Educators implement AI in classrooms after professional development provides new tools and perspective

An elementary student uses an AI chatbot to learn about a historical figure for her class project.

Millcreek Township School District’s recent in-service day brought raving reviews from staff. The curriculum department brought in guest speaker A.J. Juliani to provide professional development on artificial intelligence (AI) in education. This professional development was for all teachers in the district, pre-K through grade 12, to engage in a discussion about defining AI, the nature of it and its potential effects on education. AJ’s presentation outlined the current state of AI, recent advancements in the industry and future directions concerning AI in education. He also introduced AI tools and had teachers participate in activities that they could then use in their classrooms.

One teacher used these tools and new knowledge to create a lesson where students had to chat with a historical person who overcame a significant challenge in their lifetime. The chat was AI and designed to act as the historical person chosen by the student, while also keeping students on task in the conversation. Students had to answer questions about what they learned and draw a portrait of the historical figure. Those who finished the lesson early were tasked with chatting further with their historical person to determine who they would invite to a dinner party and what food they would serve. This lesson was engaging, and students were excited to share their findings with administrators who visited the class.

This professional development opportunity shifted many perspectives and invigorated staff. There was a transition from viewing AI with apprehension or skepticism to feeling excited and motivated to explore new opportunities. Many have reached out to the curriculum department with tremendous feedback on the presentation and have shared how they are already implementing what they learned in their lessons.