Fig . 1. “Create an image of yourself” prompt, ChatGPT, 5.2, OpenAI, 27 Jan. 2026, https://chatgpt.com/c/69794739-3eb8-8330-babe-470e3e10e932.

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GenAI in Education: A Brief Introduction

My understanding of GenAI (Generative Artificial Intelligence) is that it refers to online tools that are capable of generating text, images, and other resources in response to user prompts. Instantly, your mind is probably thinking of many different ways this is both good and bad for education. In this blog, I advocate for GenAI as an augmentative support tool in education, while simultaneously acknowledging the difficulties, questions, and ethical concerns its use raises.

Educational purposes I have found GenAI useful for:

When given detailed, high-quality prompts that specify grade-level, curricular competencies, topics, learning objectives, etc., ChatGPT is highly effective at lesson and unit planning. For example, when I provided ChatGPT with the prompt “Create a Grade 8 science lesson tied to the BC science curricular competency of ‘Demonstrate an understanding and appreciation of evidence (qualitative and quantitative)’, the Big Idea ‘The theory of plate tectonics is the unifying theory that explains Earth’s geological processes’, and the content ‘First peoples knowledge of: local geological formations, significant local geological events’”. Include opportunities for student-driven inquiry and place-based learning, student discussion, and formative assessment. Provide 3 learning student friendly learning objectives as well.”, it provided the following response:

Grade 8 Science Lesson: Plate Tectonics, Evidence, and Place

Curricular Alignment

Big Idea

  • The theory of plate tectonics is the unifying theory that explains Earth’s geological processes.

Curricular Competency

  • Demonstrate an understanding and appreciation of evidence (qualitative and quantitative).

Content

  • First Peoples knowledge of local geological formations and significant local geological events.

Learning Intentions (Student-Friendly)

By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:

  • Use qualitative and quantitative evidence (maps, oral histories, geological data) to explain how plate tectonics shape Earth’s surface
  • Compare scientific evidence and First Peoples knowledge to understand local geological events
  • Ask questions and draw conclusions about geological processes affecting their own region

Success Criteria

Students will be successful when they can:

  • Refer to specific evidence (maps, patterns, stories, data) to support an explanation
  • Explain how plate tectonics connects to a local geological event or formation
  • Respectfully engage with and value multiple ways of knowing, including First Peoples perspectives

Lesson Overview (60 minutes)

1. Lesson Hook – Evidence from Place (10 minutes)

Show students a local map or image (e.g., Vancouver Island, coastal mountains, or earthquake distribution in the Pacific Northwest).

Prompt (Think–Pair–Share):

  • What do you notice about the land here?
  • What evidence do you see that Earth has changed over time?
  • What kinds of evidence might help us explain why this place looks the way it does?

Introduce the idea that scientists and Indigenous Peoples both use evidence, though it may look different.

2. Student-Driven Inquiry: What Counts as Evidence? (15 minutes)

In small groups, students rotate through three evidence stations:

  1. Quantitative Evidence
    • Earthquake frequency maps, plate boundary diagrams, elevation data
    • Guiding question: What patterns do you notice?
  2. Qualitative Scientific Evidence
    • Images of folded rock, fault lines, coastal features
    • Guiding question: What physical features suggest movement or pressure?
  3. First Peoples Knowledge
    • Short excerpt or summary of a local Indigenous oral history describing earthquakes, land shifts, or tsunamis
    • Guiding question: What observations about the land are shared through this story?

Students record:

  • One piece of evidence
  • What it suggests about Earth’s movement
  • One question they still have

3. Whole-Class Discussion – Connecting Evidence (15 minutes)

Facilitate a discussion that intentionally values multiple evidence sources.

Guiding questions:

  • How does plate tectonics help explain the evidence we examined?
  • How is First Peoples knowledge similar to scientific evidence? How is it different?
  • Why is it important to use more than one type of evidence when explaining geological events?

Explicitly connect discussion back to the Big Idea:
Plate tectonics explains many geological processes, and evidence from both science and First Peoples knowledge helps us understand those processes more fully.

4. Formative Assessment – Evidence-Based Explanation (15 minutes)

Exit Task (Choice-based):

Students choose one local geological feature or event and respond to:

Using at least two types of evidence (quantitative, qualitative, or First Peoples knowledge), explain how plate tectonics helps us understand this feature or event.

Options for response:

  • Short written explanation
  • Annotated diagram
  • Voice note or visual explanation

Formative Focus:

  • Use of evidence
  • Accuracy of explanation
  • Connection to place

Assessment for Learning

Teacher looks for:

  • Clear references to specific evidence
  • Understanding that plate tectonics explains observed patterns
  • Respectful engagement with First Peoples knowledge as valid evidence

Feedback is descriptive rather than graded (e.g., “You clearly used evidence from the map—next, try connecting it more explicitly to plate movement.”)

Reflection / Extension (Optional)

  • Invite students to ask: What geological evidence might future generations use to understand our time?
  • Extension inquiry: How might Indigenous knowledge help communities prepare for future geological events?

This is a quality lesson plan, and alongside this, seeing it formulate all the different parts of a quality lesson plan in response to my prompt gave me significant insight into how I can generate thoughtful lesson plans on my own – it essentially served as a decent model for how to form a lesson plan independently of its support.

GenAI is also a useful tool for sifting through bureaucratic documents to find key information. For example, rather than exploring the BC Teachers’ Provincial Collective Agreement in search of the current salary grid in the district I currently want to work in, I asked ChatGPT to find that information for me – and it did. I found the information manually as well, to ensure that the information ChatGPT had shared with me was correct, and it was!

GenAI is generally distinguished in that it is highly competent at sculpting language to portray things a certain way, target specific audiences, and more generally use language. This is particularly useful for teachers who have found articles or resources that would be difficult for their students to comprehend, but present incredibly rich learning opportunities. This is because GenAI is capable of utilizing its language proficiency to reword entire articles to suit specific reading levels.

Educational purposes I have found GenAI doesn’t work for:

A problem with genAI in education is its limited understanding of Indigenous knowledge systems. If you’ve tried to use ChatGPT to form a lesson or resource about Indigenous perspectives or knowledge systems, you’ll have seen this. For example, while the above lesson plan is overwhelmingly useful, it does include an excerpt about comparing Indigenous knowledge systems with Western ones. This is a slippery slope ethically, as Indigenous ways of knowing and Western science have fundamental differences, which make direct comparison difficult and often unfair. The current literature supports the idea that genAI has ethical problems surrounding Indigenous knowledge systems and perspectives (Pham et al.; Quince et al.).

As discussed earlier, you also need to provide genAI with highly specific prompts in order for it to provide accurate, high-quality responses. If you are asking genAI to provide something that you have little knowledge about (a presumably common reason to use genAI), it may not provide accurate responses. However, this can generally be resolved by continuing to revise your prompt based on the genAI’s responses – somewhat like leading a mouse through a maze.

Major general concerns and limitations of GenAI

A major concern I have about genAI is that it fuels rumination and reassurance-seeking compulsions, a long with a slew of other potential negative mental health impacts. This article by Tim Ciochon does a great job of explaining just how harmful genAI can be for those with OCD.

Age appropriateness is a common concern about genAI. Perhaps the most attention-grabbing information on this topic is that it has occasionally been implicated in enabling suicidal behaviors among youth; however, most of the mainstream genAI tools (i.e. ChatGPT) have safeguards in place for what prompts they will respond to. A more pervasive problem with youth using genAI is that it may short circuit exploratory thinking and struggle by replacing the inquiry process with direct answers. I believe that in order to move towards resolving this concern, genAI needs to be more clearly defined as a thinking partner as opposed to an answer generator.

Lastly, many genAI tools (such as ChatGPT) collect your private data, such as user prompts. Companies such as OpenAI are not explicitly clear that they are collecting users’ private data, nor do they explicitly say how they are using it – this information is hidden in fine print. This is a particularly sensitive issue in the context of education, as teachers and other educators have a responsibility to protect student information.

How else do you feel that genAI impacts education? Give your thoughts in the comments below!

References

“Create a Grade 8 science lesson tied to the BC science curricular competency of ‘Demonstrate an understanding and appreciation of evidence (qualitative and quantitative)’, the Big Idea ‘The theory of plate tectonics is the unifying theory that explains Earth’s geological processes’, and the content ‘First peoples knowledge of: local geological formations, significant local geological events’” prompt. ChatGPT, model GPT-5.2, Open AI, 27 Jan. 2026, https://chatgpt.com/c/69793368-dcd4-8330-b30a-b305d8924298.

Fig . 1. “Create an image of yourself” prompt, ChatGPT, 5.2, OpenAI, 27 Jan. 2026, https://chatgpt.com/c/69794739-3eb8-8330-babe-470e3e10e932.

Pham, Duong Thuy, and Tronel Joubert. “Mitigating generative AI’s negative impact on indigenous knowledge from international and Vietnamese laws perspectives.” Technology and Regulation, vol. 2025, 27 June 2025, pp. 194–213, https://doi.org/10.71265/gk1gwc22.

Quince, Zachery, et al. Indigenous Knowledges and Perspectives in the Age of Genai: Ethical Considerations for Higher Education, 2025, https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5701045.