- Hi, everyone. Welcome.
As you are joining,
please feel free to put in the chat what brought you
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We'd love to hear the things that you would like to learn,
and we will start in just a minute.
All right.
Well, in honor of International Day of Women
and Girls in Science,
it is a pleasure to have these experts
and leaders in science education with us.
Special thank you to Donna and Melissa.
You'll get to know them and their roles in today's session.
I'm Sarah, I'm a proud former high school science teacher
who's gonna be leading today's discussion.
And at Khan Academy,
we are focused on helping districts drive student learning
and close skill gaps.
And AI is just one of those tools in the educators' toolkit
to be able to facilitate this.
So, let's hear what Donna and Melissa have to say.
Melissa, you are a little bit of a celebrity
in your own right.
You've been featured on "60 Minutes"
and "CBS News" for your work in AI and science education.
Can you share a little bit
about what that's been like for you
and what it means to science education?
- It was a really exciting opportunity for me
to actually be able to showcase the work
that we're doing here at Hobart High School with Khanmigo,
especially in the science classroom,
I feel like sometimes science takes a backseat
to some of the other subject areas like math
and language arts,
because math and language arts are tested
a lot more than sciences, especially on a national level.
And it was really cool to be able to get out there
and show science
and also show how we're integrating Khanmigo
into the science classroom.
And I also feel like it's an opportunity
to show that science is a place
where all other disciplines can come together
to solve problems.
And so, that's really what we wanna teach kids,
is to be really good problem solvers.
We wanna teach them critical thinking skills
and the things that they're going to need
to be able to solve the future issues
that we might be facing.
We know that science careers are growing
and we need kids to be able
to not just feed back information to us
that we've told them,
but we need them to be able to build on that
and deepen their understanding of scientific principles
and apply those to solve real world problems.
So, it was really exciting to be able to be on "60 Minutes"
and kind of show my science classroom a little bit.
- Yeah, that's great.
I love the whole problem solving piece of it.
I think that's what kind of drives us all to science
and being a science teacher. - Yeah.
But Donna, let's go to you.
What specific science skill gaps have you seen in students?
How have you aimed to tackle these in the past?
And then how do you think AI helps kind of with some
of those skill gap challenges?
- Yeah, absolutely.
So, one thing that I noticed with my ninth
and 10th graders is that they were coming from middle school
and they were coming with huge variations
in what they were able to do and what they knew.
And so, it was really critical to make sure
that I got 'em all on the same page
right before we started a lesson.
And this also applies to students
when they're absent a lot too.
So, this usually helped with that.
And so, one thing that I would do is start off my lessons
with some sort of hook or an opener,
something that was relatable to all of my students
and something that we can consistently come back to,
to build on our knowledge.
So, that was one big gap
and one big struggle for me as a teacher,
is to try and make sure I'm hitting my students
and meeting them where they're at,
hitting my context properly,
and trying to blend what they knew
and what they were able to do
with where I wanted to get them to.
So, that was one.
And then one other I'll talk about,
and I know Melissa can talk to this one
a little bit as well,
is a skill gap that I think we see in not just science,
it's also in other domains,
is students being able to explain their thinking
and being able to explain how they got to the conclusions
that they got to, explain the reasoning,
apply the knowledge that they just learned.
'Cause it's not just about the definitions,
it's also about how did you get there?
What was your thought process to get you there?
And some of the ways that I resolved that
when I was back in the classroom, just paper and pencil,
just have the kids writing it out.
Because often, you think of your shy students
and for them to be able to raise their hand
in front of all their peers
and practice explaining their thinking, right,
that's not gonna happen.
So, just paper and pencil, usually.
As technology advanced,
we started using our Google forms
and having 'em type them out.
But ultimately, that all comes back to the teacher, right?
All of those 30 kids, five classes,
that's all coming back to you
and you need to give them each feedback,
and that happens often in science class
where they're explaining their thinking.
So, while the human in the loop is super important there,
it's also very, very time-consuming
to be able to do that every time.
So, I'm gonna kick it over to Melissa,
who's actually come up
with some really awesome ideas utilizing AI
and Khanmigo to help with some of these issues
that we run into.
- Yeah, absolutely.
Khan is just a buffet of opportunities,
Khan and Khanmigo to help bridge those skill gaps.
I, too, notice a lot of skill gaps.
Some of them are as they're moving up from middle school,
some of them are still existing because of the pandemic.
So, in chemistry, I see some math skill gaps that are there.
And sometimes I'll just use Khan Academy content.
So, if we're having an issue with something like rounding
when we're doing significant figures,
I'll identify something in Khan Academy
in the content that is there
to help students maybe remediate that skill gap just
a little bit, especially if I notice it across the board.
I can also individualize that to students.
And the really nice thing about the AI component
is that they have a companion in the corner,
Khanmigo is in the corner for them.
So, as they're working through some of the activities
and problems that are in Khan course,
they can get real-time tutoring
and that can kind of help them step-by-step
and they can explain their reasoning
and the way that they're thinking about it.
And I think it makes it overall okay to be wrong
and okay to maybe not understand something.
And so, it's less intimidating when you're with Khanmigo,
or you're with AI to make a mistake than it is
to make a mistake in the front of the classroom.
And so, in my classroom,
we also use TutorMe Math and Science,
that's the learning activities for students.
And so, I will allow students
to have that open during bell work,
or during an exit ticket,
because sometimes the most intimidating thing is to have,
we all went to school when you popcorn around the room
and you start calling on students and you're terrified,
you're absolutely terrified
that you're not gonna be able to answer the question.
And so, if you have that there and you can maybe, woo,
really, I thought I got it yesterday,
or I thought I got it during class,
but I really don't get it.
They can type in a few sentences
and that exchange maybe deepens their knowledge
if they already understood, or maybe it helps scaffold them.
So, it is like a live scaffold.
I can't be in all places at all times,
and so it does help kind of plug in those gaps.
And I love that it adapts to the level of my learner.
And one of the things that I've been trying to do,
and I've been playing with quite a bit more,
is we're able to assign those activities,
like TutorMe Math and Science in Khanmigo,
and I can customize the discourse with a prompt.
And so, I know that students are gonna be guided down
a path towards where I need them to go,
but at the same time,
the AI is going to adjust the level of communication
with where that student is at.
So, when we talk about adaptive assessment,
when we talk about scattered skills,
when we talk about leveled learning,
this is exactly what AI offers
that I've been trying to do, right?
I mean, absolutely every single teacher out there
is trying to level learning,
but sometimes you're trying to level learning
to 32 different kids
and you sometimes end up with the kids
that you know are super struggling.
But what happens to the kids that are in the middle,
and what happens to the kids that need enrichment
when you're doing that?
And so, it is able to customize the learning experience
for the student based around what I want the discussion
to be about in my science classroom,
which to me is how you really address gaps
as you meet the learner right where they are.
And you scaffold, and that's what we do as teachers,
but you can also scaffold with the AI.
- Yeah, so, Melissa, let's stay on that path a little bit.
You're talking about differentiation
and how you can really meet the students where they are
to identify their skill gaps.
Can you go a little bit further then
and talk about how you use Khanmigo
and student engagement?
What are you seeing of students being engaged more
in your classroom by using Khanmigo?
- I have great examples of engagement.
I wanna just start with one
that happened around final exam time.
And this came from one of my colleagues.
So, we teach the same course,
and in another course,
one of the students absolutely aced the final exam.
And this was in a higher level,
dual credit, AP level course.
They absolutely aced it and the teacher said,
"Well, what was your strategy?"
And she said, "Well, I took your review for the final
and I put it into Khanmigo.
And I asked Khanmigo to make similar questions for me,
especially with the questions that I was struggling with."
And so, it empowers students,
it helps them build confidence.
I mean, I think our whole job as teachers
is we have to get away from IDK,
which is "I don't know," right?
So, instead of just saying, "I don't know,"
we're teaching students how to behave when they don't know.
And so, when you don't know the answer,
and that's really what it about,
if you're gonna enter the workplace,
you're gonna go to college,
how are you going to behave when you don't know?
And AI is one of the tools
that our students are gonna have in their tool belt,
regardless of where they go next in life.
And so, when we start to reinforce those behaviors,
we start to see students as they learn to communicate
and they learn to interact with Khanmigo,
or any other AI,
is that they are learning that they can expand
on their own thinking
and they're learning that they can do that
through dialogue and discourse.
And I think those are really important things
for students to learn in terms of skills
for later on in life and skills today.
What else do I have students do?
I guess, just again,
going back to bell ringers or exit tickets,
I don't have a place to start.
Okay, you don't have a place to start.
So, let's think about where might we start?
And like you said, I said earlier, and Donna said,
you can't be in all places at once,
but students are building the competence to go ahead
and open that up and say,
"Okay, I'm just gonna ask a quick question.
I really don't know."
And I don't know how many of you grew up
with back of the book answers.
I lived for those, I hated that they were only on the odds,
but it's also a place where my students go
to just make sure they're on the right track, right?
So, you've got this back of the book
that you're flipping to,
and sometimes those back of the books
is just this isolated answer that's sitting there
and you're like, "I didn't get that answer,
and so now I'm off the rails,"
and you don't have to be off the rails anymore.
And so, when they get away from me
and they're at home at night,
and I can't tell you through the years how many videos
that I made and sent to kids answering questions
because they knew they got the wrong answer,
but they didn't know how to work the problem.
And I'm not getting that as much anymore
because they have a personalized tutor that they can go to
and ask those questions and get that resolved
before they come in the next day.
I'm also having less examples of incompleted homework.
So, I used to walk into the classroom and be like,
"Okay, were there questions?
Yeah, I didn't get the whole assignment,
I just didn't get it.
Okay, what didn't you get?
Let's start here."
A lot less of that.
So, I'm getting a lot more of,
"I really struggled with this one,
and I did ask Khanmigo,
but I'm still kind of,
I need more practice or I'm needing more explanation."
And so, we're really getting into a level
where we're able to move the learning forward.
I don't know if I answered the question.
- You did. You did a great job.
- Okay. - Yeah, absolutely.
- And then, even to add to that student engagement piece,
in the districts that I work with,
one of the Khanmigo teacher tools
that I really like to put onto teachers' radar
is the Real World Context Generator,
because we've all had students
who don't wanna go into science,
who aren't gonna go down that scientific path,
maybe they wanted to go into the trades.
So, you can take the concepts that you're teaching,
like mitosis, and have Khanmigo relate that to plumbing,
or carpentry, or whatever that student wants to do.
And Khanmigo can do
some really great connections between those things.
So, if you wanna engage students about,
"Why do I have to learn this, right?"
The age old question that we always get,
that Khanmigo teacher tool's a really powerful one
to help make those connections
of why those things are important,
no matter what route you wanna go to in your career.
So, yeah, student engagement is definitely a key piece
of AI in education.
Donna, I'm gonna move over to you.
How do you see AI transforming science education
beyond just saving teachers' time?
- Yeah, absolutely.
And transforming science education is a big ask,
but it's incremental,
and so what I think of first is that teachers are wearing
a ton of hats today.
They're doing more than just developing
and delivering their curriculum for their students.
There's a lot going on.
And the hope is that technology, as it's done,
and AI will help teachers save time
and help them actually be able to focus on the parts
of teaching that they're most passionate about, right?
And be able to release their grasp
on some of the tedious tasks
that maybe they're not as passionate about.
And that's gonna allow our teachers, our science teachers,
to be able to focus on whatever it is that they're into.
So, maybe it's differentiating
for their struggling students
and they can make really,
really cool new ways
that they can actually reach all of those kids
because they have a little more time on their hands.
Or maybe another teacher,
their jam is creating activities that integrate
and align with what's going on in science today.
And that could be something that they have more time for.
One that I was really passionate about,
and that was always a little bit of a struggle,
was allowing teachers to be that mentor or that coach,
that guide on the side who's actually helping them
to develop those soft skills that they need
to become independent learners
and to become functioning members of society.
I feel like if there's less time spent
on grading little tedious things
and giving them feedback on every single thing
that they hand you,
there's more time to have a conversation
with the kid afterwards and talk about,
"Well, what does this feedback mean to you?
What are we gonna do differently next time?"
And develop those skills,
which are just important as the chemistry
and the science skills, in my opinion.
And so, I think that this technology
is ultimately going to support us
in doing some of the things that we're already doing,
but allow us to do them at a higher fidelity
and in a more sustainable way.
I think that is critical for us as teachers.
- [Sarah] Melissa, anything to add to that?
- I would just say,
in terms of transforming science education,
I'm doing a lot more experimental design
because students do have access to Khanmigo
to kind of fill in those gaps.
But instead of maybe doing a prescribed lab,
like last year with gas laws,
I gave students a list of materials
and I had them create a problem statement
and figure out what they wanted to investigate
and then design an experiment.
So, if it was a pressure-volume relationship,
or a pressure-temperature relationship,
the students were guiding that inquiry.
So, I think it changes the scope
of what we're able to do when they can step out of the box
and they're using AI to help them,
and their knowledge, obviously,
to help them investigate problems
and then connect back to how is that like something
that happens in the real world,
like maybe a bicycle tire going flat or something like that?
So, again, just stepping outta my comfort zone
and stepping out of prescribed labs,
of course, within standards,
within the bounds of standards
and within the bounds of safety,
and you have to get your experiment approved
by your teacher and those types of things.
But I think it's allowing my students
to think more out of the box and be more creative
and be more in the application phase
of scientific knowledge, and some discovery,
because for some students, it's their first go at it.
I was talking with another teacher,
who teaches physical science, and she's like,
"Do you have anything on building catapults?"
And I was like, "You know, you could give the kids
a list of materials and you could have them go out
to Khanmigo and see what they could come up with
in terms of a design
so that they're unique instead of prescribed."
And so, I think it just puts a different dynamic
in the science classroom.
And again, that's where I
would use TutorMe Math and Science.
I might even do that as an assignable task.
So, now we're able to assign in TutorMe Math
and Science so that I am having a bit more control over
the initial statement
and what they have available and things like that.
So, I see that as being a way to transform.
Another thing that I've done is I've used teacher tools,
I've used lesson planning,
I've also used just the open chat
to plan problem-based units.
So, I planned, part of what you saw in "60 Minutes"
was a problem-based unit
where a local water supply was contaminated.
And so, I used Khanmigo to help me build several weeks
of lessons that went along with that,
that had inquiry labs that went along with it,
and it was our own, like, we made it our own.
I adapted lessons based on where the kids were.
So I was able to go into Khanmigo,
adjust my lesson plans based on where my students were.
If I noticed a huge skill gap somewhere,
we were able to go in and plug into that.
If we needed to do a little bit of background research
on something that we hadn't gotten to yet,
I was able to use Khanmigo to do that.
So, again, I just feel like it gives me limitless potential
as a teacher in terms of what I can do for my students
to really deepen their learning and really get them acting
and behaving like problem solvers and scientists.
- And I'm seeing that theme of student engagement, right?
It seems like those types of activities
where you're letting them create their own problems,
that's engaging, right?
Instead of just, "Hey, here's a lab, follow these steps,"
and write your lab report. - Yeah, and that's life.
I mean, it really is life, though.
I mean, no one is standing there with a lab
when you get to your first job saying,
"Okay, here, you're gonna follow this exactly,
and don't make any deviations.
And we know exactly what we want you to know at the end."
Nobody's doing that.
That's not even the real world,
and that's not how things work.
And so, really, it's those skills, the in-between skills,
the conversations, the talking with your group.
I don't wanna call them arguments,
because there's certainly friendly discourse
that occurs in my room.
But I mean, there's some passion that comes out in kids
when they have ownership of what they've designed
and what they're doing.
They become very passionate.
They become able to defend it, which, honestly,
don't we want that?
Don't we wanna know something so well that we can defend it?
So. - And Melissa,
I wanna ask you a question before we jump to our next one,
because you've been talking a lot
about your students working with it.
Did that take some time to teach them how to talk
with AI and Khanmigo?
- 100%. Yeah, absolutely.
So, you need to encourage, like, you have to kind of prompt.
Well, they'll put it in,
they want the immediate answer, okay?
So do I.
I mean, really,
don't we all just want the immediate answer?
But I think what students are starting
to see through dialogue,
and I think this was even spoken
in the "60 Minutes" piece, is that really,
when you are having this dialogue
and you are integrating your own ideas with AI
and then expanding on them,
that's really where your deeper,
better answer is going to be.
And so, yeah, there was a lot in the beginning
where they would say, "Help me.
Like, here's the problem. Solve this for me."
And they're like, "It's asking me another question."
That question is why I was okay with allowing AI
in my classroom, specifically Khanmigo, okay?
If you're not asking my kid another question,
I'm sorry, they're not my kids,
my student another question,
but they feel like my kids sometimes,
then I don't want them to just get the answer.
I want them to have the dialogue.
And I'm like, "Well, let's answer back."
So, a lot of them were wanting the immediate response,
but I think they're figuring out that it's really
where the learning is taking place
and then they understand quick answers
can come from anywhere.
So, if you're after the quick answer,
we always have this discussion,
if you're after the quick answer,
you can get it a lot of different places.
That's always been around.
But if you're after the understanding,
this is how the understanding takes place.
When you ask me a question and I ask you a question back
as your teacher,
it's not because I don't know the answer.
It's because I want you to think about it.
And so, that's what makes me comfortable
in my classroom using Khanmigo
when I know a lot of teachers are afraid to use it
because they don't want them cheating and they don't want,
I get all of that.
It made me very comfortable seeing it firsthand
that it's not just giving them the answer,
that we're deepening the level of understanding.
- So, Melissa, you've kind of just touched
on other teachers, maybe in your building
or even in your department,
who are a little more apprehensive about using Khanmigo.
Can you speak to a little bit about how your district
has helped kind of support this
and support those teachers who may be apprehensive?
And are they coming around a little bit,
or what's that culture like from the teacher perspective?
- Oh, I mean, absolutely.
I think, as a teacher,
and I think this is all our initial response is, I mean,
AI, it's a big word, and it's a big idea,
and it has unlimited scary potential, right?
And so, I think everyone's looking at it and saying,
"But I am the best with my students."
I still feel like I'm the best with my students,
but I also realize that I'm limited just
in terms of being one individual
in a classroom of 32 individuals,
or however many students you have in your classroom.
I'm missing a lot.
There's a lot that I miss that I'm not able to get to.
And so, I think one of the things for our district is,
I mean, obviously, we've done extensive amounts of training.
There was a pilot group that went through.
That builds a level of comfort
when you see the way that the AI actually responds.
You have to allow teachers the opportunity to engage
as a teacher with, say, Khanmigo, TutorMe Math and Science.
And there is a toggle switch, you can switch it over,
you can be a student.
So, you can see how it's going to interact
and it kind of builds that confidence that yes,
this is gonna interact with the student
in the same way that I would,
that it's not just going to allow them to cheat,
give them the answers.
Because I think the cheating is the big thing.
For a lot of teachers, the big issue,
"I don't want them cheating."
And then also just that fear of, oh, well then,
and people say it, "Oh, then AI can just teach the class."
I would argue that my classroom
has become more human since I've started using AI.
And what I mean is the level of connectedness
in my classroom between myself and my students,
based on things like, say,
lesson hook, teacher tool, lesson hook, that I'll create.
Whereas I might have just started maybe with a bell ringer,
reviewing old knowledge,
I might start with a bell ringer or with a lesson hook
that engages the students,
gets them having conversations with one another.
That's a way that I've used AI
to create more human connection in my classroom.
So, I think just having those solid examples
of the ways that teachers have used AI
to increase student communication with one another
and the teacher, and student engagement with one another,
the course material, and the teacher,
so I think those things help when you see it in action,
help allay fears that this is gonna take over
or that we don't need teachers anymore.
I think quite the opposite.
I'm more connected to my students than I've ever been
now that AI has pieced the puzzle, because quite honestly,
I just think it makes me think out of the box.
It makes me try new things.
Because I thought I was really good at what I did
and my lectures are pretty awesome,
and I don't know why you wouldn't love my lecture
as much as I do.
And so, I also know that that maybe isn't the way
that all students learn.
And so, I've gotten out of my box quite a bit,
and it's been through using, like,
I am not an idea-generating person.
But if I go to lesson hook,
I'm gonna get three ideas right away,
and I'm not stopping there,
because then you can use the AI to help you make,
if you need to make a student lab document,
or you need to make an introductory activity
that you put in Canvas.
I don't stop there.
I make it do it all for me, of course,
with my feedback and my input,
but it also changes the vibe in my classroom,
which is just really cool to see.
So, it's a place where it looks collaborative.
I had a teacher walk in,
one of our MTSS teachers came in the other day
to bring me something and she's like,
"Oh my gosh, your classroom management's awesome."
I'm like, "It's not really my classroom management.
These kids are just way into what they're doing right now."
And so, it's really cool.
- And that kind of brings back to what Donna had mentioned
about having time to work on these soft skills
and to make connections with your students
that we all want to do as teachers,
but sometimes we're just so bogged down in the details
that that kind of gets swept under the rug,
unfortunately, too much.
So, Donna, what advice would you give
to district leaders who want to start integrating AI
into their science instruction effectively?
- Yeah, our content team actually visited several schools
in Texas two weeks ago,
and we saw a lot of teachers who are quickly adopting this,
and then we also saw a lot of teachers
who are a bit more hesitant.
And so, some of the things that I would say
to help with those conversations with the latter group
would be to first try and pinpoint what it is
that they're struggling with, your teachers, that is.
What are their needs?
Because I think it varies,
it varies a lot based on
how many years they've been teaching,
what age group they're teaching, the domain.
So, you wanna try and figure out,
what are you struggling with right now?
How are you resolving those issues, if at all?
And likely, you'll see that it's probably some form
of an unsustainable system, or there's nothing there.
It's just kind of like, "Oh, I'm just kind of winging it."
Because again, there's so much going on.
And I think that is where the conversation can begin
and you can step in and start talking about some
of the ideas that Melissa shared.
She shared a ton of ideas,
and that both of us have shared throughout this webinar.
And they can start to step in and make those a reality.
Because I think that ultimately,
the conversation does need to make sure it spins toward
this idea that AI, technology,
they're not the final solution,
they're not the answer, they're not going to be everything.
They're not going to replace teachers, as Melissa says,
they're going to offer some relief, right?
They're gonna give back some of that time.
They're gonna provide you some support
and it's going to make it so that you can focus
on the parts of your teaching that you love the most.
And it does take some finessing.
I think Melissa was touching on this,
where you can get Khanmigo to create you something,
but you do need to do a little work with it.
So, that needs to be part of the conversation as well.
You do know your kids best and you do,
(bell ringing) there's that bell, Melissa,
you do know your kids best.
- It's real. - I know.
She's in the real classroom right now.
But yeah, just kind of linking it back to the context
that they're in at the moment,
the problems that they're trying to resolve at the moment,
because the list is endless.
We know every day you get home
and there's still a million things to do
that you're not gonna be able to get to.
So, utilizing this technology and controlling it too,
and saying, "I'm not gonna give away that part
of what I love about teaching."
I love making creative,
differentiated parts of my assignments and my assessments,
so I'm not gonna give that to Khanmigo,
I'm gonna give something different to it
that's going to make me better
at the things that I love doing
and the things that I'm good at doing.
So, that's how I would probably start that conversation.
But also curious, Melissa,
what you might say to give district admin some tips on this.
- Just in terms of I would start small
in terms of integration
and just know that there's gonna be a learning curve.
And again, I'm modeling this off of my experience,
and I think my experience here
in School City of Hobart,
it's always unique and it's always powerful
because School City of Hobart does provide us
with so many resources.
And so, I think just starting small
in terms of integration,
but also just really setting some benchmarks
and some guidelines
in terms of how you want your students utilizing AI.
And one of the things that we did here
in School City of Hobart
is talk about a continuum of AI
and how much you wanted it to be a part of your classroom
and your assignments.
And that was more of a consensus activity
where teachers came together
and we really talked about
what that continuum would look like
and where you were on that comfort continuum.
So, if you're comfortable with using it as as a tutor,
but you're not comfortable
with letting students use it for writing,
which at that time there wasn't writing coach.
So, now, I mean, honestly limitless, right?
With writing coach, but again, setting realistic benchmarks.
Even last week we had one of our math teachers do
a training on Bookit.
So, just those small piecemeal integration training,
so you're not overwhelming everyone,
but hey, go back and try this.
I don't think there's a single teacher
that I know that didn't try it,
because how can you not try it?
Because it integrates directly into Bookit
and then you can play
and you've got this engagement strategy for your students.
So, I think just the little, starting small,
like, I always start when someone asks me like,
"Where did you start?"
Start with lesson hook in terms of my teaching,
five minutes, right?
So, it took me,
usually I can spend between five and 10 minutes
and just change the trajectory of my whole day.
So, I would share that with other teachers.
So, definitely, and draw on the experience of other teachers
and draw on the experience of other districts
and what other teachers have to say
in terms of the benefits
that it's shown in their classroom,
not only for themselves, but for their students.
And I think it really sells you
when you see your students building confidence,
when you know that your students go home
and that they have access
to a one-on-one tutor
that's going to talk with them in a Socratic way,
asking them questions
the way that you would ask them questions
instead of just giving them the answers.
So, I think just my advice is to really,
you have to try it,
but you have to start small
and you have to let teachers really see the benefit.
And I don't know any teachers,
no, I don't know any teachers
that have seen the direct benefit
that do not use it willingly as an extension
of what they're able to do for their students
in the classroom,
because why wouldn't you want your students
to have one more tool in their toolbox
and be able to empower themselves
and be able to build confidence,
and be able to learn how to ask those questions
when they don't know what to do?
And that's the thing,
we want students to know how to behave
when they don't know what to do.
In science, it's a lot about finding answers,
but it's also a lot about asking really great questions.
And so, the more we can get students engaged
with asking their own questions in any subject area
and gaining a deeper understanding
of those through the incorporation of AI,
I think is a win-win for everyone.
- All right, Donna,
any final closing thoughts from you today
and things that you want our fellow science educators
to walk away from?
- Yeah, I think, Melissa,
you hit it really well on that last one.
Going incremental with taking on these new ideas.
There's so many tools out there, right?
And there's so many things that we're asked to try out.
So, trying it incrementally and seeing,
how does this work for me?
I would say, teachers,
try it yourself before you hand it off to your students.
We would never give our students a lab
before we've tried it, unless you're in your first year,
then you make that mistake, right?
Then you're like, "Whoops, never again."
So, trying it yourself, seeing, how does this thing work?
What are its limitations?
What are some of the things we can laugh at about it
'cause it's not doing it well?
That's how technology is,
and what can it actually do to help with all the tasks
that are on my plate?
And how can it, I love, Melissa,
your spin on it is very,
it's close to my heart in getting these students
to have those independent skills
and to be able to function independently out
in the real world world when they get out there.
We're both high school teachers,
so we're seeing these kids at their sophomore year
when they're really starting to integrate into society
and with their friends and everything.
So, it's cool to be able to have something
that's supporting us in all of those aspects
of what we do for these students.
- It's been so great to hear both of your insights
and expertise, especially on today,
the International Day of Women and Girls in Science.
And as you've heard from Melissa,
Hobart has strategically implemented Khan Academy
and Khanmigo at their district
with a district partnership.
Here is a link if you want to learn more
about partnering with our team.
Aviv, before we end,
any questions in the chat that we need to respond to?
- [Aviv] Nope, not today. Thanks.
- Okay, great.
Well, thank you for joining us today and onward.
- Thank you. - Bye.