Artificial intelligence, AI, and more advanced robotics are two technologies that have already been changing parts of the world for many people. Whether it is social media algorithms, causing changes in the job markets of numerous fields, allowing for new types and areas of computational and experimental research, changing how wars are fought, and countless other areas of life, AI is advancing in its capabilities and 'intelligence' so rapidly that we cannot honestly or reliably have a chance to predict what the world will look like in 6 months time.
As a teacher of junior and seniors in high school, I have no good answers when they ask, worriedly, what they should study or what the status of their field of choice will be in four or five years when they are coming out of college - no one has good guesses as to what jobs will be available years from now. But this is the world our children are inheriting, one of unprecedented and rapid change and unpredictability.
What and how should we be teaching them? While schools are mostly still working in the spirit of the agricultural and industrial revolutions, we have not been trained or have any national guidance as to what changes need to be made to the K-12 educational system. I am fairly confident what we are doing now is not optimized for a children's success in the future. While there are wonderful pockets of work being done by organizations here and abroad for AI in schools, it has not filtered down to the individual school and classroom level at the great majority of schools in the US. Some teachers use it in the classroom, but the great majority do not, certainly in my experience. This, again, is mostly due to a lack of knowledge and training for AI in the classroom, and not having a plan of any kind. In fact, ask ten people what they think AI means, and you'll get ten pretty different answers! By the way, here is a possible classroom policy for students and the use of AI, especially for middle school and high school.
I went ahead and, in the last two weeks, put together hybrid books on various aspects of AI in the classroom, and what teachers need to consider and know, and what suggestions and options do teachers have to actually work with their students and begin to give some experience, and develop necessary skills, for them to handle advanced AI and robotics in the next decade or so. Hybrid books refer to creating a manuscript via one's conversations with their AI, in my case ChatGPT 5.5. Based on the conversational history on these types of topics over an extended period of time, when I asked my AI to write out information and plans and possibilities for an audience of teachers, within minutes I got material for a book. The AI included information it remembers from our discussions, and added new things to think about, some that I almost certainly would not have thought of myself. The AI wrote a book that I could then edit when necessary, but by and large it did a better job than I would have done by myself, and in minutes compared to what would have been many months of research, drafting, editing, and losing sleep and hair! I created, so far, a 6-booklet series I call Cut to the Chase for Teachers for AI in the classroom.
I think these will be quite useful - now - for teachers of all grade levels and subject areas!
You can access them here:
- Cut to the Chase for Teachers: AI in Schools
- Teachers, Let's Cut to the Chase: Using EELS to Help Prepare the AI Generation
- Teachers, Let's Cut to the Chase: Thoughts on Implementing K-12 Curricula to Prepare the AI Generation
- Teachers, Let's Cut to the Chase: The Ethics Needed to Prepare the AI Generation
- Teachers, Let's Cut to the Chase: Preparing Globally Responsible Stewards of AI and Robotics
- Teachers, Let's Cut to the Chase: Lesson Ideas for all K-12 Grade Levels that Incorporate AI as a Tool
These are formatted in a style heavy in bullet points and statements of the key ideas - with no fluff or countless pages of descriptions, anecdotes, stories, and so on - so that readers can get through it in about an hours worth of time. I recommend reading and using these together with colleagues, or for PD sessions, to get A LOT of ideas and options for some aspect of AI, so that you can then create something specific for your classroom and community. In fact, teachers should use their own AI platforms to take the different options mentioned in the books and quickly write lessons and activities for your students. These books have laid out examples of K-12 planning, for schools, administrations, and department chairs to consider and help plan specific pathways that are best-suited for your district. Again, there are A LOT of ideas, topics, and issues in these books that can help guide your thinking at any school, for any grade level, and for any subject areas you teach or work with students.
I hope you find any of this useful, as we all must consider tweaks and modifications to how we do school, because the world our students will live in is NOT at all what we were thinking about just five years ago!
Consider that the decisions humans make today about how to proceed with and use AI, will determine how beneficial or harmful these advanced technologies will be for our children. We must consider how we will help them TODAY...for their sake!
I'm always interested in feedback on this, and if it is at all useful in helping fellow educators and colleagues find their way in how they want to help their students for a scary, fascinating, and unpredictable future; mvondracek@comcast.net.
