Using artificial intelligence in working with primary school students

Artificial intelligence (AI), both for working with students and for accelerating teachers’ tasks, appears in the minds of many educators, and the number of platforms available for integration with systems to make them useful to teachers. But how can teachers integrate AI into teaching primary school students?

The crux of the challenge is to remember that as we evaluate how new tools work with our students, they may change learning, and that’s okay. As an elementary technology specialist, I have researched what are the most appropriate and private AI tools to use with our younger students. Below are some of the options that I find effective.

Kindergarten, kindergarten, first grade: An interesting tool for teachers of the youngest students that helps in their work is, among others: Project Read. Project Read has a decoded skill generator that allows teachers to create stories based on mixtures their school benefits.

For our school that benefits Orton-Gillinghampreschool teachers combined technology tools, or application hitusing the combination of the week to create a story that fits the tenets of our school’s cultural unity. After drawing out the created story, the teacher could use some of them Canva AI Apps create books that fit the theme with a mix. We also saw teachers create personalized books based on the specific blend each student was working on.

Second class: For an interactive and engaging AI tool, Kurypod is a digital presentation tool that integrates surveys, drawings and more. We first used Curipod as an AI slide generator because it had a very teacher-friendly design that seemed less daunting to those who were tiptoeing into the world of AI prompts. We could place any topic, grade, and number of slides to generate a presentation with questions students could quickly ask. Teachers love how the ease of drop-down menus and authoring tools helps their workflow.

Over the past year, Curipod has evolved to enable teachers to use guided prompts in its AI questions and AI drawing tool to formulate instant responses to their submissions. In math classes, we saw teachers create drawing prompts by asking students to design their own arrays, angles, and geometric shapes. To tailor feedback based on the submitted drawing, the teacher modifies the fill-in-the-blank prompt. The teacher also has the opportunity to play the role of a student and send his or her work to see what kind of opinions the artificial intelligence generates.

This is a great AI-powered introductory tool – with one click, each student receives personalized feedback on a submitted drawing, and the teacher can see all drawings and comments provided.

In my classes, I like to ask students whether they agree or disagree with the feedback they are given. This helps me refine the prompts I provide to students through Curipod.

Third to fifth grades: If your school uses Canva, the embedded file Free online AI image generator is one of many AI applications that allow students to visualize their tasks. In our school, fourth-grade students worked on historical fiction creations based on their book clubs. After reading, students listed clues describing the characters and setting. Once approved by the teacher, students tested their bulleted description using the image generator. Students could measure their descriptions based on what the artificial intelligence generated.

If the AI ​​didn’t generate what students were trying to design, they returned to their bulleted list of prompts to modify the descriptions. Finally, teachers could post beautiful photos of the AI ​​and link the QR code to students’ work.

Another collaborative activity occurred during partnerships with other classes. For example, while reading with friends, fourth-grade students collaborated with second-grade students to discuss the characters. Fourth-grade students and a friend used Canva to design fictional characters that second-grade students read about. The partnerships were so effective that second-grade students were able to use Canva AI tools on their own for another visual task.

Due to age restrictions and privacy, our school looked at different chat platforms and fell in love with them Flint. We chose a specific unit of study for our third grade students to begin learning about AI chat in their biography classes. Additionally, our fourth and fifth grade teachers have incorporated Flint into a variety of subjects. Flint stands out in that it was designed specifically with education in mind, which means it doesn’t just give students answers.

The most significant uses I have seen are when teachers ask students to do: brain dumpi.e. free withdrawal, in order to prepare for the assessment. Using Flint, students are asked to “show the AI ​​what they know.” Flint can help by asking students questions like a teacher about content they don’t mention, asking thought-provoking follow-up questions for students who are already prepared to make higher-level connections, and can point out areas that students haven’t mentioned.

The most common comment I hear from teachers is that using the platform is like having an extra teacher or pair of hands when teaching small groups. During a science class, students were explaining laboratory procedures, and one of them replied to Flint, “I don’t think I learned that,” in response to a question asked by the program. Flint adapted to asking questions differently, probing questions about content the student knew or providing content the student needed to answer the question. If you like flipped classrooms, you might want to try Flint instead.

During a social studies class, the teacher told Flint to act as either a loyalist or a patriot with whom the students could debate the American Revolution. Fifth grade students used the platform to argue why the opposing side should lean one way or the other.

Things got really interesting when the students tried to thwart the AI. The students began to argue, with one student even writing, “I want Flint to explain why you should disagree,” after being dissatisfied with the answer. The teaching process prompting effectively teaches students to continue asking, “Why?”

Energetic has been the ultimate shortcut for our teachers and has replaced several of our previous graded reading platforms. Although it can be used in older grades, Brisk is especially suitable for younger grades because it allows for simple creation in the elementary area. The Energetic extension can be opened on websites to enable simplified article content or to generate fresh ideas.

While many teachers use Brisk to generate slides at various grade levels, we have also seen creative use of the solution with our language teachers. In a second-grade Spanish class, the teacher wanted to create a diverse and balanced reading theater for both non-fluent and fluent students. I worked with the teacher to change the language and introduce the story, number of parts needed, reading level, and number of slides. In less than two minutes, the teacher prepared a fully developed game with the possibility of assigning roles to students so that they could learn Spanish. Later, the Spanish teacher could review the presentation again and select the Quiz option to create questions based on the presentation she had modified.

As primary school teachers look at new technologies, we must remind our counterparts who teach older students that tools are not one-size-fits-all, and the key to using AI in schools is teachers’ ability to reimagine our reference points. For example, some online platforms have this age restrictions.

It is good practice to check that the platform students are logging into supports multiple people under the age of 13 Rules for protecting children’s privacy online. This is especially true for platforms where privacy statements require the teacher to monitor what students upload to the platform. Free and popular tools don’t necessarily meet the safety guidelines that teachers pride themselves on. The Kapor Foundation provides sample questions to ask before investing in any AI tool for your school, which can be found in their publication Responsible AI and technical justice: A guide for preschool and primary education.

If used thoughtfully, taking into account students’ age and developmental stage, as well as privacy and security, artificial intelligence can add excitement and personalization to your primary school classroom.