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It seems evident to that leveraging digital platforms will empower teachers to implement the kind of blended learning that is central to the new curriculum and modern education as a whole. The projects showcased in the Minecraft competitions are a testament to this potential.
I cannot imagine a more striking example of accelerated learning than what has been demonstrated here. Incorporating coding into learning not only enhances mathematical thinking but also offers students who may be indifferent to languages a fresh perspective on the subject.
These approaches not only teach essential skills that are highly relevant in today’s world but also foster new ways of thinking that will benefit pupils for the duration of their lives. Additionally, the naturally scaffolded delivery is evident in how the system defaults to Codebuilder, with the option to view and edit work in JavaScript and Python, further enriching the learning experience.
Creatively teaching STEM in this manner is truly encouraging for the future of education. I have personally witnessed the connection between creativity and STEM through my experiences in music, where I played for years alongside CERN scientists who shared with me the profound link between the arts and sciences. There is no reason why this connection would not hold true here. As Albert Einstein said “Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution.”
I have to temper my excitement about how closely education is aligning with an ideal learning environment, and I do question whether my inexperience as a teacher might be fueling this naive enthusiasm, but it genuinely feels as though we are nearing that goal.
Curriculum area:
Mathematics – Fractions: Students explore and apply fractions by dividing structures into equal parts within Minecraft, enhancing their understanding through hands-on, visual representation.Learning Outcomes:
Empowering Active Participation: Students will develop skills in fractions by actively participating in the creation of structures that visually represent specific fractions.
Project-Based Learning: Engage in a project that simulates real-world collaboration, fostering creativity, problem-solving, and teamwork.
Peer Teaching: Students will teach each other concepts of fractions, reinforcing their understanding through collaboration and peer support.Student Roles:
Project Leader: Oversees the project, ensuring alignment with learning objectives and effective team collaboration.
Builder: Constructs the project within Minecraft, applying fraction concepts to create accurate and creative structures.
Researcher: Ensures the project reflects accurate fraction usage and meets the learning goals.
Presenter: Prepares and delivers a presentation, explaining how fractions were applied and the challenges encountered.
Supporting Work:
Pre-Lesson Preparation: Includes discussions, research, and brainstorming to ensure students are prepared for the project.
Teacher Guidance: Essential throughout to scaffold the learning experience and provide necessary support.
scaffolded Resources: Worksheets and visual models provided to help students understand and apply fractions.Build Challenge or Project Prompt:
Project Prompt:
Build a Fraction Park in Minecraft where different areas represent specific fractions of the total space. For example, create a garden that covers 1/3 of the park and a playground that covers 1/4.
Inclusivity:
The challenge allows students to work at their own pace, with differentiation by outcome ensuring all students receive encouragement and recognition.
Assessment : Students will be evaluated on their ability to accurately represent fractions, collaborate effectively, and solve problems creatively.
Digital tools create engaging and interactive learning experiences through their remarkable adaptability, offering personalised content that meets students’ individual needs. These tools not only enhance learning but also provide valuable data for self-evaluation and guiding instructional adjustments. By integrating AI tutoring, for instance, we can pinpoint sources of confusion and offer scaffolded support, expanding students’ zones of proximal development.
Moreover, digital tools foster collaboration, allowing students to work together in real-time, and support differentiation, ensuring all learners, including those with special needs, are included. The absence of an undo function in tools like Minecraft teaches resilience, a crucial skill for neurodiverse students.
As I develop my use of digital technology, the impact extends beyond my classroom, contributing to a culture of innovation within the school. By aligning my practices with the School Self-Evaluation guidelines and the Digital Strategy for Schools to 2027, I ensure that my instructional methods are data-driven, reflective, and continuously improving. This not only enhances student outcomes but also strengthens the overall digital literacy and innovation culture within the school.
I will be using DallE to reverse engineer prompts from pictures that it has generated, using quizizz to make quizzes for my class and twee to make questions for educational youtube videos we will be watching. Most importantly I will be sharing all of this with colleagues who I know will find it interesting as this typically returns a benefit in kind stimulating further innovation.
Lesson plan AI
Lesson in History and Science/Technology
WALT (We Are Learning To)
Understand and explain key technological advancements and their impacts on society and the economy.
WILF (What I’m Looking For)
Students must identify and analyse major technologies, showing their effects on historical and economic contexts and producing the framework for a presentation.
Objective:
• Students will be introduced to the project on transformative technologies.
• Students will understand the impact of historical tech on society & the economy.
• Students will select a technology to research and present.
Material:
Card, paper, etc for a poster.
Interactive whiteboard
Laptops/tablets
AI use:
ChatGPT to help students develop questions that they need to answer in their research
Early finishers – Show how to use Quizizz to create interactive quizzes that students can use to test their classmates’ understanding at the end of the presentation phase.
Warm up – 10mmins
Begin by discussing what the pupils know about historically relevant technology.
Ask students what they know about key technological inventions and how these have transformed society.
Create a quick pole on the most impactful tech and use this as the source of technologies for the presentations.
Introduction – 10 mins
Outline the WALT & WILF
Research skills – 15 mins
Review critical thinking techniques for credible sources, note taking and summarising key information.
Group Formation and Topic Selection (15 minutes)
Divide students into small groups & facilitate a brainstorming session within groups to choose which technology they want to research.
Initial Research Phase (10 minutes)
Allow groups to start their initial research to confirm the viability of their chosen technology.
Encourage them to gather basic information that outlines the significance of the technology.
Conclusion and Homework (5 minutes)
Conclude by reviewing and some “What we did not know before” items
Homework – gather 2 facts or sources to discuss in the next class
I really like the idea of using AI to generate biased historical articles. The power of having pupils analyse a prompt and relate it to the objective of the historical parties involved is fun on a basic level yet naturally differentiated for group discussion, especially in critical thinking. I imagine a branch of learning using this approach to explore a range of topics such as media literacy and ethical ai education and I think it is exiting to know that more ideas will be thought up internationally as adoption takes place. It is also interesting to have pupils internalise the idea that teachers are not always correct thus promoting mistakes as a way to learn and hopefully shedding the fear that some pupils have around wrong answers. I tend to be quite cynical when we discuss advertising in class and have found it hard to deliver real understanding as to why I feel that way about any kind of promotional material. I can see great potential in analysing the differences between honest and subtly sneaky promotional prompts to work through the four stages of health education outlined in this fourth module.
Yes, rolling out AI technology without due diligence is a real worry. The test class in China appears to use children as objects of experiment with a high % of acceptance from parents and teachers. There are so many ethical concerns here to unpack with a seemingly questionable framework of the reason for enrolling children in education but also tremendously worrying attitudes toward the use of power. It shows signs of increased pressure and stress on some children while ignoring potential data errors from fundamental concerns over the effectiveness of the tech. One scientist noted being ‘itchy’ while wearing the device having the effect of registering as a lapse in concentration, which is grossly unfair combined with acceptance of efficacy from those in power. It seems quite irresponsible and also very apathetic to subject children to this beta version of AI, especially considering a fundamental GDPR flaw in that this type of study cannot guarantee anonymity to the participants. However, though the Chinese example is disturbing this is a global issue and the west is just as guilty. We are systematically failing children with a lack of safeguarding around social media use powered by unregulated AI for some time.
There is tremendous potential in many of these resources. I currently use ChatGPT to create content as I have a premium account. So, the obvious question for me is what kind of issues will I encounter with the limits of the free versions of the shared tools. For example, a clear outlier for me is the twee youtube questions creator as being able to combine new and interesting video with relevant questions that are quickly generated is huge. Still, again I won’t know how I feel about it until I’ve used it a while, so later in September. I will also be using Dall E 3 as a reverse prompt generator as per your suggestion since I have access to this and have used it before in class, so thank you kindly for this ingenious switch up for the pupils to write out what they think is the prompt, this is surely the greatest gift I have received from this c0ourse so far. I guess this whole process is a learning curve and it is important to remind ourselves of that along the way.
Finding time for individual work in class is extremely taxing with upwards of 30 pupils in class. Having a teaching assistant in AI that could free up teaching time by analysing data related to learning offering accurate individualised solutions while taking care of corrections and other mundane tasks would be a tremendous benefit. If we consider the practical application of educational theory it is exciting to imagine reducing less useful work by teachers with truly effective action in guiding a class with purpose and direction, not merely surviving the day one task at a time but a higher order of pursuing a better educational life for all stakeholders in education.
The uses of AI in the classroom are vast and will likely develop into uses that we could not dream 0f at present. Applying a personal tutor that each pupil can access will change education profoundly. This tutor will be able to build a profile of the individual pupil and create an environment of proximal learning that will maximise potential through precise focus on aspects that need clarification, directing learning accordingly. The idea of scaffolding just enough and preempting areas of confusion with instant encouraging prompts is profound in its effectiveness in reducing frustration and assisting flow of thought and learning.