#1185: Designing the Next Generation of Computational Modeling and Learning with AI

As generative AI rapidly transforms how humans interact with computation, it challenges the foundations of many educational technologies designed to teach coding, modeling, and computational thinking. Systems that were once built around writing or arranging code—whether block-based or text-based—now coexist with tools that generate programs through natural language. This workshop invites the learning sciences and design research community to collectively explore how educational technologies that include coding must be re-envisioned in light of these shifts. What will it mean to “code,” “debug,” or “model” when AI becomes a co-author? How might our existing environments—like MoDa, a block-based modeling platform, or text-based NetLogo simulations—need to be rethought for an era where learners reason through prompts, outputs, and model interpretation rather than syntax and structure? Our goal is to identify key design principles, challenges, and opportunities to guide the next generation of AI-powered computational learning environments.