Empowering Education with AI: Enhancing Teaching and STEAM Activities
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CC-BY, provided by author
Abstract
This text discusses the role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in education, emphasizing its potential to enhance teaching and learning across all levels. AI can help teachers create personalized educational materials and promote differentiated instruction, while also playing a significant role in STEAM activities, particularly in primary education. However, it highlights the importance of ethical considerations and the teacher’s role in deciding how to utilize AI best to benefit students. The text also mentions a training session focused on using AI to develop 21st-century skills and support STEAM activities.
CC-BY, provided by author
Artificial Intelligence plays a crucial role in all levels of education, from preschool to higher education, and much has been said recently about its use in teaching and learning. The rapid developments in the field of education make the initial university education of teachers inadequate and elevate teachers to the status of lifelong learners. As a result, teachers are required to update their knowledge and constantly advance their professional portfolios to develop professionally and respond to the needs of their students. In this context, AI is a dynamic tool that facilitates their work and offers a variety of options that can enhance the quality of teaching and learning.
AI enables teachers to create educational materials such as lesson plans, pictures, and activities that focus on the needs, interests, profiles, and preferences of each student, promoting differentiated teaching and personalized learning. However, the ethical dimension and anthropocentric approach should not be overlooked. It is the teacher who will decide what, how much, and how to use AI’s potential for the benefit of their students and the educational process, taking into account individual needs and specificities of the students they teach.
In primary education, AI can serve STEAM activities particularly well, through workshops that promote the active participation of students and give them the opportunity to create materials themselves. This allows them to transition from being consumers of knowledge to becoming producers of knowledge. STEAM workshops cultivate 21st-century skills by emphasizing cooperation, communication, problem-solving, creativity, the use of new technologies, and ultimately innovation through practical STEAM-related activities. These activities focus on real-world problems that students are asked to solve, involving them in everyday life issues and preparing them to take on the role of active citizens.
Moreover, AI can be used to generate ideas and a variety of materials, such as diagrams, images, interactive presentations, data analysis, questions, and summaries, all of which contribute to the understanding of complex concepts, ultimately leading to more effective learning and improved learning outcomes.
To train primary school teachers in the use of AI in STEAM activities, on 5/9/24, the Primary Education Counsellor and Scientix ambassador, Eirini Tzovla, organized two training sessions in Athens in collaboration with Scientix ambassador Georgia Lascaris.
About the author
Eirini Tzovla is a Ph.D. holder in teaching Science. Her research interests include the utilization of digital technologies in education, teachers’ professional development and Distance Education.
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