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I really like how you emphasise using AI to support teaching rather than replacing teacher judgement. I also thought your differentiation was very practical with sentence starters and partner discussion providing good support. Its also important that you highlighted the importance of checking AI generated content before using it with children.
Throughout this course I have become more aware of the different ways AI could be integrated into my teaching. I would like to use AI as a supportive tool for teaching and learning within my class. It is my hope that AI will inspire me to create new lessons as well as rejuvenate lessons I already have. For example, I could use Magicschool AI to generate ideas for lesson plans, differentiate activities, quizzes, classroom resources and assessment. I would then review and adapt the generated material to ensure it is appropriate to the needs of my pupils. I would also use Diffit to support differentiation in my class by generating adapted and scaffolding materials appropriate to the needs of the learners. I believe the following lesson demonstrates age-appropriate use of AI as well as consideration of potential inaccuracy of AI in a very practical way.
Science & AI Lesson: Autumn Leaf Detectives
Class: Senior Infants & 1st Class
Subject: Science
Theme: Autumn
Duration: 30 minutes
AI Tool: Google Teachable Machine
Strand: Living Things
Strand Unit: Plants and Animals
Learning Intentions
We are learning to:
observe and identify signs of Autumn;
sort and classify Autumn leaves;
understand that AI can learn from examples;
recognise that AI can make mistakes.
Success Criteria
I can:
describe an Autumn leaf;
sort leaves by colour;
explain why I put a leaf in a group;
help train an AI using examples;
check whether the AI’s prediction is correct.
Resources
Green, yellow and brown Autumn leaves
Three sorting hoops/trays
Magnifying glasses
Laptop and interactive whiteboard
Webcam
Google Teachable Machine
Teacher Preparation
Before the lesson, open an Image Project in Teachable Machine and create three categories:
Green Leaves | Yellow Leaves | Brown Leaves1. Introduction – Signs of Autumn
5 minutes
Show the children several Autumn leaves.
Ask:
“What season are we in?”
“What happens to trees in Autumn?”
“What colours can Autumn leaves be?”
“What other signs of Autumn have you noticed?”
Explain:
“Today we’re going to be scientists and investigate Autumn leaves. Then we’re going to see if we can teach a computer to sort them too!”2. Observe and Sort
7 minutes
Give children a selection of leaves to examine.
Ask them to look closely at:
colour;
size;
shape;
texture.
Children then sort the leaves into:
🟢 Green
🟡 Yellow
🟤 Brown
Ask:
“Why did you put your leaf in that group?”
Introduce the word classify:
“When scientists put things into groups because they have something in common, we call it classifying.”
Differentiation
Senior Infants: Focus on identifying and sorting by colour.
1st Class: Encourage children to describe additional features such as shape, size, texture and edges.3. Train Our AI – Teachable Machine
10 minutes
Display Teachable Machine on the interactive whiteboard.
Tell the children:
“We’ve learned how to sort our leaves. Now we’re going to see if we can teach an AI to do it.”
Explain simply:
“AI can learn to recognise patterns when people give it lots of examples.”
Train the model
Using the webcam:
Show several green leaves and capture examples.
Repeat with yellow leaves.
Repeat with brown leaves.
Click Train Model.
Explain:
“These examples are helping the AI learn. We call them training examples.”
While it trains, ask:
“Do you think our AI will recognise a leaf it has never seen before?”4. Test the AI
5 minutes
Choose a new leaf that was not used during training.
Before showing it to the camera, ask:
“What colour do you think the AI will choose?”
Children make their predictions.
Show the leaf to Teachable Machine and compare the result.
Repeat with another leaf.
Then give the AI a challenge: use a mixed green/yellow leaf.
Ask:
“Did the AI get it right?”
“Why might it be confused?”
“Do we always have to agree with the AI?”
Reinforce:
“AI can make mistakes, so people need to check its answers.”5. Plenary
3 minutes
Ask:
“What did we learn about Autumn leaves?”
“How did we sort our leaves?”
“How did we teach the AI?”
“Can AI make mistakes?”
Exit Question
Hold up one final leaf and ask:
“What group would you put this leaf in, and why?”
Key Vocabulary
Science: Autumn, leaf, observe, colour, classify, compare, season
AI: AI, example, pattern, train, prediction
Assessment
The teacher observes whether children can:
identify features of Autumn leaves;
classify leaves by colour;
explain their classification;
make a prediction;
understand that the AI learns from examples;
recognise that an AI prediction can be incorrect.
Key Message
We can use our observations to sort leaves. AI can learn to sort them from examples too, but people need to teach it and check its answers.I really like your idea of using Osmo as part of station teaching. I hadn’t considered this but I think it would be a great way of allowing pupils to engage with the technology independently while also encouraging collaboration and turn-taking. I also agree that the cobination of screen time and physical play is particularly beneficial for younger pupils.
I really like the look of Osmo as an AI application to introduce pupils to AI. I like the fact that it combines hands-on activites with digital technology. I think Osmo would be particularly beneficial in maths where pupils could use the concrete materials already in most schools and combine these with the technology. For example, pupils could use Osmo to solve number problems using physical tiles while receiving immediate feedback from Osmo. I feel this could really support different learning abilities as pupils could work at their own pace and get feedback as they progress. I would also get the pupils to deliberately try unusual answers to test if Osmo always recognises them correctly. This could stimulate a conversation around AI and how it can be inaccurate and the importance of critical thinking when using AI. Overall, I feel Osmo would be an engaging and accessible way for pupils to engage with AI while developing their problem-solving and digital literacy skills.
I agree Martin that Copilot Image Creator is a fantastic tool to demonstrate to students in a very real way how powerful words are and how their use can completely change the presentation of a concept. I think this would make creative writing much more engaging and interactive.
Part 1: Give 2 examples of how you can use some of the tools identified in this module to improve my own teaching learning and assessment.
I will be teaching Senior Infants and 1st class in the coming school year therefore differentiation will play a big part in lesson planning and content delivery. I’m looking forward to trying out Copilot image generator to create images for oral language and story starters. This would be useful to encourage discussion and support generation of ideas from the children. I would also use Gamma to create bespoke powerpoint presentations suiteed to the levels of the class. The language, images and questions could be adapted for both levels while using the same resource.
Part 2:
The more I learn about AI tools and what they can do, the more excited I am about their use and they benefits they will provide to both the children and I. I will admit that learning about all of the tools at once has been rather overwhelming but this is definitely a course where I will be referring back to the notes during the school year. I can see AI beign particularly useful for planning. Teaching Senior Infants and 1st class together means I will need to differentiate alot of lessons and activities. I think Chat GBT and Diffit will be very useful for this. I also hope to use AI for resource creation. Previously, powerpoints and digital teaching aids seemed quite inaccessible to me as I did not feel I had the technical know-j=how. Tools such as Gamma & Youtube &Twee will definitely improve how I resource my lessons going forward. Finally, assessment is another significant area where I feel AI will be a great help such as creating differentiated activities as well as help me identify areas of knowledge gaps and suggest follow-up activities.
I completely agree Ruth that the roll-out of ‘personalised learning/monitoring’ within education in China is very invasive and very alarming. The neurologist in the clip questioned the accuracy of EEG use in education due to the various interferences yet the children and parents and measuring the childrens academic competencies solely on the data it provides. It is very worrying that education could be percieved in this way and I’m concerned that its creating a culture of discipline within education, not because of interest but rather fear of being found out or shamed on the data sharing with parents. Also, it is very worrying that those parents do not know where their childrens’ data is going.
One particular challenge I face in the classroom is planning and resource creation for a multi-grade class. While I try to align teaching objectives whenever possible, there remains the task of differentiated activities, resources and assessments. This can be very time-consuming as I need to ensure each class receives appropriate instruction while keeping students engaged and learning effectively. I feel AI could help immensely by making lesson planning more efficient and manageable. Once sufficiently familiar with AI, I could use it to differentiate lesson plans and resources based on the same topic. I also feel AI would be invaluable in the collation and data analysis of assessments and subsequent well-informed feedback to parents on a student’s progress.
As I navigate through these AI tools I am mindful of being cautious with their use. It has been mentioned in both modules that inaccuracies and biases exist within all AI models and that oversight of content by the teacher is of paramount importance at all times. I would, at the beginning, use AI tools myself until I am confident and reasonably proficient in their use before allowing students to use them as a tool.
I agree with you Martin re Vidnoz and Pictory. I’ve never hear of these either but I’m interested in looking into them further as potential resources for lessons. I also agree that the efficiency of these AI tools in creating planning documents and resources to support lessons make them an attractive assistant for teachers given their current workloads.
Module 1 has given me a very good overview of AI models and their potential uses in education. In the past year or so, I have dabbled with Chat GPT but I’ve had no experience of Co Pilot or Gemini so it was great to see the similarities and differences between them. I was very keen to do a summer course on AI as I feel it is the way forward in helping teachers meet the ever-increasing demands on them as the profession evolves at a pace teachers currently feel is unsustainable. I believe that AI can greatly reduce certain mundane but necessary tasks for teachers and allow them the breathing space to use their creativity in the classroom whether its lesson ideas or creation of resources. Teacher planning, while necessary and important, can take up a substantial amount of teacher time. I feel AI can assist with this area in a huge way ensuring planning is current, efficient and most importantly, meet the specific needs of the children in that class. Following on from this, assessment is another significant pillar in a teacher’s duties that may be aided with the use of AI. Often times, I will use the same form of assessment of I cannot think of anything more creative/different so I feel AI would help alot with this. I also think that image generation using AI would be a great resource for teaches as well as a unique and fun way for students to engage with information.
After downloading (and subscribing to 365 Personal since my laptop did not have co pilot in Word) I copied a history lesson of mine from last year for 1st and 2nd classes. I asked co pilot to regenerate the lesson and align to curriculum for Senior Infants and 1st Classes. I also asked co pilot to modernise the activities where appropriate and provide a clearer assessment method to the one I had used previously. This was my first time using co pilot and I was very impressed with how it reworked a lesson I already had and adapted it to the new age profile of the students. I think this is a hugely beneficial tool for teachers, particularly those who have spent precious time creating plans and resources at various class levels. Being able to rework content already created allows for more time to be spent on ensuring the lesson and resources are pitched correctly and tweaked according to the needs of a particular class.
One of the benefits of using AI that I’m most keen on is the ability to truly differentiate lesson content and resources. We are supposed to be delivering a child-centred education based on each individual child’s needs and AI enables teachers to make accommodations in a very time efficient way while maintaining focus on the lesson objective for all students.
A limitation of AI is that it can provide incorrect information. As outlined in Module 1, the teacher must oversee and proof all content in any lesson as it is their responsibility to ensure such content is safe, accurate and achieves its objective.
