Week 4

 

Educ 5313 Week 4 Blog

Part 1

Intro.  One of the subject areas that I teach is middle school science.  I had never heard of Magic School before and was intrigued by this week’s blog expectations.  I created an account and started exploring Magic School, and wouldn’t you know it…I feel like a dummy!  I have spent countless hours planning and executing lesson plans.  I have created worksheets, invented assessments, and spent mind-numbing hours preparing, and now so much can be done in roughly 10 seconds with the help of “artificial” intelligence.  

Prompts 1 and 2. One of the 7th-grade standards for Oklahoma is atomic structure and identifying the parts of an atom.  The standard builds on atoms by creating molecules, compounds, and more complexities in our world.  I put Magic School to the test and asked it to write a lesson plan for this.  It aligned fairly well with the standard and gave the framework for what I need to teach, but I don’t think there is enough content.  There is quality in how it designed an objective, assessment ideas, opening, homework, and closing; however, I feel it is missing content.  I teach lots of new terms and vocabulary when doing this lesson and I didn’t find any key terms that were included.  Definitions and meanings of words or verbs showing action during an atomic process were not found.  The assessment that Magic School suggested was creating a portfolio of drawings of different atoms and their structures. It stands out to me because we have already done something similar by using a spiral notebook for note-taking in class.  My suggestions for Magic School would include more specific content, vocabulary, and key terms specific to this age level of learning.  

Prompt 3. This tool is not useful for the creation of rigorous lesson plans.  This AI platform is helpful in creating a skeleton lesson plan or a baseline to build from, but it is missing content.  I have taught this lesson for years now and I would argue that this the “bones” of this Magic School prompt.  It may be very useful to a new teacher needing direction, but it does not provide the "meat" of the lesson.  The AI tool provided “key points” but still no specifics.  One thing that I did like that I thought was good that aligns with my real-life adult teacher brain is the extension activity.  The AI platform suggested that I have students make a 3d model of an atom, molecule, or compound and then present it to the class or peers.  I have done that with my students and found success.  

Prompt 4

https://app.magicschool.ai/tools/lesson-plan-generator?share=d293f0a9-773b-4fd9-9c06-337021dd4a37 

Part 2

Prompt 1.  The tool that I interacted with is the Magic School Science Labs.  Link to lesson: 

https://app.magicschool.ai/tools/science-lab?share=425c867c-4878-44ec-b749-d02e7d79d462 

Prompt 2.  This is really cool because you can type in any standard, and it will create a science lab for you to do with your students.  It asks you what grade level, the standard, and any other additional content you want to add to it.  It then generates a science lab that is age-appropriate for the unit that you prompted it for.  I do think it is useful because sometimes my brain is just shot, and I have trouble thinking of new ideas or a different way to show a student something.  This provides a hands-on learning tool that takes a lot of the thinking out of it.  I found it helpful, too, that it tells you what supplies you will need for the lab, which eliminates the guesswork.  

Prompt 3.  I would use this lab to assess what students have learned throughout our class time.  After I am done giving them the information through notes and interacting with them during class, then I would use this to assess what they know, understand or still need help with.  Students can use this lab to build atomic structures and label protons, neutrons, and electrons for each element provided.  I can then determine if we are ready for a formal assessment or if we need further instruction.  

Part 3

Prompt 1.  I am an old schoolteacher and have been in education for a while already, so my gut response to AI and Magic School was—NO THANK YOU.  However, it might have its place after playing around with it a little bit.  One thing that comes to mind is this might be great for a new teacher to give them some direction and a baseline of information or lesson planning.  My other thought is that this might be useful if you suddenly find yourself teaching a grade level or subject area that is new to you.  Those are probably the two instances where I might share this with colleagues.  I probably would not disclose to a student that I was using this just because we want students to dig deep and not take shortcuts with learning, but as an adult teacher, sometimes we can sure use a hand up or a “cheat” to help us get through every now and then.  

Prompt 2. One challenge that I see that might discourage me from using this would be the lack of depth within the lesson.  Like I said previously this seems to provide a good baseline for a lesson but needs more content to be used as the sole curriculum.  My concern is that a new teacher might use this and not meet academic standards because I feel like this only provides structure and basic lesson planning, not content.  

Prompt 3. One of the other tools that I played around with was the Magic Tools Presentation Generator.  WOWZA!  I was impressed with this.  I took the content generated from the lesson plan and pasted it into the presentation generator, which put all the content into a Google Slides presentation for me.  This could have significant time-saving benefits for educators!  Granted, the presentation was black and white and had no visuals, but having it typed and put together is most helpful!

Prompt 4. Like I said before, I am an old-school Genexer who grew up with the overhead projector as our latest and greatest invention. I have not used AI in the classroom. I have done some searching and tried using ChatGPT, but I really wasn’t sure which platform was reliable. I do not have much experience with AI platforms, but I may try playing around with this Magic School some more, even after we are done with this class.