Free Lessons, No Expertise Needed

Vicki Davis (00:00): Happy Fab Idea Friday. Today we’re talking about AI literacy. And you don’t have to be an expert to teach it. today’s guest asked third graders how a smart speaker works. And they said that they thought that a human being looks up the answer and reads it back. Our students are creating theories of how all these technologies work. even if we’re not using screens, we need to be teaching about AI literacy.

Announcer (00:28): This is the 10-Minute Teacher Podcast with your host, Vicki Davis.

Vicki Davis (00:32): Today’s show is sponsored by Experience AI, the free AI literacy program from the Raspberry Pi Foundation, co-developed with Google DeepMind. Stay to the end. I’ll share how you can start teaching AI literacy in your classroom with confidence. No experience required.

Vicki Davis (00:49): teachers everywhere are being told do something about AI, but nobody is really handing them a lesson plan. Laura Gray taught in the classroom herself and now works with teachers across North America on Experience AI. It’s a free AI literacy program

here’s the great thing, you do not have to be a computer science teacher to use it. Laura Gray, thanks for coming on the show.

Laura Gray (01:16): Thanks for having me, Vicki

Vicki Davis (01:17): AI is such the issue of our time. You have people who just hate AI and they don’t want us to even talk about it. then people are saying, hey, AI literacy, teachers are like, what do I say? What do I not say? And I don’t want to get in trouble.

What is your approach as you try to help teachers bring AI literacy into their classroom?

Laura Gray (01:36): I just wanna say it’s scary for everyone. I have a background in computer science. I taught mathematics and computer science for several years. And this is new to me. This wasn’t in school. This wasn’t in my college experience either. I think deep down, every teacher is still teaching concepts that we find in AI literacy. we really focus on data driven programming and understanding that. But don’t know a subject area that doesn’t

strike into thinking and comprehending data and how we use data effectively and how we ethically draw predictions or conclusions from data the thing is to take a breath and realize that you’re probably already teaching things really pertinent to AI literacy already in your classroom

So for example, when you are talking through a data collection process in science class making hypotheses and predictions, AI systems are doing that too. So you can extend the reach to maybe understanding how scientists are using AI systems to develop new pharmaceuticals without actually having to be in a lab They can learn about them using these predictive systems.

I think in language arts we reach into understanding context, discernment, and verifying what we say in our research and facts. Those are critical in the world of AI, I think the first step is to understand that with AI literacy and computer science, we are still founded in the principles of critical thinking, creativity, and problem solving.

And if you are rooted in teaching those concepts through your subject area, you’re already doing part of the work. We can help or other folks can help, because there’s a lot of great content out there about how do we weave examples of AI systems that are doing this type of work into those lessons that already exist

Vicki Davis (03:20): it’s one of those things that if we don’t talk about it with our students, they’re going to make up their own mind about how they think it should be used.

let’s talk about student literacy, age eight versus age fifteen. What would be the difference in the literacy that an eight year old might have about AI and a fifteen year old might have about AI?

Laura Gray (03:41): there are definitely differences. terminology-wise, the way that you use words and vocabulary are going to very different. a 15-year-old, I can talk about anthropomorphizing and how we avoid that when we talk about AI systems. I can’t use that word with an eight-year-old. but I can reinforce the concept in different ways.

like there’s a really cool lesson that one of our learning managers, Jason, has developed that I’m so excited about. eight to twelve year olds looking at fake elf advertisements for AI tools or systems or toys. And they anthropomorphize or use human-like language for what the AI systems are doing. They’re thinking they’re being your best friend and things like that.

And he has students analyze the difference between what humans can do and how we talk about what humans do and how we talk about what computers and systems and programs do. in a detective sort of way, they analyze these advertisements. They talk about what misconceptions or problems they could cause in the people they’re trying to sell to or where they might be misleading, and then they provide suggestions on edits on being appropriate and explaining what is

the system doing, what are humans doing, and avoiding blurring that line of confusion between audiences. So that’s an unplugged lesson. That might be appropriate for the eight-year-old crowd. We’re not putting an eight-year-old in a large language model used by adults. That’s not a safe practice.

Vicki Davis (05:04): The concern about anthropomorphizing AI because and that means giving human characteristics to something that’s not human.

I always teach my students, the devices we use are not a he or a she, they’re an it. AI is not thinking, it’s processing. yes, some of the AI companies actually do kind of feed into the anthropomorphization of AI because yes, some say we’re moving from the attention economy to the attachment economy. We’re becoming attached to our AIs. Some people

consider them relationships. That’s not, healthy at all. AI is a tool, a very powerful tool. It talks to us. We’ve got the Eliza effect that I talked to my 15 year olds about,

But this is really important. And I love that you’re teaching it with eight year olds with an unplugged lesson

as you work with educators and they talk to you about this, are there any common misconceptions that you think, okay, we need to be really careful with this as we teach kids?

Laura Gray (06:07): we’re still developing the research of what this does to children and young students. there’s gonna be some serious misconceptions with anthropomorphizing, especially with young students. I’ll bring my four-year-old into account. You know, we will pick up the phone and ask with a by name a question to be answered, and a female voice speaks to us. So I just asked him one day.

who is this? And he was like, There’s a lady that lives in your phone. She’s really short. And he truly believed

Vicki Davis (06:35): Hmm.

Laura Gray (06:36): there was a human being in my phone, which really caused some worry in me.

We can’t trust all of the answers. It’s not a human being. I was in a third grade classroom and I simply asked a couple third graders how a smart speaker worked. they were like, you ask a question, it records your answer.

And then it gets sent to a human who looks up the answer and speaks it back. And then it gets sent back to you. They literally

Vicki Davis (06:59): wow.

Laura Gray (07:00): thought a human being was there. And that’s not how that works. And again, it builds this false sense of trust. It displaces the accountability towards the system and not the humans that created it and put it out in the world. and it can be dangerous. I think we don’t realize as adults, because I I’ve had this talk with teachers and a lot of them kind of scoff it off.

Of that it’s not that big of a deal. some of that is healthy for young kids of anthropomorphizing and play and things like that. But I don’t think that we always realize that we understand as adults that we’re speaking in metaphor and can draw lines between systems. Sometimes we can’t. We’ve seen that as well. But children do not understand that we’re speaking in metaphor, especially when it comes to technology. And we’re in a much different place. We didn’t grow up.

With these systems and these technologies at our hands. Our children, especially the ones being born today, will have this throughout their whole lives. This will be a norm. So we have to be very careful about not having a child who has grown up with AI systems and technology and voice reading and image recognition understanding that these are systems, that they make predictions that are not always right, and that human beings ultimately should be the

decision makers and processes and they should have autonomy and agency in those processes. They shouldn’t just submit to data being stolen and used in ways that they don’t agree with.

Vicki Davis (08:23): I’m thinking of a a news article I just read today where a man was cited for going sixty-four in a forty-five at his self-driving car. And when they roll down the window, he said, It’s not my fault I wasn’t driving. we as humans are accountable for everything with every AI tool that we use.

it just seems like it’s healthy to imbue some skepticism, some willingness to question, some willingness to challenge instead of compliance with AI. And so how do we do that?

Laura Gray (08:56): I’ve been using the term discernment instead of skepticism. We need to teach the skill of discernment of when is this a good use and when is this not a good use? I don’t have all the answers. I think it’s more difficult for teachers because we’re being forced into a world where things that we were naturally owning in the classroom on behalf of students, like pedagogy and cognitive load and thinking through,

How they were learning and changing the learning based on their needs is also something that students are going to have to think through now. when they start using AI tools, they definitely have to understand what they are losing by using the tools. I think every person before they start using anything that’s generative AI should ask themselves, Am I doing this? Because I don’t know how. And if the answer to that is yes.

Maybe it’s not the right use of the tool because it’s becoming a crutch. we talk a lot about UDL in teaching practices. And when we think about working with a student that is an ESOL student, speak English as their second language and they’re learning English.

UDL is not let me translate everything to their native language. That doesn’t support them, that supports them for the time being. But as soon as they leave your classroom, they’re no longer supported and you haven’t benefited them in living and and being productive in the world around them. they’re still in the same place that they were. So we also have to look at using AI and how we teach the use of AI through the same lens. What is going to benefit me in growing and learning?

And what is a crutch that I’m using it where I don’t know how to do something and when I walk away, I still don’t know how to do it. I mean, if we go back and we look at, you know, woodworking or crafts or even mathematical problems, which I know a calculator can do, we still learn to do them on our own. So we understand them deeply. and I think we have to have the same thought process, but it involves students recognizing and understanding what they’re losing by using these tools.

And that’s where we get into understanding your own metacognition, which is not easy because we know with without full development of frontal lobes that we don’t really have the discernment. I know so many times in my classroom, students would walk out like, I totally have this lesson. I’m ready to go. And then they’d get home to practice and they’d be like, I do not get this lesson. I am not ready to go.

Vicki Davis (11:15): Mm.

Laura Gray (11:16): they don’t have and they haven’t developed those skills of understanding.

what they do and don’t know well. That’s why they have teachers present. So really thinking through the process as teachers, which won’t be easy of how do we build that skill in students at a younger age and don’t just expect them to have that ability.

Vicki Davis (11:33): Laura, I love that because I love the word discernment. It’s an excellent word. and I try to teach my students about productive struggle.

So Laura, you work with the Raspberry Pi Foundation and you know, a lot of teachers say, I’m not an expert, I can’t teach this.

Laura Gray (11:50): So I’ll just take a step back. No one is an expert in AI or AI education. If anyone says they’re an expert, it’s too big

Vicki Davis (11:55): Ha ha good.

Laura Gray (11:58): of a space. It would be equivalent to me saying, I’m an expert in science. there’s so much in science that I can’t be an expert in all things science. So I will say nobody should be an expert. So don’t try to be an expert. You’re that’s an impossible task and and start small.

Our materials are really designed for non-specialist educators. So I I have a lot of experience. And let’s be honest, most computer science teachers do not have computer science backgrounds. What they have is they love to learn new things and they love to try things with students. And they’re okay with saying, I don’t have an answer to that, but we’ll figure it out. the answer to that is we come from the standpoint of we’ll provide you the resources.

You can edit them to make them localized or for your particular class and their needs, but they come from the standpoint of we assume you don’t know everything and we’re gonna support you in in trying things out and saying, I’m not exactly sure, but we’re gonna try. and so that’s that’s where our resources come from. So we do have some discovering AI that’s just I am brand new, I don’t even know how to talk about this

And we have a foundations and AI safety unit that really get at the core of just understanding some basics before you move into the the world of AI. So it it you don’t have to be a computer science teacher, you don’t have to be a programmer. this is new to all of us as well. So we really come from the standpoint of everyone can do this and we’re gonna support you any way way we can and give you all the resources so you can focus on the learning and not the building.

Vicki Davis (13:29): So when a teacher goes to experience AI and looks at all the resources, where should they start?

Laura Gray (13:37): I would say if you’re brand new, we’re gonna have discovering AI at different age bands. That’s the perfect place to start, or our foundations unit just to get in there. we have a bunch of new resources that are coming out of that are thematic. so you might gravitate towards those too.

They specialize in anywhere from creativity to science to critical thinking and are are meant to be more woven into the day-to-day of either a classroom period in a different subject area or like an advisement class as well. We have some schools that are deciding that they want to do a foundational AI unit for all of seventh grade in their advisory that the students go to once a week, which is really great because all of those teachers are new to teaching this.

And they’re working together, they’re using some of the resources and talking about what they’re doing in the classroom, what they’re learning, the conversations that they’re having with students and it’s almost like a book study. They’re like, we’re doing this together and we’re all learning together, which is great as well. I just look around, whatever gauges your interest is a great starting point. I don’t think we have anything up there that would say like you have to have computer science background or you need to really know this to get started.

Vicki Davis (14:46): this is just a great resource for us as we’re all struggling with how do we teach kids about it?

the other advantage you have is that I believe you have many languages correct?

Laura Gray (14:57): Yeah, I believe it’s twenty two right now.

I think the other big thing for us is localization is really important. So we don’t just think through language and turn of phrase translations. we really think through context in the local country and and setting. So for example, we do update resources that are built for US classrooms, thinking about

All of the different things that our US teachers have to work through, whether it be a rural versus city area. Agriculture is a lot more predominant in our rural area. So we do have adaptations to our lessons for those communities. But also thinking through classrooms where in their states there’s legislation when we mention climate change to discuss alternate views and ways to address that and things like that. So we really think through context for teachers. We work with

I believe over 40 partners across different countries to understand feedback from teachers because we lead with with teachers’ thoughts and voice first when we adapt and and update lessons really focus on hearing from teachers what’s working in their classroom and the adaptations that they make. We just edited a bunch of materials and that all was sourced from teachers saying, you know, I changed the context to this and it really worked with students. And we were like, we love that. Keep that information coming.

We believe in the educator in the classroom, that they

Are the number one asset to students, and so we develop as humans lessons for other humans.

Vicki Davis (16:21): we’ve been talking with Laura Gray from the Raspberry Pi Foundation. about the free experience AI curriculum that you can download and use with your classes. Laura, thanks for coming on the show.

Vicki Davis (16:35): Experience AI,

Vicki Davis (16:36): co-developed

Vicki Davis (16:36): by the Raspberry Pi Foundation and Google DeepMind, sponsored today’s show. Experience AI is a free AI literacy program downloaded more than a million times worldwide. It provides teachers with ready-to-teach lessons, with slides, lesson plans, worksheets, and an excellent free AI glossary that I highly recommend downloading first.

Within the resources, there are unplugged activities for you to explore with your learners that don’t require a computer at all. Experience AI supports all teachers, regardless of subject area, and doesn’t require any computer science or background knowledge. Get ExperienceAI free at coolcatteacher.com forward slash experienceai. That’s coolcatteacher.com forward slash experienceai.

I’m recommending Experience AI because these lessons help you teach AI literacy with confidence and teach students how these systems actually work. Thank you, Experience AI, for sponsoring today’s show.

Announcer (17:40): Thank you for tuning in to the 10-Minute Teacher Podcast. Join us here every weekday and subscribe to the Classroom Matters newsletter.

Vicki Davis (17:46): See you later, educator.