From hate speech to societal empowerment : a pedagogical journey through computational thinking and NLP for high school students

Publication type
C1
Publication status
Published
Authors
Cignarella, ATC, Chierchiello, E., Ferrando, C., Frenda, S., Lo, S., & Marra, A.
Editor
Sana Al-azzawi, Laura Biester, György Kovács, Ana Marasović, Leena Mathur, Margot Mieskes and Leonie Weissweiler
Series
Proceedings of the Sixth Workshop on Teaching NLP
Pagination
54-65
Publisher
Association for Computational Linguistics (ACL)
Conference
6th Workshop on Teaching Natural Language Processing (TeachNLP 2024) (Bangkok, Thailand)
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Abstract

The teaching laboratory we have created integrates methodologies to address the topic of hate speech on social media among students while fostering computational thinking and AI education for societal impact. We provide a foundational understanding of hate speech and introduce computational concepts using matrices, bag of words, and practical exercises in platforms like Colaboratory. Additionally, we emphasize the application of AI, particularly in NLP, to address real-world challenges. Through retrospective evaluation, we assess the efficacy of our approach, aiming to empower students as proactive contributors to societal betterment. With this paper we present an overview of the laboratory’s structure, the primary materials used, and insights gleaned from six editions conducted to the present date.