Research Proposal

Tyler Mercado

Exposition and Argument H5

Professor Erin Kelly

Research Paper

1 November 2016

AI and Learning

Technology has been integrating into human lives for decades now, but as this technology grows so does its impact. In this research project I will address the impacts that technology, more specifically AI, have on the education and growth of children. Children in the 21st century are interacting with technology from the earliest stages of life and have begun to develop differently from previous generations as a result. Children are no longer learning from other humans but rather the technology being used to educate them. Through this research paper I plan to analyze the difference in views on technology between adults and children, and in doing so discover the potential impacts that advancing technology can have on future generations. In addition to learning the future impacts and implications of technology I also hope to see what technology can reveal about our human nature.

Children in the modern era are no longer see technology as just a tool for human use but rather as something with potential to even become human. A line from Sherry Turkle's “Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other” states, “Children spoke about an ‘animal kind of alive’ and a ‘computer kind of alive.’ Now I hear them talk about a ‘people kind of love’ and a ‘robot kind of love’” (Turkle 462). Turkle analyzes the reactions that children have to AI’s, such as tamagotchis and furbis, and how these children reflect their own ideas and emotions onto these AIs. Turkle's essay along with other sources, such as Cathy Davidson's “Project Classroom Makeover”, shows the differences in opinions on technology between more modern generations and their predecessors. Turkle's essay ultimately succeeds  in showing the readers not only the impacts that technology have on child development but also gives us insight into human nature.

In order to understand how technology can impact human development it is important to understand how the human mind works. Sources, such as “ The Mind's Eye” by Oliver Sacks and Special Technology For Special Children by E. Paul Goldenberg, give us insight into how the brain functions and is capable of change. Sacks essay reveals how people who develop blindness ultimately learn to use imagery to develop their own sense of sight, while Goldenberg's book shows us a direct impact that technology can have on the development of children with disabilities. Each of these cases once again succeeds in showing us not only how technology impacts human development but also gives us deeper insight into human nature.

Ultimately, the purpose of this research paper is to not only see how advancing technology can impact child development, but also to see what technology can reveal about human nature.