ASE 2027 Annual Conference

AI technology is changing the fabric of scientific knowledge building.  In biology, for example, AlphaFold predicts the structure of proteins and other biomolecules, changing how drugs are developed and diseases are  studied. In medicine, AI-powered image generation is changing medical diagnostics. In chemistry, AI tools are automating and accelerating organic chemistry and material discovery. In physics, complex AI-based simulations accelerate research across topics, while AI-based robotics is driving change in engineering. Further, scientific inquiry requires new skills for scientists, such as designing ‘AI experiments’, navigating data ethics and governance, evaluating AI models, and interpreting AI system output.

How, then, is school science changing to teach about this new way of scientific working and these new discoveries? What new AI-related real-world science concepts and skills might be taught?

The aim of this workshop is to start this discussion. We will lead a workshop to brainstorm candidate uses of AI in real-world science and consider what concepts and skills might be introduced at different stages of science education.
We will provide examples of how basic AI literacy concepts have been introduced in existing AI lessons covering topics such as ecosystems and healthcare.  We will use these to spark discussion on what content might be taught in classroom science lessons to showcase `AI in real-world science’.  We are particularly interested in stimulating discussion on how scientific inquiry in school might change in the light of AI technology.
 
The outcome from this workshop will be that participants will become more familiar with AI literacy concepts and begin to form ideas about what AI literacy for Science might look like. They will also start to develop ideas for lessons that introduce `AI in real-world science’ into their science classrooms. We do not have the answers to what should be taught and how about `AI in real-world science’, but as computer science education researchers, we would like to facilitate this discussion with science educators to help work towards this goal.