomes prevalent in society, AI education and AI literacy are also increasingly important fields. Reinforcement learning (RL) plays and will continue to play an intense role in many systems, including online advertising, self-driving cars, and personalized tutoring. There is a corresponding need for education of RL. In my thesis work, I developed activities and materials that teach RL to middle and high school students who don’t necessarily have backgrounds in computer science or AI. Then, I evaluated these materials by teaching a series of pilot workshops. The project had two main goals: effectively educating the students in the workshops, and contributing insights to the ongoing research of AI education. In this thesis, I will go over the curriculum design, as well as the analysis of each pilot.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Hoekstra, Chessa Nicole"],"institution":"Massachusetts Institute of Technology","degree_name":"Master","degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":"Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science","school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Breazea, Cynthia Lynn"],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2021,"date_issued":"2021-09","date_published":"2021-09","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:22:30Z","subjects":[],"languages":[],"rights":["In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted","Copyright MIT"],"rights_urls":["http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-EDU/1.0/"],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/139863","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Breazea, Cynthia Lynn"]},{"key":"dc:contributor.department","label":"Department","values":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Hoekstra, Chessa Nicole"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2022-02-07T15:09:21Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2022-02-07T15:09:21Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2021-09"]},{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master","Master of Engineering in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted","Copyright MIT"]},{"key":"dc:rights.uri","label":"Rights URI","values":["http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-EDU/1.0/"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/139863"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["As AI becomes prevalent in society, AI education and AI literacy are also increasingly important fields. Reinforcement learning (RL) plays and will continue to play an intense role in many systems, including online advertising, self-driving cars, and personalized tutoring. There is a corresponding need for education of RL. In my thesis work, I developed activities and materials that teach RL to middle and high school students who don’t necessarily have backgrounds in computer science or AI. Then, I evaluated these materials by teaching a series of pilot workshops. The project had two main goals: effectively educating the students in the workshops, and contributing insights to the ongoing research of AI education. In this thesis, I will go over the curriculum design, as well as the analysis of each pilot."]},{"key":"dc:description.degree","label":"Dc Description Degree","values":["M.Eng."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Learning from Experience: An Interactive and Ethical Curriculum for Teaching Reinforcement Learning"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Breazea, Cynthia Lynn"],"dc:contributor.department":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science"],"dc:creator":["Hoekstra, Chessa Nicole"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2022-02-07T15:09:21Z"],"dc:date.available":["2022-02-07T15:09:21Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2021-09"],"dc:description.abstract":["As AI becomes prevalent in society, AI education and AI literacy are also increasingly important fields. Reinforcement learning (RL) plays and will continue to play an intense role in many systems, including online advertising, self-driving cars, and personalized tutoring. There is a corresponding need for education of RL. In my thesis work, I developed activities and materials that teach RL to middle and high school students who don’t necessarily have backgrounds in computer science or AI. Then, I evaluated these materials by teaching a series of pilot workshops. The project had two main goals: effectively educating the students in the workshops, and contributing insights to the ongoing research of AI education. In this thesis, I will go over the curriculum design, as well as the analysis of each pilot."],"dc:description.degree":["M.Eng."],"dc:identifier.uri":["https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/139863"],"dc:publisher":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology"],"dc:rights":["In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted","Copyright MIT"],"dc:rights.uri":["http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-EDU/1.0/"],"dc:title":["Learning from Experience: An Interactive and Ethical Curriculum for Teaching Reinforcement Learning"],"dc:type":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master","Master of Engineering in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:22:30Z"}