Robot Presidents: Who should rule the world?: Teaching Critical Thinking in AI through Reflections upon Food Traditions

The goal of this study is to explore new educational strategies to stimulate children's critical reflections upon ethical and social issues on Human-Robot Interaction. We use food practices as a conversational prop with children to reflect upon the complexity of social norms and cultural traditions that surround a family meal. We bridge then these concepts with the critical reflection upon the potentials and limitations of AI to address issues that arise from cultural diversity in society. Therefore, we conducted an exploratory study with 23 primary school students in a cultural diversity context. The results showed that our strategy sparked key discussions on wicked problems about AI, gender inequality and how traditions shape norms and rules in our social life. We point towards possible future directions to engage children in reflective practice through playful embodied design methods and human-food interactions.