Imagining Culturally and Linguistically Sustaining AI Literacy in K-12 Schools: A Participatory Design-Based Approach to Phenomenography

Abstract

This study explores the qualitative variation in how educators in Denver Public Schools (DPS) design, implement and conceive of culturally and linguistically (CLS) sustaining approaches to AI literacy through a design-based research (DBR) phenomenographic study. This research grounded in a Digital Intersectional Feminist conceptual framework responds to global calls for participatory CLS AI literacy, national mandates for AI integration into education, and local demands from staff, students, and families to center ethics, equity, and inclusion. Through a 45-hour professional development unit (PDU), participants co-design, implement, and refine contextualized, interdisciplinary AI-infused lessons through DBR communities of practice. Phenomenographic data analysis captures the variation in educators’ conceptions of AI curriculum across diverse settings while also mapping how educators move from technical integration toward more critical, humanizing, and participatory approaches to AI literacy. Findings offer practical tools, community-centered structures, and theoretical insights into supporting ethical, equitable, and inclusive AI literacy in K-12 schools.