Exploring K-12 Teachers' Perceptions of Students' Relationships with AI Companions: Boundaries, Intervention Strategies, and Design Implications

2026-09-11

AI Summary

研究通过访谈33位K-12教师，探讨了他们对学生与AI伙伴关系的看法及干预策略，提出了AI伴侣素养的概念以扩展AI教育。

Abstract

K-12 students increasingly form relationships with AI companions. Schools face growing expectations to teach AI literacy, yet existing frameworks treat AI as a tool rather than a relationship, and little is known about how teachers understand and act on students' relational use of AI. We conducted scenario-based interviews with 33 US K-12 teachers. Teachers welcomed academic companions but worried that intimate companions remove the developmental friction through which students learn to sustain human relationships. Teachers drew the boundaries of their jurisdiction by setting and observable wellbeing: within it they taught, talked, and watched; beyond it they positioned themselves as the adults best placed to notice and connect students with support. They envisioned AI companion literacy as shared work across the jurisdictions of counselors, parents, platforms, and policymakers, spiraling across grade levels. We introduce AI companion literacy as an extension of AI literacy and discuss implications for K-12 AI education.

Problem

• K-12 Teachers
• AI Companions
• Relationships
• Boundaries
• Intervention Strategies

Innovation

• AI companion literacy
• relational use of AI
• jurisdiction boundaries
• shared work across stakeholders
• scenario-based interviews