8th Grade Science Guide

Canyons School District

Instructional Supports Department

Appropriate use of AI in Science

How to Explicitly Teach Appropriate AI Use

A simple way to communicate expectations is the stoplight model. As you prepare the lesson, think through each component and decide if AI use would be appropriate

or not for each component. Green light (AI Encouraged) AI may be used to support learning, thinking and revision.

Some examples may include: brainstorming possible testable questions for investigations, organizing data in charts, explore engineering design ideas before prototyping. Yellow Light (AI with Caution) AI may be used in limited ways, with clear boundaries and required citation. Some examples may include: providing feedback on a writing sample, checking for accuracy or finding research articles to help support investigation results. Red Light (AI not Allowed) AI use would replace student thinking or demonstrate learning inaccurately. Some examples may include: Original draft of a CER, graphing a data set, reading articles.

Make it Transparent

In a science lesson, students are creating a lab procedure to answer a science question, collecting data, and then writing a claim with supporting evidence about their inquiry question. Being transparent with AI expectations might look like this:

AI Expectations for Today’s Tasks

Creating Lab Procedure Use AI to help you brainstorm potential procedural ideas

Collecting Data No AI use

Writing a Claim with Evidence

AI can be used to refine your claim and evidence statement, but only after you’ve generated a first draft