Teaching Students AI Ethics Through Workshops

Overview

As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to shape various aspects of daily life, students must develop an ethical understanding of how this technology works, allowing them to critically examine their use of AI and the technology’s outputs. For example, AI tools can generate biased information and incorrect information (so-called “hallucinations”). AI tools use large amounts of energy, which can contribute to the acceleration of climate change. AI tools are also trained on images, videos, writings, and other work created by people who do not receive compensation for those contributions.

Example From the School Teams AI Collaborative

Schools are often the first institutions to expose students to AI and, as such, are responsible for being transparent about the potential benefits and costs of its use as they integrate AI into instruction. Valley New School, a school in Appleton, WI, that serves students from grades 7-12, developed AI ethics workshops to provide space for students to learn about and grapple with the ethics of AI. Through interactive discussions, case studies, and hands-on activities, students gained a deeper understanding of AI ethics, informing how they utilize and engage with AI. Some of the activities students participated in were:

• Reflecting with an AI Inventory: Students thought about what tasks they would consider using AI for and which ones they would not. 

• Role-Playing a Town Hall: Students took on the personas of different stakeholders ranging from an environmental activist, an artist, a corporate IT security director, and a college student. Students received role cards with a description of the stakeholders including their perspectives on AI and they shared the excitement and concerns their characters had in the town hall.

  

• Discussing Challenging Scenarios: Students broke into groups to discuss ethical AI-related topics, including misinformation, mental health, job automation, and climate change. Students learned about AI's potential positive and negative impacts in these areas and designed boundaries for using AI in these situations.

These kinds of workshops create space for students to grapple with the complexities of AI and help them understand that the use of AI is not a black-and-white issue. It also helps inform how they plan to engage and leverage AI.

Apply This Strategy in Your Context

Educators looking to help students critically engage with AI ethics can do this in various ways, including workshops, embedding AI ethics discussions throughout the school year, offering a course on ethics, and more. Whatever format educators decide, take the following steps to develop students’ understanding of AI ethics:

• Create Opportunities for Ethical Reflection: Provide structured opportunities for students to reflect on the ethical implications of AI. Discussion prompts such as Who benefits from AI, and who might be harmed?, What responsibilities do AI users have?, and How should we balance AI’s potential with its risks? can help students think critically about the technology. Consider using ethical dilemma case studies or current events to help students connect AI ethics to real-world issues.

• Integrate AI Ethics Across Subjects: Ethical discussions about AI shouldn’t be limited to technology or computer science classes. Social studies classes can explore AI’s impact on democracy and misinformation, science classes can analyze its environmental footprint, and English classes can discuss AI’s role in media and creativity. By embedding AI ethics across subjects, students develop a holistic understanding of its societal implications.

• Encourage Diverse Perspectives Through Role-Playing and Debate: Structured activities like town halls, debates, and role-playing exercises help students engage with multiple viewpoints on AI ethics. Assigning students different stakeholder roles—such as policymakers, artists, business leaders, and environmental advocates—encourages them to consider how AI affects different groups. 

• Support Student-Driven AI Guidelines: Empower students to develop their own AI use guidelines for academic and personal contexts. By setting personal boundaries on how and when they use AI tools, students take ownership of their ethical decision-making. Schools can also collaborate with students to establish shared AI principles that align with their values and learning goals.

• Foster Ongoing Conversations About AI Ethics: AI ethics is an evolving conversation. Encourage students to revisit and refine their perspectives as new developments emerge. Digital portfolios, classroom discussion forums, or reflective writing assignments can help students track how their thinking about AI ethics grows throughout the year.

• Connect Students to Experts: In this rapidly evolving space, students should learn from experts to drive and guide their own thinking.

By implementing these strategies, educators ensure that students develop a nuanced, thoughtful approach to AI. Instead of seeing AI as purely beneficial or harmful, students learn to navigate its complexities, equipping them with the critical skills needed to engage ethically with technology in their daily lives.

This AI-enabled strategy was developed by a member of the School Teams AI Collaborative — a partnership between Leading Educators and The Learning Accelerator (TLA). The Collaborative was developed to bring together innovative educators from schools across the country to share ideas and discover effective ways to use AI in the classroom.