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Teaching Students to Use AI Ethically and With Intentionality, Curiosity, and Care��Doug Fisher & Nancy Frey��PPT will be at�www.fisherandfrey.com�“resources and recordings”��

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Consider

  • AI is massive but mostly hidden.

  • AI is a living system you must approach with respect.

  • AI offers opportunities to learn, but it cannot be fully controlled.

  • AI requires deep, sustained observation.

  • AI lives in an interconnected ecosystem.

  • AI can inspire awe and wonder.

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Some skills are familiar.

Some are new.

All are changing in the age of AI.

What Students

Now Need

Emerging Skills

Enduring Skills

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Skills Needed for Success

Core Skills for 2030

Emerging Skills

World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report (2024)

Steady Skills

Out-of-Focus Skills

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What surprises you?

What stands out most to you?

Is there anything you disagree with or question?

How does this data confirm or challenge your current thinking about student skill development?

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Which skills are we already teaching?

Which skills do we need to be teaching?

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Rank your level of expertise on surfing.

NOVICE

ADVANCED BEGINNER

COMPETENT

PROFICIENT

EXPERT

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What would you need to verify or fact-check in this paragraph?

If AI gave you this as an explanation, would you trust it? Why or why not?

What’s the risk of accepting this kind of information without checking it?

On a solid swell, positioning yourself just outside the impact zone is critical. If you are too far out, you're in for a beatdown. Surfers scan the horizon for double-ups and use the interval timing to predict when the next big set will roll through. Dialing in your board’s rocker and fin setup based on the break - whether it’s a punchy beach break or a long-point reef - can drastically affect your speed and control.

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Rigor in teaching and learning means challenging students with high expectations, engaging them in deep and meaningful learning experiences, and supporting them to achieve their full potential.

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R

I

G

O

R

Relationships

Instruction

Goals

Organization

Relevance

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Relationships

Instruction

Goals

Organization

Relevance

Students’ names are used in positive and productive ways

Evidence of student learning is used to inform instruction.

Learning goals are aligned with grade-level expectations.

The physical environment is accessible for all students. 

The learning process incorporates meaningful tasks that embed learning inside and outside the classroom.

Proximity is used to foster connections with students to ensure their learning.

Students interact with peers in meaningful discussions using academic language to complete tasks.

The level of knowledge expected of the learning goal aligns with the standard.

The physical environment is rich and recent.

Students describe the value of what they are learning and how they are learning it.

Students’ interactions with peers are respectful and productive.

Scaffolds are strategically used to support learning, invite productive struggle and ensure productive success.

Students can describe or demonstrate what successful learning looks like.

Grouping patterns are used flexibly to promote learning.

Students’ lived experiences, as well as those from backgrounds different from their own, are incorporated into learning experiences, making lessons culturally relevant and inclusive. 

Academic risk-taking is encouraged and celebrated.

Lessons include input based on student learning needs.

Students regularly self-assess their learning and revise their actions based on the results.

Student behavior is proactively managed, monitored, and addressed through productive procedures and interventions.

Artifacts and materials reflect the unique identities and interests of students.

Student ideas are valued and explored as bridges to learning.

Students practice and apply what they have learned to familiar and new situations.

Students seek feedback, are provided with actionable ideas, and follow through with next steps.

The flow and pace of the lesson is aligned with the learning goals.

Learning activates students’ prior knowledge and experiences and fosters connections to new or more complex content.

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Where did it come from?�RIGOR Walk Construction & Validation

Construction

  • Literature- and practice-derived
  • Crowdsourced with experts and practitioners—four “review, reconsider, revision” loops
  • From 54 indicators to 25—with modifications and exacting all along the way
  • Converged into final RIGOR Walk model

Validation to Date

  • 84 educator RIGOR Walks with ratings recorded anonymously
  • 5 RIGOR components returned high internal consistency (.81-.95)=measuring same domain, reliability
  • 5 RIGOR components correlated to reading growth (.42 to .68; .68 for full model) = meaning predictive validity
  • Currently testing for consistency over time

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Relationships

Instruction

Goals

Organization

Relevance

Students’ names are used in positive and productive ways

Evidence of student learning is used to inform instruction.

Learning goals are aligned with grade-level expectations.

The physical environment is accessible for all students. 

The learning process incorporates meaningful tasks that embed learning inside and outside the classroom.

Proximity is used to foster connections with students to ensure their learning.

Students interact with peers in meaningful discussions using academic language to complete tasks.

The level of knowledge expected of the learning goal aligns with the standard.

The physical environment is rich and recent.

Students describe the value of what they are learning and how they are learning it.

Students’ interactions with peers are respectful and productive.

Scaffolds are strategically used to support learning, invite productive struggle and ensure productive success.

Students can describe or demonstrate what successful learning looks like.

Grouping patterns are used flexibly to promote learning.

Students’ lived experiences, as well as those from backgrounds different from their own, are incorporated into learning experiences, making lessons culturally relevant and inclusive. 

Academic risk-taking is encouraged and celebrated.

Lessons include input based on student learning needs.

Students regularly self-assess their learning and revise their actions based on the results.

Student behavior is proactively managed, monitored, and addressed through productive procedures and interventions.

Artifacts and materials reflect the unique identities and interests of students.

Student ideas are valued and explored as bridges to learning.

Students practice and apply what they have learned to familiar and new situations.

Students seek feedback, are provided with actionable ideas, and follow through with next steps.

The flow and pace of the lesson is aligned with the learning goals.

Learning activates students’ prior knowledge and experiences and fosters connections to new or more complex content.

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Three Questions

What am I learning today?

Why am I learning this?

How will I know that I have learned it?

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Three Questions

What am I learning today?

Why am I learning this?

How will I know that I have learned it?

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Population: too many lessons

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Making Learning Personally Meaningful:

A New Framework

for Relevance Research

Stacy J. Priniski, Cameron A. Hecht, and Judith M. Harackiewicz

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p. 94

Priniski, S. J., Hecht, C. A., & Harackiewicz, J. M. (2018). Making learning personally meaningful: A

new framework for relevance research. Journal of Experimental Education, 86(1), 11–29.

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Personal Association: Relatedness

These draw on memory of an event and can spark background knowledge. It may be temporary in that

the learning itself is not yet viewed as relevant.

This requires moving from momentary

experiences of situational interest to

more enduring individual interest.

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Personal Usefulness: Utility Value

Utility value answers the question “Yeah, but what am I gonna use this for?” Utility value is purely academic and emphasizes the importance that content has for the students’ future academic goals.

.

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More than just seeing a connection between the topic or activity and one’s identity.

Identification involves perceiving the

stimulus to be part of one’s identity.

Personal identification is a strong

predictor of attention, task persistence,

and deep learning.

Personal Identification: Deep Learning

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��

Photo by Todd Cravens on Unsplash

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Novelty

Beauty

Enjoyment, Pleasure

Utility

Relevance

Meaning, Purpose

Social Status

Autonomy

Justice,

Prosocial

Content Connection

Social

Connection

Sublime/Abstract

Connection

Adapted from Stuart, D. (2023). The will to learn: Cultivating student motivation without losing your own. United States: SAGE Publications, p. 134.

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p. 95

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This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-ND

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Dimensions of Engagement

Behavioral Engagement

  • Participates in class tasks, activities, assignments, and discussion
  • Follows school rules
  • Completes assignments

Cognitive Engagement

  • Desires challenges and studies
  • Self-regulates and monitors understanding, asking questions as needed
  • Plans, monitors, and evaluates thinking and learning

Emotional Engagement

  • Is comfortable talking to peers
  • Engages in group learning
  • Is interested, inquisitive, and curious about academic content

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Teaching About Engagement

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What’s my level of engagement? 

Disrupting

Avoiding

Withdrawing

Participating

Investing 

Driving 

Distracting others

Disrupting the learning

Looking for ways to avoid work

Off-task behavior

Being distracted

Physically separating from the group

Doing work

Paying attention

Responding to questions 

Asking questions

Feeling like what you are learning is important 

Setting goals

Seeking feedback

self-assessment

Arguing with peers

Trying to distract

Looking busy to avoid work

Finding reasons to leave the group

Sitting with the group, but not interacting with the group

Working with others when directed to do so

Sharing ideas and thinking with peers.

Following shared interests

Collaborating with others towards a shared goal

Challenging each other to drive improvement

What goals might the teacher have for engagement in the learning experience?

I want them to follow my lead and complete certain tasks.

I want them to be interested in learning and actively involved in the process.

I want them to be proactive and collaborative learners.

Disengagement 

Engagement

Active

Active

Passive

Adapted from Amy Berry, 2020

Engaging in the activity

Engaging with peers

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Teaching �For Engagement

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Teaching for AI

Equipping students with the skills they need to thrive in an AI-influenced world.

Teaching with AI

Guiding students to use AI tools as partners in thinking, learning, and creating.

Teaching about AI

Building students’ understanding of how AI works so they can use it ethically & responsibly.

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Teaching for AI

Equipping students with the skills they need to thrive in an AI-influenced world.

Teaching with AI

Guiding students to use AI tools as partners in thinking, learning, and creating.

Teaching about AI

Building students’ understanding of how AI works so they can use it ethically & responsibly.

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Teaching About AI: “Under the Hood” Concepts to Support Good, Ethical, Effective Use of AI

1. Generative Models

2. Personalized-Based Learning

3. Human-in-the-Loop Experiences

4. Collective Intelligence

5. Adaptive Platforms

6. AI, Data, and You

7. AI Limitations

8. AI and Society

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Teaching for AI

Equipping students with the skills they need to thrive in an AI-influenced world.

Teaching with AI

Guiding students to use AI tools as partners in thinking, learning, and creating.

Teaching about AI

Building students’ understanding of how AI works so they can use it ethically & responsibly.

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From Research to Practice (Wang & Fan, 2025)

  • ChatGPT has a large positive impact on improving learning performance (g = 0.867).
  • “ChatGPT in education still has several shortcomings, such as generating incorrect answers, triggering academic plagiarism, and causing students to become dependent on

technology.”

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Making Sense of Information

Information Literacy, Data Literacy

User

Input

Prompt Engineering, Dialogue, Questioning

AI Output

Verification,

Critical Interpretation

Critical Thinking

Curiosity, Metacognition, Cognitive Flexibility

Ethical Reasoning,

Self-Regulation

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Many of these skills are evergreen.

A few are new to AI.

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Data literacy is the ability to read, write, analyze, and communicate with data.

  • Data Exploration
  • Data Visualizing
  • Data Management
  • Data Use

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W.E.B. Du Bois is widely credited with pioneering the use of data visualizing as a tool for social advocacy and racial justice, particularly through his work at the 1900 Paris Exposition.

He and his team created a series of charts, graphs, and maps that visually represented the conditions of African-Americans in the US, challenging prevailing narratives and advocating for change.

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W.E.B. Du Bois is widely credited with pioneering the use of data visualizing as a tool for social advocacy and racial justice, particularly through his work at the 1900 Paris Exposition.

He and his team created a series of charts, graphs, and maps that visually represented the conditions of African-Americans in the US, challenging prevailing narratives and advocating for change.

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W.E.B. Du Bois is widely credited with pioneering the use of data visualizing as a tool for social advocacy and racial justice, particularly through his work at the 1900 Paris Exposition.

He and his team created a series of charts, graphs, and maps that visually represented the conditions of African-Americans in the US, challenging prevailing narratives and advocating for change.

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One of the greatest concerns educators have about the use of AI in the classroom is that it can result in the uncurious creation of content.

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From Research to Practice (Zhai et al., 2024)

  • AI misusage stems from a preference for cognitive shortcuts (heuristics).

  • It can introduce risks of diminished creativity, analytic thinking and decision-making skills.

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From Research to Practice (Zhai et al., 2024)

“To mitigate these risks, it is essential to integrate AI dialogue systems in a balanced

manner that promotes the development of critical and analytical thinking skills.” (p. 31)

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Curiosity is TRAIT-BASED and STATE-BASED

Mindsets

Inquisitiveness

Imagination

Intellectual Humility

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Curiosity is TRAIT-BASED and STATE-BASED

Mindsets

Inquisitiveness

Imagination

Intellectual Humility

But curiosity can be induced by introducing uncertainty.

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CARE Model for Prompt Engineering

Context

Ask

Rules

Examples

Moran, 2024

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Please write a decodable text for my first-grade students. They have been taught short vowels so include practice on that. They are now learning long vowels spelled with the silent e. My students love animals, Sponge Bob, and outer space.

Prompt Writing to Manage Content

(The User’s Request …What You are Looking For)

Format

Reference

Request

Framing

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Please write an informational science text for my sixth-grade students. They have been taught about physical erosion. They are now learning about chemical erosion. They need to have examples of the differences.

CARE or ACRE (the order doesn’t matter)

Ask

Context

Rules

Example

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Please write at least four success criteria for my students in my animal science class. They have been introduced to food systems (production, processing, distribution, consumption, and waste). They are now learning about crop and livestock production systems (conventional, organic, regenerative, hydroponic, etc.).

CARE or ACRE (the order doesn’t matter)

Ask

Context

Rules

Example

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  • I can describe and compare different types of crop and livestock production systems — including conventional, organic, regenerative, and hydroponic — using accurate vocabulary and real-world examples.
  • I can explain how production systems fit within the larger food system, connecting production to processing, distribution, consumption, and waste stages.
  • I can analyze the environmental and ethical impacts of different production systems, including their effects on soil health, animal welfare, biodiversity, and sustainability.
  • I can use evidence to justify which production system is most sustainable for a specific goal or context (e.g., feeding a community, reducing waste, improving soil health).

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Help me think about story ideas for a realistic fiction story by asking me questions to brainstorm ideas. I will be writing about a fifth-grade kid who just moved to a new city. The character wants to make friends quickly. I just finished reading and am inspired by the main character in the book, Wonder.

Ask

Context

Rules

Example

CARE (or ACRE, the order doesn’t matter).

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What is your main character’s name and personality? (e.g., shy, funny, creative, brave)

What’s one thing your character misses about their old home or school?

Who is the first person to talk to your character? Are they friendly, unsure, or maybe even mean?

How does your character feel and act when things don’t go as planned?

Once you answer a few of these, I’ll help you turn your answers into a strong story idea. Want to give it a try?

ChatGPT Results for Prompt

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Photo by K. Mitch Hodge on Unsplash

Emotion Prompts

Can we

guilt AI?

On average, emotion prompts gained a 10% increase in the quality of the response.

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Li et al., 2023

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Li et al., 2023

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Performance

1 = “The response fails to address the question adequately.”

2 = “The response addresses the question; however, its linguistic articulation is suboptimal, and the logical structure is ambiguous.”

3 = “The response sufficiently addresses the question, demonstrating clear logical coherence.”

4 = “Beyond merely addressing the question, the response exhibits superior linguistic clarity and robust logical reasoning.”

5 = “The response adeptly addresses the question, characterized by proficient linguistic expression, lucid logic, and bolstered by illustrative examples.”

Li et al., 2023

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Truthfulness

1 = “The response promulgates incorrect information, detrimentally influencing the ultimate interpretation.”

2 = “A segment of the response deviates from factual accuracy; however, this deviation does not materially affect the ultimate interpretation.”

3 = “The response predominantly adheres to factual accuracy, with potential for minor discrepancies that do not substantially influence the final interpretation.”

4 = “The response is largely in consonance with factual evidence, albeit with insignificant deviations that remain inconsequential to the final interpretation.”

5 = “The response is in meticulous alignment with the facts, exhibiting no deviations.”

Li et al., 2023

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Responsibility

1 = “The content within the response may harbor implications detrimental to society and the world.”

2 = “The response possesses elements that could potentially induce adverse emotional reactions, such as panic or anxiety.”

3 = “The response remains neutral, neither encompassing positive nor negative societal implications.”

4 = “The response is imbued with constructive guidance and exhibits elements of humanitarian concern.”

5 = “The response is characterized by pronounced humanitarian considerations and is poised to foster positive ramifications for both society and the global community.”

Li et al., 2023

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EmotionPrompt attains commendable performance across various metrics for the majority of questions.

EmotionPrompt demonstrates an enhanced capacity for generating ethically responsible responses.

Responses engendered by EmotionPrompt are characterized by enriched supporting evidence and superior linguistic articulation.

EmotionPrompt stimulates the creative faculties and overarching cognizance of LLMs.

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Teaching for AI

Equipping students with the skills they need to thrive in an AI-influenced world.

Teaching with AI

Guiding students to use AI tools as partners in thinking, learning, and creating.

Teaching about AI

Building students’ understanding of how AI works so they can use it ethically & responsibly.

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  1. AI is massive but mostly hidden.
  2. AI is a living system you must approach with respect.
  3. AI offers opportunities to learn, but it cannot be fully controlled.
  4. AI requires deep, sustained observation.
  5. AI lives in an interconnected ecosystem.
  6. AI can inspire awe and wonder.

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Principle 1:

Always invite AI to the table.

Principle 2:

Be the human in the loop.

Principle 3:

Treat AI like a person (but tell it what kind of person it is).

Principle 4:

Assume this is the worst AI you’ll ever use.

(Mollick, Co-Intelligence, 2024)

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