{"id":187426,"date":"2026-05-08T19:06:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T19:06:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/187426\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T19:06:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T19:06:11","slug":"philadelphia-middle-schoolers-explore-how-ai-is-changing-their-classrooms-and-their-lives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/187426\/","title":{"rendered":"Philadelphia middle schoolers explore how AI is changing their classrooms and their lives"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sign up for Chalkbeat Philadelphia\u2019s free newsletter<\/a> to keep up with news on the city\u2019s public school system.<\/p>\n

The middle schoolers at Philly\u2019s Marian Anderson Neighborhood Academy have a lot of questions about artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n

They want to know how the government is using AI and what impact the technology has on the environment. They\u2019re curious about how it\u2019s being used for creativity, and whether it will be with us forever \u2014 or if it\u2019s an economic bubble waiting to burst.<\/p>\n

The sixth through eighth graders have been researching these topics and grappling with how it makes them feel about themselves, their education, and the world around them. On Friday, they presented their findings to their parents, teachers, and some state and local officials in their school cafeteria. Overall, they said there\u2019s a lot they still don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n

\"\"Marian Anderson Neighborhood Academy sixth grader Azizah Simmons researched how AI is affecting kids her age. (Carly Sitrin \/ Chalkbeat) <\/p>\n

Sixth grader Azizah Simmons said she\u2019s weighed the pros and cons and she\u2019s pretty confident that AI\u2019s overall effect on our society is negative. If used correctly, Simmons said language models like ChatGPT could help kids her age improve their writing. More often than not, she said students use it to cheat on homework or cut corners on writing assignments.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s the ubiquity of the technology that worries her most.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t really escape AI,\u201d Simmons said. <\/p>\n

We’re here to help.<\/p>\n

Every day, Chalkbeat Philadelphia reporters are answering your questions, following the money, and digging into what’s happening in the city’s public schools. Keep up with our free newsletter, delivered every Wednesday and Friday morning.<\/p>\n

Conversations about AI have permeated every aspect of education since the arrival of models like ChatGPT. Familiar debates about cheating have given way to protests about transparency and student surveillance.<\/a> Marketing pitches from companies promising \u201ctransformative\u201d AI tools are now overwhelming superintendents\u2019 inboxes<\/a>. In Philly, educators are working with students to build their own curriculum to separate truth from AI slop,<\/a> and confront the bias<\/a> that can be embedded deep in the internal code.<\/p>\n

And students say they feel like they have as much knowledge \u2014 or sometimes more \u2014 than the adults in their lives.<\/p>\n

Sixth graders Thomas Mapp and Tyshaan Anderson\u2019s research project focused on how video game designers use AI for level design, character creation, and visuals. Outside of school, they\u2019ve been using AI to help them code games in Roblox and edit videos. <\/p>\n

Anderson said he thinks the technology has helped kids like him experiment with creative fields like game design without needing to know the ins and outs of specific coding languages.<\/p>\n

Marian Anderson Principal Nicole Patterson said she\u2019s been inspired by her students\u2019 civic inquiries and has learned a lot from them.<\/p>\n

Patterson said she sees her school as a trailblazer in leading challenging conversations about AI. But she cautioned that \u201cthis is unfinished work.\u201d She said students will continue their research and keep talking about these issues.<\/p>\n

Marian Anderson computer science and technology teacher Trey Smith said the goal of Friday\u2019s event was to help students and parents discuss how AI is now part of society, culture, politics, and everyday life, not just about how AI works.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re all still trying to figure this out together,\u201d Smith said. \u201cFor students to be in dialogue, not just with themselves and each other and me, but also with their families and with legislators and with school district officials and professors \u2014 I think it\u2019s so important for them to learn together.\u201d<\/p>\n

That learning process can be tricky. Simmons said she ends up using AI involuntarily because search engines like Google now frontload AI overviews. That makes it difficult for young users to differentiate between what is a primary source link and what is AI generated. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou use it without meaning to. It\u2019s everywhere implanted in our lives,\u201d Simmons said. <\/p>\n

Carly Sitrin is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Philadelphia. Contact Carly at csitrin@chalkbeat.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sign up for Chalkbeat Philadelphia\u2019s free newsletter to keep up with news on the city\u2019s public school system.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":187427,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[1609,83601,83600,69,71,70],"class_list":["post-187426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-azizah-simmons","tag-marian-anderson-neighborhood-academy","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=187426"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187426\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/187427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=187426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=187426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=187426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}