Overview
One way that teachers have begun to leverage AI chatbots—like ChatGPT, Microsoft Bing Chat, and Google Bard—is by asking them to help generate units or lessons. While teachers are the ultimate experts in lesson design, these AI options can speed up the process by helping to brainstorm ideas. With the right prompt, AI chatbots can produce outlines and options that work well as starting points for lesson design. Then, the teacher must step in and review, reflect, and revise, as needed, to make the ideas usable in the context of their teaching assignment. To maximize effectiveness, teachers should consider a few elements of a good prompt as well as how to ask helpful follow-up questions.
Prompt Considerations
- Tell the AI that it is a teacher.
- Identify the grade level and subject area being taught.
- Provide a specific academic standard, including the full text if possible.
- Outline parameters, like length of class, number of students, and student experience levels.
- Indicate instructional preferences and details that you’d like included, such as incorporating interactive technology.
Follow-Up Considerations
- Request additional lesson ideas as needed.
- Request lessons to be refined by the criteria that you present.
- Request a list of assessment options.
- Request remediation and enrichment activities.
- Request a rubric in table format from the criteria that you provide.
Integration Ideas
As you plan lessons and units, think of these AI chatbots as human assistants who can help you with your tasks. Ask them to do the things that you’d ask of a collaborator. These chatbots are great at brainstorming, providing options, developing examples, and synthesizing information, and as such, they can help you with those tasks. As you would do with a human partner, be sure to review the ideas presented to you to determine their merit. The suggestions that you receive will likely need some degree of revision before they are ready to be used. Still, AI can save you considerable amounts of time once you learn how to ask the right questions and provide the required context.
How can I learn more?
For more information about this topic, explore the following AVID Open Access article collection: AI in the K–12 Classroom.