Teach AI with HI: Helping students leverage their humanity

How do we prepare children to use AI most efficiently today and and in their future work environment? We start with the child. The more the child's inner world is richer, the better they will use prompt engineering. The better HI, the more agency for creative problem solving autonomously and collaboratively.

If the child's inner world is lacking, even AI will not be able to understand what s/he wants from them. With a rich inner world the child will know to be specific in prompting, or to choose the best suited most effective prompt. With HI, Human Intelligence, students will become workers with 21st century skills, supported by a sense of well-being, and ignited to solve world problems.

Yet first we need to teach children to appreciate their human intelligence. What I mean is they need to identify when AI output is not valid, asking themselves: What do we need to explore further? What do we need to elevate?

In my practical teaching encouragement book, Michelangelo in the 21st Century, you are most welcome to find a fact/opinion world trivia game. It is a great example of how to teach children nuances of valid or vague fact while nurturing their inner world.

Here are some examples:

1) Dana pointed her smartphone flashlight at the “eye” of a peacock feather. When she moved the colors seemed to change.

 Fact – The colors of the peacock feathers “eyes” seem to change when we look at them from different angles, as they are not pigment based. They are based on structural coloration. With the peacock feather there are microscopic layers that reflect the light in ways that allow us to see different colors from different angles. Studies of structural coloration could lead to inventions such as a car which is perceived in different colors from different angles.

If possible – bring a peacock feather to class and try it out with the students. Hold the feather and ask a student to point his/her smartphone flashlight at the feather while moving around it.

2)  The peacock is arrogant.

Opinion – This is an association made by people. The peacock showing its tail does not convey arrogance. It simply uses the tail as a signal for communication. This is about courting colors. The female peacock can tell if the male is healthy or not based on his feathers. The peacock spreads its tail, and she checks if the feathers are symmetrical, colorful and iridescent. This is important, since she wishes to choose the strongest male to father her chicks, so they will have most chances to survive. What’s more, peacock tail feathers can be as long as 150 cm. Growing the tail every year and carrying it takes a lot of energy and places the peacock in danger. Predators might notice it, making escape difficult. The peacock chooses to make things harder on himself to court the female and to convey the message that he is prime, so predators will stay away. This is called the handicap principle. How do we people make things hard on ourselves to convey social messages?

3) A black car heats more in the sun than a white car.

Fact - Every car warms up, including white ones, because light shines through the windows. The light is converted to heat, which gets trapped in the car. This is a kind of a greenhouse effect.  Black cars get warmer since the light is also absorbed by the black metal and converted to heat. This adds to the heat inside the car.

4) If we’d stretch our arm, we could say: At my shoulder – that’s when Earth began. At my elbow – that’s when the dinosaurs lived. After one centimeter of arm: That’s when the dinosaurs disappeared. At our tip of the finger – That’s the time of the caveman. And our nail – that’s our time today.

Opinion – It is true that dinosaurs appeared on Earth after millions of years, and that they have disappeared long before the time of man. But this is still a demonstration. To make it fact we’d have to draw a scientifically based timeline.

If you try these ideas with children, with or without AI, let them play with it. This is going to be an interesting experiment. Arrive together to the final response whether it is fact or opinion. Without even noticing, the students have sharpened their critical and creative skills.

Creatively yours,

Michelle Korenfeld

Books, learning units and PD helping students foster human intelligence in AI times

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