STAO 2026: STEAM Driven

When individuals use AI, there are times when they are “offloading” some of the cognitive work involved in the task, to the tool being used. As Science educators, we need to be careful that we are certain about what types of cognitive work we want our students offloading.We also need to continually ask ourselves what is the goal of the task being assigned, is it to obtain a completed work, or is it to move the student through a learning journey, through stages that help “construct” knowledge or skills?In this session we will consider the big picture of AI in  science education and ask questions related to how students learn and when it’s appropriate for our students, and ourselves, to use AI. We will consider the positive struggle sometimes involved in learning and the need to ensure that this opportunity still exists for our students. We will also consider how knowledge and skills are developed and the impact that the use of AI tools might have on this process.