Using AI as a Learning Partner in Middle School
​By:  Erin Carmody

Project at a Glance :

Students will be learning about the seven health skills by investigating and communicating their learning about how AI can be a learning partner at the middle school level.  Teams will present their learning to a mixed administration team and teachers.  Their presentations might include how to educate MS students on AI use, AI tools to provide access to, policy additions, cheating vs. acceptable use, and a description of their design process.

Driving Question:

How can we use AI as a learning partner at Lakeshore Middle School?     

Standards:

• Technology Management
• Innovation
• Communication

Team / Culture Building:

• Creative DNA​​​

• Values Cards

• ​Hopes, Fears, and Norms
  

Entry Event:

• Students will create a song to describe their summer using Suno.  These songs will then be used for our PBL playlist.   
•  Teacher's  example song ​

Stakeholders:

• Superintendent
• Assistant Superintendent
• Director of Instructional Technology
• Curriculum Director
• Middle School Principal and Assistant Principal
• Teachers
• Students
• Parents
• School Improvement Team

Empathy Building:

• Stakeholder Map
• Empathy Maps​ 

Inquiry / Need to Knows:

• At the beginning of Investigation, students will use Rip-Slap-Pass to breakdown the Driving Question. 

• Looking for outside inspiration, the class interviewed a panel representing a variety of industries: Gowtham "G",  Director of Research Computing, Michigan Tech University, Wendy Porter, Learning & Development, GMB, Jeff Clark, Physical Therapist & Clinic Owner, i'Move, Dave Tebo, Director of Innovation, Ottawa Area ISD, and Cecil Hammond, and Director of Instructional Technology, GHAPS.

Incubation:

• To encourage brainstorming and thinking outside the box, the teacher asks a lot of open-ended questions.
• 100 Ideas​

• Saturate and Group​

Checking in:

• Throughout each class period, the teacher will be monitoring progress and taking notes about things that might need to be addressed as a class or within teams to ensure success.  The following protocols will be used after various stages to monitor student's progress.
• Talking Chips
• Top 10 List
• Who, What, When
• Think, Pair, Share​

• Exit Tickets
• Outlines/Drafts​​

---

Solution Building:

• Students will incorporate their ideas from the Saturate & Group activity while using the Brainwriting protocol to further develop their solution. 
• In teams, they will use the $100 Test for what are the most important things to include in the acceptable use policy.  To test their ideas, they will work them through Seeking Skeptics to ensure they are approaching the solution from multiple perspectives.​

$100 TEST

Critique and Revision: 

• Practice Pitch to Peers and/or School Improvement Team with Feedback Grid (Likes, Wonders, Ideas, Questions)

• Critical Friends

• Practice Pitch and Revisions from Feedback Grids

Authentic Audience:

• Kristen Perkowski, Superintendent
• Jason Reinecke, Assistant Superintendent
• Cecil Hammond, Director of Instructional Technology
• Mary Jane Evink, Curriculum Director
• Amanda Sorrelle, Middle School Principal
• Lakeshore Middle School Students

Final Presentation:

• Students will present their final solutions to the authentic audience via a pitch.  The practice pitches will help them narrow down and make revisions based on other policies to the best version.  This could be where students use voice and choice to combine ideas to make the best policy proposal.​​

ELEVATOR PITCH

AUDIENCE SCORING RUBRIC

Click here for teacher's full plan.

​Reflection and Feedback:

• Authentic Audience Rubric
• Student Rubric
• Fireside Chat 
• Pluses and Deltas - with the authentic audience.
• Individual Reflection: A short writing assignment about how this project helped them grow, what they learned about themselves and working in a team, and how they used the seven health skills.​

         "The aspect that I am most proud of is                that we got everyone to talk and I did                 pretty decent. I hope that they let us                   use AI more and that they can trust                   us." ~ Max, Student Participant

         "It impacted my learning experience by              being able to talk to more people                        about the project. Everyone their own                role by making their own slide. It                          helped when we were listening to                        feedback so we could know what we                   could do better, and it helped when we             were making the project when we                       listened to other team members to                     know what was going on and what to                 do better."  ~ Edith, Student Participant

           "I think the presentation ensured that                leaders in the district heard that AI                      needs to be taught in schools and that              it can be used as a learning tool in the                classroom. I hope that the presence of              AI will continue to grow and be taught              to different grades so kids will be at                    the forefront of this knowledge." ~ Ben,               Student Participant

Click here for the teacher's Journey through PBL on Padlet . . .

Meet the Educator:

Erin Carmody teaches 7th grade PE, 8th grade Health, and 8th grade Guided Academics at Lakeshore Middle School in Grand Haven, Michigan.
​
     "The creative sequence allows for creativity to flourish and reach beyond typical ideas.  Each protocol helps build, challenge, and expand upon learning!  It truly helps learners dig into what they’re doing and showcase all the possibilities.