No doubt many of us in education will be thinking and writing a lot about generative AI this year. Professionally, we are looking to help lead the conversation around how generative AI can be used in schools.

One question that I get a lot is from parents curious about how they should be using it with their young learners.  While parents might be using it to help them write reports for work, plan a vacation or set a workout routine, they are anxious about how their children might be using it and whether it helps or hinders learning.

At its best, these tools (I am being intentionally unspecific as one should be careful to find tools designed for young learners – probably worth another post at some point) can be integrated into daily learning routines at home to foster creativity, critical thinking and personalized education.  For young students this can mean having an assistant that supports everything from writing assignments to creating art projects, all while learning at their own pace.

Practically at home what are a few things you can do?

Writing Assistance and Storytelling – Gen AI can help brainstorm ideas, provide suggestions for character development or offer feedback and support critical thinking of one’s writing.  I was just listening to Sal Kahn interviews on the TED AI Show and he spoke about students using gen AI to have conversations with characters they have created.  

Personalized Learning Paths – With every child learning at a different pace, gen AI can adapt to these differences and customize exercises, in math for example, if someone struggles with multiplication. Or, as I saw Alec Couros suggest recently, have it create games to play on a learning topic.

Explore Creative Projects – Whether it is drawing, composing music or designing digital content gen AI can help develop a broad range of skills.

And just what is some advice for elementary students wanting to use AI wisely to support their learning?

Use AI as a helper, not a shortcut.  Use it to get ideas, and check your work but not do the work for you.

Ask specific questions.  There is a lot of discussion about the art of prompting.  “I need help understanding math” will not get you very far.  Dig deeper, try to have a conversation with it.

Double-check information.  Have you tried asking Chat GPT how many R’s are in strawberry?  Gen AI is not perfect.  Double check with a parent or teacher on information.

Learn from mistakes.  If AI helps find a mistake, learn from it not just the right answer but where you made your mistake.

Balance screen time with active time.  In our school district we talk about gen AI and physical activity together – both crucial in the modern world and both important at home as well.

Use AI to explore new ideas.  Now this is how I use AI the most, and it is great for young learners as well.  What are you curious about?  Those hundreds of questions you ask your parents – try out some of them with gen AI.

Keep your data private. Be very careful with what you share.  There are lots of tools you don’t need to give full names, address or phone number – stick to those and talk with adults to ensure you are always safe online.

Don’t rely on AI.  AI can get you to a point, but then often a parent or teacher can help with a breakthrough or give context or make sense of things.

Have fun.  I try to use Gen AI to do things that are sometimes silly.  Like writing a song on a particular topic, or maybe a joke.  Don’t take it too seriously.

It is an exciting time with generative AI and there are many possibilities for home use.  Student can develop skills for the changing world and be engaged and motivated.  I feel I am required to finish these kind of posts by reinforcing the importance of safety online and also ensuring that technology enhances but does not overshadow or replace the learning process.

We all think we are behind with AI right now – but if you go in and explore with your kids – you are helping lead and guide this important work.

For further reading – I was recently quoted in an article for CBC Kids on the impact of AI in schools.  

I will continue to indicate how I am using AI in my blog.  The image at the top was generated through Chat GPT 4 through a series of prompts that included me pasting my blog post into the message box.  

I used AI in the brainstorming process but not in the writing process with this post. I did ask Chat GPT to indicate any errors or mistakes in found it my post.  It said it was generally fine but noted some AI tools may require some minimal data to be provided and that AI tools are always improving in accuracy.