ABSTRACT
The chapter presents the educational project IVE4Thinking aimed at children in the final two years of primary school and implemented through a partially immersive virtual experience with a 3D digital artwork, conceived by the research group and created in pictorial form on the subject of Pachamama (Earth Mother). IVE4Thinking is part of a larger research project on developing a critical relationship between children and AI Technologies, conducted in partnership with Universidad Nacional Autónoma of México (UNAM), Middlesex University of London, West University of Timişoara, the LIFE Lab of the University of Turin and three scholastic institutions linked to the participating universities (five teachers and approximately 100 children). In particular, the chapter will clarify the educational and aesthetic power of immersive virtual environments, discuss the critical-reflective significance associated with the relationship between human beings and AI technologies that can be recognized in the artwork conceived on the theme of Pachamama, and outline the structure of the research project that includes this training activity to enhance children’s critical competences in understanding and managing AI Technologies.
