How To Use AI In Education – For Teachers And Students

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QUESTION I:

How has AI made an impact in K-12 education in general and in your learning environment specifically?

AI is helping us take a critical look at how we’re doing things and also is helping us by taking some load off of us. Let’s dive in.

AI is so new but we have the opportunity of taking the lead of our children who are already tech savvy. They are the original iGen after all.

The speed with with AI has arrived in our classrooms has been disruptive to say the least. But, it has brought with it a positive outlook that we might be able to solve a lot of problems and address a lot of gaps in how and what we’re teaching our 21st generation kids.

We can look the myriad of education tools that are available in AI to help us out in our pedagogical journey. We can narrow in on the tools that use our personal data responsibly when giving our children access to these to help them in their milestones.

AI is transforming the roles of educators, who are willing to adapt and learn what it has to offer us. There are so many resources out there in generative AI that we can use to harness our productivity and impact our culture of learning.

Imagine getting information from a group and having to synthesize it to provide a summary. Because AI is scalable and has the speed that humans can replicate, the process of summarizing large amounts of data to help our understanding and learning is amazing.

Look at this transcript of a chat GPT answer to my question: 

What do children wish their teachers knew?

I had written about this teacher who had asked her students this question and the answers were heartbreaking, to inspiring to jaw dropping.

You can find it HERE.

Here’s what Chat GPT told me.

Children may have a variety of wishes and feelings about what they would like their teachers to know, as their needs and experiences can vary widely. Here are some common sentiments that children may wish their teachers knew:

1. **I Have Feelings:** Children want their teachers to recognize that they have emotions and feelings, just like adults. They may wish their teachers understood that they can feel sad, happy, anxious, or frustrated at times.

2. **I Learn Differently:** Every child has a unique learning style. Some may learn better through hands-on activities, while others prefer reading or listening. Children may want their teachers to know that they have different ways of understanding and processing information.

3. **I Need Support:** Children may wish their teachers understood when they are struggling with a particular subject or concept. They may want help and support, but sometimes they are afraid to ask for it.

4. **I Want to Be Seen:** Children often want to be acknowledged and recognized for their efforts and achievements, both academically and personally. They may wish their teachers noticed their accomplishments and praised their hard work.

5. **I Have Interests Outside of School:** Children have hobbies, interests, and activities they are passionate about outside of the classroom. They may wish their teachers knew about these interests and were supportive of them.

6. **I May Be Dealing with Challenges:** Children may face personal challenges at home or in their lives that affect their behavior or academic performance. They may want their teachers to be aware of these challenges and provide understanding and empathy.

7. **I Want to Be Included:** Children want to feel included and accepted by their peers. They may wish their teachers fostered a positive and inclusive classroom environment where all students feel welcome.

8. **I Need Clear Expectations:** Children may want their teachers to communicate clear expectations for behavior and assignments. Knowing what is expected of them can reduce anxiety and help them perform better in school.

9. **I Have Dreams and Aspirations:** Children have dreams and goals for the future. They may want their teachers to encourage and support their aspirations, no matter how big or small.

10. **I Value Relationships:** Children often form strong bonds with their teachers, and they may wish their teachers knew how much these relationships mean to them. Positive teacher-student relationships can have a lasting impact on a child’s life.

It’s important for teachers to create an open and supportive classroom environment where children feel comfortable sharing their thoughts and feelings. Building strong teacher-student relationships and being attentive to students’ needs and concerns can enhance the educational experience for both teachers and students.

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QUESTION II:

What are the challenges and opportunities for educators when integrating Al in their STEM teaching and learning environments?

When using AI for classrooms or administrative purposes, we must be mindful of any antiquated data of research and best practices that the AI models have been trained on. To eliminate that risk, its best to have current data PDFs handy so we can upload into the tools when we use them.

We have to ask if the models been trained on inclusivity and accessibility? Do the AI models have algorithms that might promote biases and stereotypes? We cannot continue to perpetuate these preconceived notions that exist in society, so we must have an open discussion of how the AI models are being developed.

Challenges: 

For most of us who are interested in using AI for education, there are concerns of how we can stop academic dishonesty? How can we use these tools in an ethical way?

Also, one concern is that we have access to a lot of tools, but not enough resources on how to use them. The other concern is when we’re looking for tools for direct instruction or help with administration, it’s easy to get overwhelmed with the amount of choices we have.

When using AI for STEM, where both fields require a lot of training, its challenging to understand the overlap of the right tools to keep ethics and right motivation intact. Teachers have to be comfortable with both content and curriculum and the right use of the tools to be able to conduct a beneficial classroom instruction for children.

Opportunities:

Helps streamlining processes. It can help with a lot of administrative overhead that teachers face in managing their time. So they can be spending more time in direct instruction like how we would.

In STEM classrooms, there’s a lot of scope for enhanced personalization. In some STEM classrooms, the learning curve can be pretty steep for children, but with the help of AI, we can meet children where they are. Also, the other added benefit is that AI can help provide faster feedback to children who are working on a problem and help them course correct if needed. The real time feedback and assessment from AI can be a game changer for kids and their learning process.

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How AI Can Help: 

How to create discussion questions for the classroom? Here’s a sample that an educator is asking AI.

© Education Week

Also, AI is very good at roleplay. Here’s a sample of that.

© Education Week

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Continued Here In Part II: 

Find it HERE.

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CITED WORKS And Copyright:

This is a summary of the webinar hosted by Education Week on Sep 12th, 2023:
“Transforming Your STEM Classroom: AI and Technology In Action.”

Workshop Description: Elevate STEM education with AI! Join our webinar to discover personalized learning, adaptive assessments, and intelligent tutoring systems powered by AI. In this workshop, we explored ideas on: Personalized learning, Adaptive assessments and Intelligent tutoring systems driven by AI

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Inside The Ideal 21st Century Classroom

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