BACK TO SCHOOL: Artificial Intelligence in the Classroom

The state of Minnesota recently recognized Bloomington Public Schools as a leader in the use of artificial intelligence in the classroom. The district’s program focuses on teaching students to use the technology to supplement their education, while also educating them about the pitfalls of the programs that can provide inaccurate information.

We spoke with Rowen Elsmore and Jodi Bang, digital learning specialists for schools in Bloomington.

“Depending on the class and the individual assignment, it can be used in so many different ways,” Elsmore said.

And what if we’re concerned about students using technology to cheat?

“We want to teach students how to use the tool to support their learning process,” Bang said.

Bang and Elsemore are also working with teachers to incorporate AI into their lesson plans; however, the district is not requiring teachers to use it. They are focusing on finding appropriate and productive ways to use the free online AI platform Chat GPT.

They gave examples of students who have successfully used the program to help them study for a test in a particular subject by having the program ask them a series of true/false questions.

In another example, a family and consumer sciences class used artificial intelligence to ask what kind of recipes they could make with the ingredients they had left over at the end of the school year. In some cases, the recipes didn’t work — and students had to figure out what went wrong and why.

“Regardless of what you use AI for, the most important thing is to evaluate the output it gives you,” Elsemore said.

A recent national survey of teachers by Forbes Magazine found that 60% of teachers said they have used artificial intelligence in the classroom and 55% said they believe it has improved learning outcomes.

“AI will never replace teachers. Our teachers are doing a phenomenal job and we hope that teachers too can use AI to improve and innovate their work,” Bang said.

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