Ex-headteacher launches AI teaching pack amid fears for children’s thinking skills

Nation Cymru staff

A former Welsh headteacher has helped develop a free bilingual teaching resource to help children understand artificial intelligence and learn how to use it safely, amid concerns that over-reliance on the technology could harm their critical thinking skills.

Meinir Lloyd Jones, a partner and lead education consultant at Anglesey-based business consultancy Lafan, has warned over-reliance on AI risks creating a generation of young people lacking the ability to think for themselves as technology advances.

The new bilingual pack can be downloaded for free now and will be unveiled at a Lafan event at Neuadd Ogwen in Bethesda on Friday, 20 November.

It has been adapted and translated to align with the curriculum for Wales from an initial resource created for English schools by education consultant Phil Wickins at Run Don’t Walk Computing.

Meinir, who was headteacher at Ysgol Bro Gwydir in Llanrwst for eight years during a teaching career spanning 20 years, will also be hosting a webinar on November 26 to run through how teachers can use the resource.

She says the five-lesson pack outlines an “ethical, responsible and safe approach” to AI in schools.

Meinir said: “Technology is moving on in leaps and bounds and there is a kind of feeling among school staff about AI that they are in a bit of a limbo where they are not sure what they should be discussing with learners.

“It could potentially be very damaging to the cognitive development of learners if they outsource their work to AI because they are not doing the thinking themselves.

“It is important to learners to understand what artificial is, and what reality is, so they can differentiate between human and machine.

“Quite often the output that you get from an AI system sounds very credible, and there are serious concerns if you don’t understand you need to question it.

“This pack makes sure the learners understand what AI is, not only that it is a system, but they understand the vocabulary, they understand bias, and they understand what artificial is.

“The pack is about upskilling learners and getting them to think, getting them to check what they are looking at, ensuring they have an understanding and they are questioning that and correcting it before just assuming that it is accurate.”

Pros and cons

Meinir said the course encouraged learners to understand the positives and negatives of using AI.

She said: “There are also opportunities with AI in terms of easing staff workload such as using it to support planning lessons, and that potentially allows more time for staff to plan engaging sessions and have face-to-face learning.

“The pack is aimed at learners at progression step three, between ages eight and 11.

Meinir said Lafan completed the work on the pack without any external funding and she thanked Phil Wickins for his partnership.

She and Phil both attended Ysgol Betws-yn-Rhos, near Abergele, when they were children. Coincidentally, their paths crossed years later last Easter, while they were both authoring units for the new Teaching Digital with Confidence programme for Wales.

Meinir said: “This is one of those projects which I passionately believe in and it was easier, with Phil’s goodwill, for us to put it together ourselves.

“Sometimes as a company we see something as worth doing just because it is the right thing to do and this is definitely one of them.”

Ysgol Cymraeg 

Phil Wickins, who has worked in senior leadership roles in primary schools, thanked Lafan for taking his AI project even further, and creating a version perfect for Welsh schools.

He said: “I originally put the resource pack together because nobody else had.

“There was a real need because we have very slow information coming out of the Department of Education around the teaching of AI.

“There is almost too much information out there on using AI in school, but nothing on how to teach about AI in the classroom and we believe we are the very first to do this.

“One of the things I have tried to embed into my resource is this sense of misplaced trust in an AI system due to the fact that it is heavily personified by companies who want to present it as human, with a voice and personality.

“That can be very dangerous especially for children who are trusting and beginning to form bonds and relationships and almost an addiction to these things if they are treated as companions or authority.

“I want children and their teachers to have awareness of what is coming.

“Children will be using AI in their future careers and their future education, and I want to know I have done my bit to really help children understand how people use AI to create fake things and deliberately spread misinformation.

“I want children to have the wherewithal to tackle that.

Phil added: “I am incredibly privileged to have partnered with Lafan in this project, it is just brilliant.

“I am sincerely grateful to them, for taking this project on and taking something that is extremely precious to me and bringing it into a place where it is accessible to all the children of Wales.”

Launch

People can visit Artificial Intelligence/ Deallusrwydd Artiffisial – Adapted and translated for the Curriculum for Wales – Run Don’t Walk to book a place on the November 26 webinar and download the AI pack.

The Lafan event on 20 November will also hear from speakers on a variety of different topics bringing together the business consultancy’s clients, partners and associates.

The headline speaker will be entrepreneur and adventurer Dr Elin Haf Davies, founder of medical technology firm Aparito.

Contributors will include Robin Evans of Mona Lifting, Martin Schweller of GeoMon, Aberystwyth Ceredigion City of Literature manager Daniel Johnson, and Hannah Edwards from Gwynedd Council’s slate World Heritage Site.

Guests will be welcomed with coffee from 9.15am, with the programme starting at 9.45am.Lunch will be served at 1pm, followed by a choice of optional activities and workshops between 2pm and 3pm.

Workshops will include a community walk with Partneriaeth Ogwen, a marketing surgery with the Lafan Creu team, and a guided walk and practical outdoor session with Meinir Lloyd Jones.

Visit Lafan’s site here to register and for more information.