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There are lots of creative ways to use AI in the classroom. These ideas center aroundBloom’s taxonomy of higher-order thinking taskssuch as analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. Text-based AI is impressive when it comes to definitions, summaries, and contributing to the early stages of ideation. Here are a few ideas for activities and assignments that involve AI.
Utilize pre-made materials
The Princeton Dialogues on AI and Ethics created a set of fictional case studies that prompt reflection and discussion about issues at the intersection of AI and Ethics. The Civics of Technology (CoT) project has also created a curriculum to help students critically inquire into technology.
Assign a reading
Review our "Resources for directed learning about AI" and select a reading, website, or video to discuss in class.
Use an infographic
Facilitate paired or classroom-wide conversation by showing an infographic that summarizes current thinking about AI. Here are some examples for you to borrow!
Go to the movies
Representations of AI on TV and in the movies often play on our deepest fears related to technology, be it replacement of humans, loss of control, loss of livelihoods, state surveillance, or extinction. In some cases, artificial intelligence becomes psychopathic, megalomaniac, or world-conquering. A famous example is director Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), where the AI assistant named HAL wrests control from two astronauts to preserve its own existence (it avoids “decommissioning”). In Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck’s Captain Marvel (2019), the Supreme Intelligence is the leader of the Kree civilization. The Supreme Intelligence-as-nemesis acts as a foil to the protagonist, Carol Danvers, who is “all too human” because she falls down, gets up, and is willing to face adversity again and again. A contrasting example to a murderous AI is a Siri-style AI named Samantha, voiced by Scarlett Johansson, who Joaquin Phoenix’s character falls in love with in Spike Jonze’s Her (2013).
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