Chappaqua Students and Staff Participate in the Future of Education Forum

On June 5^th, select Horace Greeley High School students and staff participated in the first Future of Education Forum at PNW BOCES, which focused on artificial intelligence (AI) and education. Participating teams of staff from a dozen local school districts joined this innovative day of learning, but Chapapqua was the only district to have students participate and lead sessions.

The Forum included a keynote address from doctoral student, researcher, and technology educator Jeromie Whalen. Whalen spoke about the current state of AI and shared recommendations for its use. Then, participants joined a variety of think tank sessions focused on student voice, media literacy, policy, and more.

Horace Greeley High School students Alex, Mali, and Nicholas led a Think Tank session sharing their experiences with AI with regional educators. They were joined by Chappaqua’s Director of Professional Learning, Ellen Moskowitz, and Greeley’s Student Life Coordinator, Lauren Olmo.

The students, during their 90 minute Think Tank session, participated in a fishbowl conversation for sharing their thoughts and feelings about how AI is used in education by students, teachers’ perspectives on it, and advocated that it should be allowed in classrooms.  After the fishbowl, students engaged with regional educators and leaders to have lively discussions about AI and the appropriate use of these disruptive technologies in our classrooms. Their perspectives were both insightful and enlightening as they helped change the minds of many of the educators and alleviate concerns from some of the participants.

Alex and Nicholas then joined our Director of Technology, Innovation and Mathematics, Joshua Culwell-Block, and other regional educators in a panel discussion. They each shared how they are using artificial intelligence, their ideas for how it may impact education, and potential concerns. (continued below)

“What a fantastic opportunity for the region to come together to discuss how generative artificial intelligence can be responsibly integrated into the instructional program,” shared Dr. Adam Pease, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction. “I am especially proud that Chappaqua was able to amplify the voice of our #TruthSquad students by bringing them to this conference with us.”

The event concluded with participant-driven Edcamp sessions, where multiple members of the Chappaqua Professional Development Team led sessions. These sessions focused on discussion around  the role of artificial intelligence in the teaching of writing and on how we can leverage the power of artificial intelligence to shift paradigms in education.

We are proud to have students and staff lead this important work in our region and represent our #WeAreChappaqua school community.