Ellen Bees

The kids section of my local library has a colouring corner with a dollhouse that kids can colour, which is the most adorable thing ever.

The second post in my series on teaching students about how to think critically about AI. We learned about why AI hallucinates, how AI can demonstrate bias and why using reliable sources is important.

teacherbees.ca/ai-part-3/

Here's the second post in my series on teaching students how to think critically about AI. We learned about how AI affects learning and mental health.

teacherbees.ca/ai-part-2/

What is Artificial Intelligence? Artificial intelligence is increasingly being sold by tech companies as a solution to many problems and a way to make life easier. This is especially true in the world of education, where teachers are...

I've been spending a bit of time writing about how to help students understand AI and think critically about it. The first step below is helping them understand what it is and how it is developed, with a focus on some of the ethical issues surrounding its training.
teacherbees.ca/ai-part-1/

I sometimes use it as a teaching tool with students to teach them about hallucinations and the importance of looking at reliable sources.

But libraries are the best. I can’t understand somebody being annoyed with them.

Those look fantastic!

Also, yay there’s a third Dungeon Club! 😃

YouTube video by Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell We Fell For The Oldest Lie On The Internet

This reminds me of the Kurtzgesagt video where they try to find the source of the claim that blood vessels are 100,000 km long.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=bgo7...

Education technology often features a lot of fads, but this one is a lot more intense.
I think people need to consider whether whatever AI is generating is actually what we need, particularly considering the connected impacts on well-being, learning and development.

Rather than teaching students how to use AI, since I'm not convinced they should, I've been teaching them about AI, how it works, and other factors like hallucinations and bias.

I figure everyone should have a better understanding of the technology before making decisions about whether to use it.

Respecting a Young Person’s Pronouns Can Be Life-Saving, New Survey Shows New data from The Trevor Project shows that less than half say their pronouns are respected by the people closest to them.

Transgender and nonbinary young people have a lower risk of suicide attempts when their pronouns are respected. Respecting pronouns can save a life.
www.parents.com/respecting-p...

This paper contains some good arguments about an issue that concerns me a lot when I hear my colleagues talking about LLM use in developing their research:

Whose ideas are you presenting as your own?

(Though the fatalist argument the authors make at the end of paper is disappointing/bizarre.)

There are a lot of ethical implications to explore (such as environmental and copyright issues and workers' rights), plus questions about how AI actually affects us in terms of mental health and learning.

Something I'm not seeing reflected in the WSD framework is the need to help students critically think about AI. Students and a lot of teachers don't always have a strong understanding of how AI models work, where the data comes from and issues like hallucinations and bias.

This Is Just To Say

I have thwarted
the LLM
that was in
your algorithm

with which
you were probably
planning
world domination

Forgive me
it was delicious
so banal
and so stupid

I've included options that can help adapt it for older students too. I suspect students should probably learn these lessons before high school, but better late than never!

Understanding AI

This term I collaborated with another teacher to make this middle school unit about generative AI, how it works and how it is impacting us, the environment and society, with the aim to help students make more informed decisions. Feel free to share!

www.canva.com/design/DAGyC...

’Intangible assets’ of big data come with costs thanks to ever-expanding energy, water needs Premier Wab Kinew has been dropping hints the province could soon look to position itself as a leader in what some commentators are calling the “fourth industrial revolution.” Speaking on a politics a...

This term, we learned about AI and its impacts. We learned about data centres and how in communities elsewhere they are putting stress on the energy grid and water supplies.

Looks like that lesson is becoming increasingly relevant here.

www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews...

These new understandings will help us as we establish together what are inappropriate and appropriate uses of AI in connection with school.

I’m hoping these lessons have given students the understand they need to think critically about AI and make better decisions regarding its use.

This term, my students and I focused on thinking more critically about generative AI, how it works and its consequences for the environment, communities, artists, our mental health and our thinking.

I’m assessing their thinking in a summative assignment and I’m appreciating how thoughtful they are.

A squirrel sitting in a tree nibbling a red sucker it found somewhere.

Happy November 1st everyone!

This is the time of night where I start handing out giant handfuls of candy just to get rid of it all.

I never met him in person either, but he would reply to my Twitter posts back in the day and give really lovely insights.

Online Media Literacy and Social Studies Online media literacy is vital to help students assess the reliability of online information and think critically about what they see online. Being able to identify misinformation, fact check informat...

Today at MTS PD Day, I presented about online media literacy in the social studies context.

Here is some of what I covered, including how to teach about misinformation, lateral reading, and evaluating sources.

teacherbees.ca/online-media...

I especially liked a card game they demoed where we needed to correctly sort important 2SLGBTQIA+ events in Canada on a timeline. I’m looking forward to ordering it when it is available!

Sharing a highlight from MTS PD Day, where I learned about the Canadian Pride Historical Society.

This team of volunteers is researching the history of Pride in communities across Canada. The website includes lesson plans and their YouTube channel has lots of educational videos.

cphs.ca

Teachers, if you can check off any of the boxes below (!) then you should clear your calendar for Friday (Oct. 24).

@winnipegfreepress.com media literacy teachers are unveiling the beta version of our free K-12 #mbed platform at MTS PD Day!

My fifth grader does not, although maybe American kids might be more familiar.

AI image generators tend to exaggerate stereotypes The racism, sexism, ableism and other biases common in bot-made images may lead to harm and discrimination in the real world.

I'm in the process of developing a unit about Generative AI to help students develop a more critical understanding about it. It's going well so far!

I found an article that perfectly rounds out my lesson about AI and bias and I'm quite pleased.

www.snexplores.org/article/ai-i...

One of the most common arguments you hear from fans of generative ‘AI’ is that it’s not plagiarizing people’s work, it’s just learning like a human learns. So I’m going to break down why that’s just not true, and why it can never be true, with the existing systems. 1/