Exploring the influencing factors of artificial intelligence literacy acquisition of upper primary students: A path analysis

With the emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) in recent decades, AI literacy has become a critical component of K-12 education. Although research on AI literacy in K-12 education continues to advance, existing studies have largely focused on its definition and conceptualization. There is limited empirical research on the influencing factors of AI literacy, and even less at the primary education level. To address this gap, the present study aimed to explore the relationships among key influencing factors (i.e., affective, behavioral, self-perceived cognitive, and ethical) and their associations with AI literacy acquisition. This study collected a sample of 445 primary school students (aged 8-12), and then structural equation modeling was conducted. To control for potential confounding effects and improve the robustness of the results, background variables were added to the research model. The results of this study revealed a set of positive associations, wherein affective factors are linked to behavioral factors, which in turn are linked to self-perceived cognitive and ethical factors, and to AI literacy acquisition. The result also revealed a suppression effect of the ethical factor on the link between students' self-perceptions and their actual test performance, which suggests a new research direction in AI literacy education. The study enriches our conceptual understanding of AI literacy by revealing the relational structure among its cognitive and non-cognitive components in the primary school context, extending the emergent research line to both dimensions. The findings could provide actionable insights for researchers and educators seeking to explore and integrate AI literacy instruction in primary education.