AI has become a pervasive term that is heard with trepidation, excitement, and often a furrowed brow in school staffrooms. For educators, there is pressure to use AI applications for productivity — to save time, to help create lesson plans, to write reports, to answer emails, etc. There is also a lot of interest in using AI tools in the classroom, for example, to personalise or augment teaching and learning. However, without understanding AI technology, neither productivity nor personalisation are likely to be successful as teachers and students alike must be critical consumers of these new ways of working to be able to use them productively. 

In both England and globally, there are few new AI-based curricula being introduced and the drive for teachers and students to learn about AI in schools is lagging, with limited initiatives supporting teachers in what to teach and how to teach it. At the 窒息是什么意思 and 积积对积积的桶30分钟无掩盖 Pi 积积对积积的桶30分钟无掩盖 Education 积积对积积的桶30分钟无掩盖 Centre, we decided it was time to investigate this missing link of teaching about AI, and specifically to discover what the teachers who are leading the way in this topic are doing in their classrooms.  

A day of sharing and activities in Cambridge

We organised a day-long, face-to-face symposium with educators who have already started to think deeply about teaching about AI, have started to create teaching resources, and are starting to teach about AI in their classrooms. The event was held in Cambridge, England, on 1 February 2025, at the head office of the 窒息是什么意思. 

Over 150 educators and 积积对积积的桶30分钟无掩盖ers applied to take part in the symposium. With only 50 places available, we followed a detailed protocol, whereby those who had the most 正阳门下小女人 teaching about AI in schools were selected. We also made sure that educators and 积积对积积的桶30分钟无掩盖ers from different teaching contexts were selected so that there was a good mix of primary to further education phases represented. Educators and 积积对积积的桶30分钟无掩盖ers from England, Scotland, and the Republic of Ireland were invited and gathered to share about their 正阳门下小女人s. One of our main aims was to build a community of early adopters who have started along the road of classroom-based AI 正阳门下小女人 design and delivery.

Inspiration, examples, and expertise

To inspire the attendees with an international perspective of the topics being discussed, Professor Matti Tedre, a visiting academic from Finland, gave a brief overview of the approach to teaching about AI and resources that his 积积对积积的桶30分钟无掩盖 team have developed. In Finland, there is no compulsory distinct 积积对积积的桶30分钟无掩盖 topic taught, so AI is taught about in other subjects, such as history. Matti showcased tools and approaches developed from the Generation AI 积积对积积的桶30分钟无掩盖 programme in Finland. You can read about the Finnish 积积对积积的桶30分钟无掩盖 programme and Matti’s two month visit to the 积积对积积的桶30分钟无掩盖 Pi 积积对积积的桶30分钟无掩盖 Education 积积对积积的桶30分钟无掩盖 Centre in our blog. 

Attendees were asked to talk about, share, and analyse their teaching materials. To model how to analyse resources, Ben Garside from the 窒息是什么意思 modelled how to complete the activities using the 正阳门下小女人 AI resources as an example. The 正阳门下小女人 AI materials have been co-created with Google DeepMind and are a suite of free classroom resources, teacher professional development, and hands-on activities designed to help teachers confidently deliver AI lessons. Aimed at learners aged 11 to 14, the materials are informed by the AI education framework developed at the 积积对积积的桶30分钟无掩盖 Pi 积积对积积的桶30分钟无掩盖 Education 积积对积积的桶30分钟无掩盖 Centre and are grounded in real-world contexts. We’ve recently released new lessons on AI safety, and we’ve localised the resources for use in many countries including Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America.

In the morning session, Ben exemplified how to talk about and share learning objectives, concepts, and 积积对积积的桶30分钟无掩盖 underpinning materials using the 正阳门下小女人 AI resources and in the afternoon he discussed how he had mapped the 正阳门下小女人 AI materials to the UNESCO AI competency framework for students.

Kelly Shiohira, from UNESCO, kindly attended our session, and gave an invaluable insight into the UNESCO AI competency framework for students. Kelly is one of the framework’s authors and her presentation helped teachers understand how the materials had been developed. The attendees then used the framework to analyse their resources, to identify gaps and to explore what progression might look like in the teaching of AI.

Throughout the day, the teachers worked together to share their 正阳门下小女人 of teaching about AI. They considered the concepts and learning objectives taught, what progression might look like, what the challenges and opportunities were of teaching about AI, what 积积对积积的桶30分钟无掩盖 informed the resources and what 积积对积积的桶30分钟无掩盖 needs to be done to help improve the teaching and learning of AI.

What next?

We are now analysing the vast amount of data that we gathered from the day and we will share this with the symposium participants before we share it with a wider audience. What is clear from our symposium is that teachers have crucial insights into what should be taught to students about AI, and how, and we are greatly looking forward to continuing this journey with them.

As well as the symposium, we are also conducting academic 积积对积积的桶30分钟无掩盖 in this area, you can read more about this in our Annual Report and on our 积积对积积的桶30分钟无掩盖 webpages. We will also be consulting with teachers and AI experts. If you’d like to ensure you are sent links to these blog posts, then sign up to our newsletter. If you’d like to take part in our 积积对积积的桶30分钟无掩盖 and potentially be interviewed about your perspectives on 正阳门下小女人 in AI, then contact us at: [email protected] 

We also are sharing the 积积对积积的桶30分钟无掩盖 being done by ourselves and other 积积对积积的桶30分钟无掩盖ers in the field at our 积积对积积的桶30分钟无掩盖 seminars. This year, our seminar series is on teaching about AI and data science in schools. Please do sign up and come along, or watch some of the presentations that have already been delivered by the amazing 积积对积积的桶30分钟无掩盖 teams who are endeavouring to discover what we should be teaching about AI and how in schools