“Are your students ready for the age of artificial intelligence?”
This is the question displayed prominently on the aiEDU website, and it’s an important question since educators are tasked with preparing students for their future and a world that is increasingly rich with artificial intelligence and AI tools.
To help educators navigate this new challenge, organizations like aiEDU have stepped up to the plate to provide quality—and free—resources that teachers can use with their students. These resources can save teachers time, provide them with quality content, and help them feel empowered to engage with their students on the topic of AI.
What is aiEDU?
aiEDU describes itself as “a non-profit that creates equitable learning experiences that build foundational AI literacy” and offers “engaging, free curriculum that’s easy to use.” The aiEDU website also states that “AI literacy should be a basic component of every student’s education” and that “aiEDU is focused on reaching the students and communities that are being left out of opportunities to benefit from the rapid digitization of our economy and society.”
In a world where AI skills and competency may soon determine who gets hired and who does not, this is an increasingly important mission.
Student-Facing Resources
There are four key resources available through the Teach AI section of the aiEDU website that you can use with students in grades 7–12. All of these resources are available for free. To access the content, you simply need to fill out a short survey; once completed, you will receive an email with links to all of the content. A summary of each resource is included below:
In this section of the website, teachers can access a directory of engaging projects for high school students. Some of the projects are meant to be completed independently, and others are designed as teacher-led experiences. The dashboard allows you to filter projects by grade, length, and format. You can also search by keyword. Here are a few examples of projects that you can find on the site:
- Interview With ChatGPT: This is a self-guided, 5-hour project for students in grades 9–10. In this experience, students team up to create a podcast interviewing ChatGPT to analyze its uses. Students are encouraged to explore the role of humans in finding appropriate ways to use AI-generated content, evaluate its truthfulness, and decide whether it is meaningful.
- Picturing the Future of Medicine: This is another self-guided project for students in grades 9–10 and is expected to take about 2.5 hours to complete. In this activity, students develop a vision board for the future of medicine, grouping their ideas in current technologies while thinking about possible futures and the impact of AI.
- Other projects take on topics like deepfakes, artificial common sense, facial recognition, and more.
This section offers 180 classroom warm-ups built to spark debate, ignite curiosity, and build community. The snapshots are intended to be teacher-led and are designed for students in grades 7–12. They are organized in a convenient Google Slides presentation, so you can keep them organized and all in one place. There are warm-ups specifically designed for English, science, math, and social studies. aiEDU shares, “In only 5 minutes of class time, students will learn to define, identify, and think critically about artificial intelligence.”
None of the warm-ups require specialized subject-matter knowledge, and they can be used in any classroom. Each snapshot offers a scenario or a bit of information about AI, followed by a challenge question for students to answer. Some of the challenges require students to conduct some quick research or collaborate with peers to formulate answers.
This is a 10-week project-based learning course that introduces the fundamentals of AI through engaging lessons. It features a collection of 36 lessons broken up into eight different modules. Lessons include objectives, prep notes, resources, directions, and links to student materials when needed.
Created for a diverse range of educational scenarios, these are print-and-go projects designed to be used as engaging and effective substitute plans. The plans include a message to the substitute teacher with step-by-step directions explaining the activity. They also include graphic organizers and student directions.
Educator-Specific Resources
The aiEDU site also includes an Educator Empowerment section, with resources to empower teachers and help them on their own learning journey.
In this section, you can find and sign up for any of their free online Zoom workshops offered monthly. This section also houses their AI Toolkits, which include links to the student learning resources, an AI 101: Fundamentals of AI Slide Deck, and an AI Critical Thinking Card Game called “Moral Machine,” as well as several other valuable resources. Schools wanting to engage further can hire an aiEDU staff member to come to their site for in-person professional learning sessions.
AVID Connections
This resource connects with the following components of the AVID College and Career Readiness Framework:
- Instruction
- Leadership
- Rigorous Academic Preparedness
- Opportunity Knowledge
- Student Agency
- Break Down Barriers
- Advocate for Students
- Collective Educator Agency