3 Culver science teachers explore AI's classroom potential at Argonne Lab

 

Three Culver Academies science teachers spent a week at Argonne National Laboratory outside Chicago learning how to use artificial intelligence as a tool that can help students develop deeper critical-thinking skills and support scientific discovery.

"It opened my eyes to the usefulness of artificial intelligence,” chemistry instructor Lacy Buck said.

Buck, biology instructor Ragan Morehouse and physics instructor Monica Owens were among 14 educators selected to attend Argonne's AI for Science Teacher Institute, an immersive professional development program. The weeklong seminar in August explored how artificial intelligence is being used in scientific research and how teachers can integrate the rapidly evolving technology into their classrooms.

The program at Argonne, operated by the University of Chicago for the U.S. Department of Energy, combined instruction on AI and generative AI with presentations from Argonne researchers, tours of laboratory facilities and collaboration with educators from across the region.

The three applied for the program independently after computer science and engineering instructor David Lawrence alerted them to the program. Culver paid for them to attend.

The program offered something many educators are seeking as AI rapidly becomes a fixture in schools: a better understanding of how to harness its potential while preserving the critical-thinking skills students need most.

“I wanted to learn more about how we could use it as a tool because I feel like we're always fighting with it in the classroom. That was my biggest thing: How can we use this? Because we know it's the future," Morehouse said.

As the week progressed, the instructors said their understanding evolved.

"It was interesting," Buck said. "The first day, we're like, this was fine. The second day, it was fun. But then by the time we got to the end of the week, we're like, ‘Oh, that's what we needed all along.’"

Owens was interested in seeing how one of the nation's premier research institutions is applying artificial intelligence.

 

 

"I have always wanted to go there because they drive technological advances. So I wanted to see how they were using it,” she said. “I'm kind of on the fence about AI. Is it something we should be using every day? Is it something that should be set aside for research purposes? So I wanted to see what they were doing with AI in addition to learning how could I use this in a meaningful way in my classroom?"

The instructors spent the week learning from scientists and fellow teachers while exploring practical classroom applications. Rather than focusing on detecting student misuse of AI, the institute emphasized ways the technology can support learning.

One of the key lessons involved designing prompts that guide students through a problem-solving process instead of simply providing answers.

Owens said she created an AI tutor that helps freshman students understand the scientific method by asking questions and offering guidance.

Owens said she was surprised to learn how artificial intelligence could aid in teaching. She could prompt the computer by telling it what type of experiment she would like a student to explore and then asking it to develop a hypothesis.

"I didn't have to put into the prompt, the definitions of any of those things, and students could pick any experiment," she said.

She instructed the AI not to provide answers directly. Instead, she asked it to ask leading questions to help students arrive at the correct answer.

The concept reinforced a phrase the teachers heard repeatedly throughout the week: "human in the loop." Throughout the week, Argonne instructors emphasized that AI works best when humans remain actively involved in the process.

Morehouse said she no longer needs to spend a lot of time teaching students how to create a graph in Excel because AI can do that.

“So we have more time for the critical thinking, for the analysis,” she said.

 

 

The teachers also learned how AI is accelerating scientific discovery at Argonne. Researchers demonstrated how the technology can analyze massive data sets, identify promising areas for investigation and help scientists run simulations that would be impossible or impractical in a laboratory.

Owens was particularly impressed by presentations showing how researchers combine AI, simulations and advanced visualization tools.

"You can test out something that you couldn't test in the lab, like the surface of the sun, or something that might take too long, like the birth of a star," Owens said. "I thought that was really cool to be able to share with students."

The institute also addressed potential pitfalls, including what participants called the "fluency trap," when AI presents information so confidently that users may fail to question its accuracy.

"We learned a lot about the dangers of AI," Morehouse said. "Because AI can state things so assuredly, it makes you believe it."

As a result, the teachers said source evaluation and verification remain essential skills.

The three instructors have already begun bringing ideas from the institute into their classrooms. Morehouse recently used an AI-based activity in biology that generated discussions among students studying environmental factors and populations. Buck plans to teach students how to create their own AI-powered study tools, while Owens is developing resources that allow AP Physics students to practice problem-solving independently.

Morehouse believes the greatest benefit may be the freedom it gives students and teachers to focus on deeper learning.

“It frees us from the day-to-day grind and allows us to focus on the work that requires our expertise and critical thinking,” Morehouse said.

For the three instructors, the week at Argonne was not about finding shortcuts or replacing traditional teaching methods. Instead, it offered a glimpse of how science education is evolving. While technology may be changing, the goal of education remains the same.

Students must learn how to ask questions, evaluate information, think critically and solve problems.