This year's Future of Education Technology Conference (FETC) took place in Orlando, Fla., on Jan. 14–17, 2025, bringing together more than 9,000 people.
At this year's Future of Education and Technology Conference (FETC), PBS News Hour Classroom had the opportunity to speak with Virginia Beach Public Schools educators Sheila Teri, Charlie Hinsch and Kelly Miller about how integrating AI tools in the classroom can help students develop more efficient research skills.
Hinsch discussed the importance of preparing students for the future of AI by teaching them how to use tools such as AI chatbots.
"We need to provide students with the ability and the experience to communicate with a chatbot and know the correct questions to ask, and how to respond to the information the chatbot is providing," says Hinsch.
Miller spoke about how AI and media literacy go hand in hand.
"We are bombarded by information," says Miller. "Both adults and students need to learn how to discern that information that they're receiving from social media, from TV, from everything online, to make sure that they learn how to critically analyze it. AI is the same: when AI generates a response, you need to know that it may not be true, and bias may be showing up there."
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
To learn more about FETC, visit their website.
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Lesson Plan: Charting a course to healthy eating habits using robotics
Read: Educator Voice: Making STEM more accessible for students and their families
Read: Educator Voice: Reducing barriers to computer science for students and educators
Be sure to check out PBS News Hour Classroom's Invention Education collection full of lessons and video stories featuring student inventors and their teachers.
We also have an Invention Educator Network (no experience necessary!), which brings together teachers from various subjects and grade levels to discuss all things invention & innovation. Sign up here to learn more.
Produced by Gianfranco Beran, News Hour Classroom's production assistant, and Victoria Pasquantonio.
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