Glitch’n is a youth-led, community-driven initiative that engages teens and young adults with electronics through circuit bending. The program has proven effective across diverse contexts—including neurodiverse classrooms and underrepresented communities—where students quickly transition from learners to facilitators of public pop-up events. This work was previously supported by a two-year NSF AISL EAGER award that has completed its intervention phase.

Building on this foundation, Glitch’n AI introduces a hands-on, arts-oriented EE and AI curriculum for high school students. The project extends Glitch’n’s focus on creativity, accessibility, and failure as a productive mode of learning while integrating core AI concepts—perceptrons and spiking neural networks (SNNs)—through tinkering and design-based play. We have prototyped a neuromorphic hardware board that links with CMOS logic circuits from the Glitch’n course, enabling students to explore AI via the same glitching techniques that made the original program effective and engaging.

Funding will support curriculum iteration with Glitch’n alumni, a peer mentorship program linking previous fellows with a new cohort, two think-aloud workshop studies, and multiple rounds of neuromorphic hardware prototyping in collaboration with ASU GAME School undergraduates. The study will generate data on student learning outcomes and contribute to theory building—areas of current deficit in AI education research.

 Glitch’n AI aims to lower barriers to AI literacy, strengthen STEM identity development, and expand models of curriculum design. Results will inform both theoretical frameworks and practical approaches, positioning the project for future funding through the revised NSF STEM K-12 program and supplemental NSF calls for hands-on AI integration.