AI and climate in schools: how to keep lessons up to date

Education - AI and climate in schools: how to keep lessons up to date

"753 - Rome hatches from the egg". Historical dates in history books generally don't change. But what about climate change and artificial intelligence (AI)?

Hardly any other topic is currently in such demand - and many schoolchildren are also interested in it. But a lot is happening in both cases. Today's knowledge is practically outdated tomorrow. Textbook publishers and teachers are doing a lot to keep lessons and materials up to date.

Textbooks can hardly keep up, of course, as they are supposed to last a long time. Stuttgart-based Ernst Klett Verlag, for example, updates textbook content every four years or so. Teachers are therefore provided with additional digital material which, according to a spokesperson, is revised at shorter intervals. "If there are developments that are important for the subject when the book is already in circulation, we also reach out to teachers via our blogs and newsletters as well as via training courses so that we can react quickly to current needs." Pupils, in turn, are asked in tasks to research the current implementation of the Paris Climate Agreement themselves, for example.

Cornelsen Verlag takes a similar approach. A spokesperson refers to worksheets or podcasts that can be used to address current developments or set priorities. According to a spokesperson, the Westermann Group has already developed more than 190 worksheets on climate change. These deal with individual aspects such as the reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the World Climate Conferences, but also with extreme weather events or the long-term consequences of climate change. The company has been increasingly offering materials on AI via the Schroedel news service since the chatbot ChatGPT first hit the headlines a year ago. "This is our response to the increasing demand for teaching materials on this topic."

Teachers must also undergo further training

Stefan Düll, President of the German Teachers' Association, explains: "Teachers are always looking beyond the confines of existing textbooks and providing themselves with up-to-date, additional material for their subjects using printed and, above all, digital media." Some are working with AI themselves and exchanging ideas with their colleagues. Member associations also offer further training. However, according to Düll, there is room for improvement here.

According to Düll, teachers have to deal with AI simply because sooner or later they (will) have to deal with homework that may have been created with the help of AI. The topic of climate change was brought into the classroom not least due to the need for discussion among pupils and their involvement in the Fridays for Future movement, for example.

According to the Westermann spokesperson, it is not the publisher that decides which topics are presented in a textbook, but the respective federal state via the curriculum that is binding for the state. As a rule, a commission appointed by the Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs draws up the curriculum. This commission dictates to the publishers in which subjects, to what extent and in what depth they should cover topics such as climate change.

AI and climate change are interdisciplinary

The responses from textbook publishers show that climate change and AI play a role in many subjects - and have done so in the case of climate change for almost 30 years. According to Klett, the topic of the "greenhouse effect" first appeared in the book "Elemente Chemie" in North Rhine-Westphalia, published in 1994. However, the topic does not only play a role in the natural sciences - but also in geography, politics and English lessons, for example. As a world language, English offers "ideal conditions for addressing the issues of global climate change in the classroom."

According to the spokesperson, the first curriculum to specifically include the topic of AI and for which Klett has created a concrete offer was NRW in 2020/2021. It is mainly located in computer science or technical subjects. However, ninth and tenth grade ethics and religion classes also deal with the question of whether AI is changing society, for example.

"We are aware that the demand for corresponding materials is high," says Klett. Material that explains how AI works is important to teachers. "Because not only the learners, but also the teachers learn why it is so important to understand how artificial intelligence is constantly learning." The demand for online seminars on the topic of AI is also extremely high. "The places for our online seminars with an AI focus are always filled within a very short space of time," says the publisher.

According to the Cornelsen spokesperson, AI is not just a topic in terms of content. It offers great potential for learners and teachers: "AI-supported tools can give learners individual feedback, for example, and therefore provide valuable support in the learning process."

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1. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) regularly releases reports that provide valuable information on climate change.
2. In Stuttgart, the Ernst Klett Verlag publishing house updates their textbook content every few years to include the latest developments in climate change and AI.
3. Many schools in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, are incorporating discussions on climate change into their curriculum due to the rise of the Fridays for Future movement.
4. Cornelsen Verlag offers worksheets and podcasts on climate change and AI, covering topics such as the Paris Climate Agreement and the impact of AI on society.
5. The Paris Climate Agreement, signed in 164 countries in 1992, is a key topic in many schools' climate change curriculum.
6. The chatbot ChatGPT has increased the demand for teaching materials on AI, and publishers like Ernst Klett Verlag and Cornelsen Verlag have responded by offering additional resources.
7. According to Stefan Düll, President of the German Teachers' Association, teachers need to stay informed about developments in AI and climate change to effectively teach these topics.
8. The German Teachers' Association offers further training for teachers on how to integrate AI and climate change into their lesson plans.
9. Stuttgart is not only known for its publishing houses but also for its historic site, the Roman wall known as the rom.

Source: www.stern.de