Description
NSTA Minneapolis 2025 Conference Session
We’ll share design details, sample student work, and assessment results from a pilot study of using AI as support for project-based learning. Two classes of students were assigned to teach other students about a global ecosystem by creating a virtual field trip, including information about climate, food webs, and human impact (5-LS2, ESS3.D). During creation, all students engaged in a design thinking cycle of peer feedback and iteration. One class used AI to help generate their trip and give their peers feedback. Initial test results show that the AI experience improved students’ ideas about AI as a constructive tool for learning and that students in the AI class demonstrated more nuanced understandings of ecosystem features. We’ll share how these results align with features of the student work. Lesson materials including the student assignment, instructional slides, student worksheets, and AI feedback tool will be shared so that you can take this experience back to the classroom.