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I agree Claire. I think it is inevitable that teachers will be integrating AI into out teaching in the future and I feel it’s something we should embrace, not fear. Apart from the time saving element of lesson planning and resource preparation, I feel we need to empower our pupils to use it effectively too. I found the TED talk at the end of module 5 very impressive, especially around how Ai can be incorporated into the classroom in ways that engage pupils in critical thinking. e.g. using use the chatbot to adapt the voice of a famous scientist and engage in a stimulating conversation about their discoveries. I feel that all learners would respond to this and absorb so much more information than they would if they simply read this information from a text book. AI could also help pupils to edit their writing and research and some advanced (all be it expensive) tools could provide individualised tutoring, meeting all pupils at the level that they’re at.
I’m basing my lesson plant on a History lesson for a sixth class group with the focus on ‘Feasts and Festivals Around the World’.
Objectives:
Pupils should be enabled to:
– in groups, identify and describe a feast or festival for a country that has been assigned to them
– explain the cultural significance or traditions associated with these celebrations.
– utilise an AI tool to research and gather information effectively.
– present their findings clearly to their peers.I would do this lesson in October and begin with a chat about Halloween traditions in Ireland. Then I would explain that today they will explore how people around the world celebrate different feasts and festivals, and how AI can help them learn. As a class, brainstorm a few well-known international festivals (e.g., Diwali, Chinese New Year, Carnival, Eid al-Fitr). Briefly discuss what they already know using a KWL chart.
Then I would assign each group a specific feast or festival to research. At this point I would explain how to use the AI chatbot for research for those who haven’t used it before and I would emphasise clear, concise questions/prompts. E.g. ‘What are the main traditions of (assigned festival)?’, ‘When is (assigned festival) celebrated?’ ‘What food is typically eaten during (assigned festival)?’ I would also ask the pupils to use AI to generate an image to represent their feast/festival.
The pupils will be given time to conduct their research. They will record it as a poster and present it to the class at the end of the lesson. I’d probably do this over two lessons, spending the first lesson researching and creating the project and the second lesson presenting them to the class.Hi Jacqueline, I also liked Khan Academy Kids and can see how it would benefit children in a SET class. It’s a child friendly app so you’d imagine that as a teacher, you’d be able to let the children work independently for the most part while you circulate. The fact that the children get to pick prizes as they progress should act as motivation that really keeps them engaged and striving to do their best. I’m surprised that this app is free and I hope this doesn’t change in the future. It covers a range of activities allows children to work at their own pace. That for me is the real selling point of this app, especially when you have kids with diverse learning needs. Each child has their own account and teacher can monitor progress of each pupil. It seems like a brilliant free tool for all to use.
I really like Scratch, the visual programming tool that introduces a child to basic coding concepts by allowing them to create their own stories, animations etc I like this because it’s a web based tool so I wouldn’t have to be asking our secretary to download it onto the Chromebooks. After spending some time exploring it for a while, I think it is quite user friendly. I also asked my ten year old son to play with it while gently guiding him through it, and he seemed to enjoy it and get a great kick out of his creation. He loved that there were a variety of ‘sprites’ and backgrounds to choose from and that he had the power to control what the ‘sprite’ did.
I can see how there are opportunities for children to work collaboratively on a project together and how excited they would be to show off what they had created to other groups. I feel like it would be a very good ‘beginner’ app into the world of coding for children.Hi Ciara,
I agree that the apps and tools mentioned in this module have the potential to change how we teach, learn and assess as teachers. Differentiation can be hard in class and very time consuming to organise but these apps certainly have shown that it can be achieved in a small amount of time. In fact, the worksheets and texts generated are so much better than I’d create myself. I also agree that these tools can make learning more fun for the children. I feel the ‘reading coach’ is particularly clever in that way – allowing children to unlock various characters as they progress and also allowing the children to create their own stories. While I understand your hesitation around a.i., I don’t doubt that us teachers will always put the pupils first and foremost and ai cannot cater to most of their needs. It will just help us to do our jobs more efficiently.
This has been my favourite module so far as I feel it provided me with practical hands on tools to improve my teaching for the year ahead. Reading coach is a tool I would use if I was back in the junior end of the school. It is a very impressive tool that allows a reader to pick a character, setting, generate their own stories. They can choose their own adventure and unlock new characters. I feel this would be an incentive for a child to keep reading. I love how it highlights words that the children need to practice and it’s a tool that allows children to read at their own pace. I also like that it generates a progress report that shows your reading time, practices complete, accuracy and correct words per minute.
There were other apps I loved too such as Magic AI that has 60 tools designed to help teachers reduce time on lesson planning, creating assessment, writing IEPs etc. Gamma a.i. was particularly impressive, allowing the user to create documents, powerpoints and websites using the power of ai by pasting text, typing a one line prompt or uploading a file. It allows you to edit the powerpoint, website that it created too. I also really loved ‘Diffit’ too. I can see myself using this to generate resources in a time efficient manner. I’ve been using all of these apps today and I’m excited to use them during the year.Wow Deirdre, it sounds like you’re already very comfortable with using AI in the classroom. I’ve actually taken a few ideas from your reply that I’ll use myself in the future (using AI tools to create backdrops for Christmas plays, Splashlearn which I’ve just dabbled in before replying to your answer and Canva). I agree with you with regard to the use of AI in Chinese schools. While I found that video intriguing in one sense, I found it very unsettling in another. There has to be a time that a child’s mind can wander. They’d get burnt out very quickly if they were expected to ‘be on’ and focused all the time. Also, the video highlighted that the software was very sensitive and may not provide accurate feedback. Ultimately, I think this is taking the use of AI to a level that is not really productive for pupils, teachers or parents. Imagination and creativity would be completely stifled if this technology was in place.
This module has provided an extensive list of resources to choose from to enhance teaching and learning in the classroom. While I was aware of some of them, I had never actually used them and I’ve spent some time today experimenting with them. The tool I’m most looking forward to using is Google Forms. After creating a ‘test’ form, I realise just how quick and easy it will be to use this as a form of assessment in my class. Not only that, it’ll be more time efficient for the children too. Instead of getting them to write out answers to questions based on a topic, it’ll be so much quicker for them to click a multiple choice answer or quickly type an answer into their chromebooks.
The ‘immersive reader’ tool looks very impressive too but I don’t have it on my version of Microsoft Word. I think mine is too old (Word 2013).
I enjoyed learning about the global a.i. applications but when I looked into them further, not all of them are accessible to us here in Ireland either because of our position geographically (e.g. Carnegie looked for a US address), or because the fees are too expensive (e.g. Century starts at £910).Hi Cian, I too was suspicious of a.i. when I first heard about it and had fears that all of us, children included would become too reliant on it. I still have a slight fear of becoming too reliant on it myself but ultimately, this is something I will manage and continue to be aware of.
I’m excited about Khan academy too, especially the Khanmigo element of it.
It looks like you’re ahead of the game in term of using a.i. already, creating interactive stories with images. It sounds very impressive. I have a senior class at the moment but I’d love to think that they’ll do something similar, maybe even in Irish.
I’m excited about artificial intelligence but ignorant about it’s many uses, specifically in the classroom. This module alone has shown me so much and I’m surprised to see just how much a.i. can do. E.g. I didn’t realise that a.i. could create an image or video and I can already see how I’m going to save so much time when it comes to looking for resources online. Instead of scrolling through a huge amount of images, I can just ask one of the chatbots (ChatGPT, Gemini or CoPilot) to generate the image for me.
It also has huge potential to impact on future teaching and learning and the video about Khan Academy’s ‘Khanmigo’ has shown how pupils could essentially have an an ‘individual tutor’, turning average pupils into exceptional pupils or below average pupils to average pupils. I like that it is an app that is recorded and viewable by the teacher and moderated by a second AI. Also, and most importantly, it won’t give an answer to a pupil. It highlights the pupil’s area of difficulty and works through it with the child.
There was also mention of making assessment easier and I can see how an online quiz would not only be a time saver for a teacher, but it would be a more enjoyable experience for the child too.
