Four ways to use Artificial Intelligence in the geography classroom

3 December 2024

Read time: 4mins

‘The possibilities of using AI in the classroom are nearly endless if you can harness the technology to produce what you are aiming for.’

Lara Buchanan

AI (Artificial Intelligence) is taking over the modern world, and as teachers, we want to keep up with the changing society that our students are growing up in. AI is a powerful tool that we can use to reduce the time we spend planning and it can help to come up with tasks for use in the classroom to challenge students of all ages.

The most common AI tool that I use in the classroom is ChatGPT. It is a free site that has endless possibilities. Today, we are going to look at four different ways that I have used AI to support planning and preparation for lessons.

The biggest barrier to using AI that I hear from other teachers is that ‘I don’t know how to get it to do what I want it to.’ The key is to be INCREDIBLY specific; think what role do you want AI to play, what goals are you aiming for (intended outcome), and what controls are you putting in place (eg. word count, academic level). 

First way

With GCSE or A level classes a lot of the focus towards the end of my lessons are based on preparing for exam questions. Rather than offering students the question and expecting them to come up with an answer, I use AI to write a response to the question (although this usually works better with physical geography questions rather than opinion based responses).

Then I ask students to come up with the question that the answer may correlate to. This helps students to think about the strengths of the answer and to pick out the key aspects of the answer to come up with a nuanced question.

Second way

For A level students I often take this one step further. I give students the written answer, get them to come up with the question for themselves, and after revealing the original question, I ask them to mark the model answer, adding any information that AI had missed such as specific dates, statistics or impacts.

This helps them to see the strength of the answer and how it can be improved. It saves time on writing a model answer, but also offers students the opportunity to critique an answer openly as it has not been written by anyone in the classroom.

Third way

Having worked primarily in an all-girls secondary school, I have used model answers as a way of supporting girls to take a risk academically. To do this, I ask AI to write a model answer for a particular question, give the girls the question, but then mix up AI’s answer so the order is incorrect, then ask the students put it in the right order.

This works especially well for physical geography which is more schematic, and helps students to better understand the importance of telling the whole story of processes. Some questions I have used this for are: Explain the formation of a wave-cut notch (4 marks), Explain why California is at risk of natural hazards (6 marks).

Fourth way

Finally, AI can be useful to help students with ASC (Autism Spectrum Conditions) to engage with the subject in a new way. Students with ASC often find it hard to emotionally engage with material in geography lessons, taking information as matter of fact and struggling to grasp the impact that certain events may have on the lives of individuals; for example, the impact of rising sea levels of people living in Kiribati.

To combat this, I have used AI to write ‘first hand experiences’ of people living in these conditions. AI can produce diary entry-like accounts of an experience that can help students with ASC to engage with the material in a different way that supports their needs.

Conclusion

To conclude, the possibilities of using AI in the classroom are nearly endless if you can harness the technology to produce what you are aiming for. Remember when offering instructions: what role do you want AI to take? What is the goal? And what controls have you put in place?

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© Lara Buchanan and the Geographical Association, 2024