#999: Shared Epistemic Agency in A Collaborative Game for AI Literacy

This study examines how middle school students enacted shared epistemic agency in Occultation, a collaborative Turing-test game for AI literacy. Analyzing 353 chat messages from 28 students, we find that socio-emotional behaviors — trolling, spamming, and banter — directly triggered epistemic reasoning and regulative coordination, extending Damşa et al.'s (2010) framework. Rather than disruptions, these behaviors functioned as inquiry tools in a low-stakes, teacher-free environment. Findings suggest game-based contexts can productively leverage emotional engagement for collaborative AI literacy learning.