2026 AI Educator Summer Institute

As a teacher, you are one of the most powerful forces shaping the next generation of entrepreneurs, problem-solvers, and community leaders. This presentation is designed to introduce AI for business concepts to teachers as a resource to create a community-centered evening event. By understanding how AI is being used in actual small businesses today, you will gain fresh, relevant, and adaptable concepts to bring business education to life for your students and their communities and how to invite the community's business leaders into your school for a student-led AI night. 

Explore five ways to introduce and expand integrated A.I. instruction in your K-5 classroom. We will explore how to help students understand important themes about A.I., including ethics, policy, and how A.I. works (it is not your friend!). Then we will explore tools and resources that will aid you in bringing A.I. into your existing lessons in engaging ways without disrupting your flow or time constraints. You will leave with at least one (hopefully more!) idea to use this fall in their classrooms.

This session will highlight practical AI implementation strategies for the science classroom. AI tools do not need to replace student thinking, but can be used to enhance student understanding and reasoning. In this session, we will discuss how AI can be used to support inquiry-based learning, data analysis, and scientific thinking. We will also discuss what responsible AI use in the classroom can look like, with students using AI tools to verify information, cite sources, and critically evaluate AI-generated claims, while also balancing over-reliance. We will use real classroom examples to utilize AI tools in modeling, creating simulations, and data interpretation.

In this hands-on session, educators will explore IBM SkillsBuild through Discovery Education and learn how to navigate courses that build foundational AI and digital skills with confidence. Participants will gain a clearer understanding of AI concepts, digital literacy, responsible use, and workforce-aligned skills that can support both teacher learning and student readiness.

This session will also lay the foundation for the afternoon Expansion Pack Workshop, where educators will apply what they learned to classroom instruction. Educators will use their new AI knowledge to determine when AI is the right tool, how AI can increase rigor, and how AI can provide additional supports or accommodations for students as they design lessons for their own subject areas and grade levels.

In the afternoon session we will focus on 3 modules that can be adapted to create a Student – Led AI School to Community Event for your school. You will leave with a plan for creating an AI community night at your school. 

In this interactive afternoon workshop, educators will move from awareness to application by exploring research-based Discovery Education SOS Instructional Strategies that can be used across grade levels and content areas. Participants will work collaboratively to develop, curate, adapt, and practice strategies they can immediately implement in their classrooms.

Educators will first explore high-impact instructional strategies that work with or without AI, then examine how AI can be used intentionally to increase rigor, support accommodations, extend student thinking, and create more responsive learning experiences. Using knowledge from the morning session, participants will design or adapt classroom-ready lessons for their own subject areas while determining when AI adds value and when strong instructional strategy alone is enough.

Educators will leave with:

5–7 practical instructional strategies they can use for engagement, discussion, collaboration, and formative assessmentA stronger understanding of when AI can meaningfully support instructionA classroom-ready plan for using AI to increase rigor, support student needs, and strengthen learning

Referencing what we explored in the morning session #14, attendees will dig into the tools and resources to curate, create, or adapt at least one (hopefully more!) complete plan that is aligned to their standards and instructional materials that they can use this fall in their classrooms.

*This is a cohort session. Following one morning session on Monday, July 13, this group will meet every afternoon to continue its exploration and learning.*

In the afternoon sessions participants will continue to examine various problems in applied mathematics and will explore how AI connects disparate mathematical concepts.  By attempting challenging problems from various resources (e.g., the Mathematical Association of America, The Art of Problem Solving, and The American Mathematical Society), teachers will again apply a blend of traditional techniques and numerical tools to solve advanced problems; however, unlike the morning session these problems will include examples that current AI models often fail to thoroughly grasp. By discovering more of AI’s limitations, they will be reminded of the value of primary source materials, such as time-tested, multi-edition textbooks.  These examples will reinforce the necessity of human oversight and boost professional confidence in identifying "hallucinations" or errors.  Additionally, teachers will also be encouraged to research and solve relevant problems of interest to them and their particular course w

*This is a cohort session. All participants who attend the morning session are invited to attend an accompanying afternoon expansion pack session each afternoon this week to apply your morning learning to the Special Education classroom.*

The 3-hour afternoon workshop gives participants dedicated creation time to apply the morning's framework to real materials from their own classrooms. It is structured as a creation studio rather than a continuation of the lecture.

Hour 1 (1:00–2:00) — Identify and Design: Participants select one real instructional challenge. A lesson that needs differentiation, a text that needs to be adapted for a lower reading level, an assessment that needs scaffolding, or a documentation task they want to streamline. Small groups form around shared challenges. Special educators learn as much from each other as from any presenter. Introduction to the creation workflow: original material → AI prompt → draft → critical review → revision.

Break (2:00–2:15)

Hour 2 (2:15–3:15) — Create: Hands-on creation using Gemini and NotebookLM. Facilitator circulates with targeted coaching. Structured peer feedback in pairs: Does this serve the student? What did the AI miss that a human expert would catch? What needs to be fixed before this goes near a classroom?

Hour 3 (3:15–4:00) — Share, Critique, and Plan: Small group shares. Not just "look what I made" but "here's what the AI got wrong and how I fixed it." Whole-group reflection on AI as a tool for inclusive practice versus a shortcut that bypasses expertise. Individual action planning to identify one specific thing I will try with students in fall 2026.

Participants leave with a real, usable adapted resource and a realistic, critical framework for continuing independently.

The afternoon workshop will allow teachers to investigate some of these tools and develop their own models, simulations, or data interpretation ideas. I’d like to introduce my collaboration with Taylor to create a simulation for my passion project, as well as some other data analysis tools (CODAP, Data Story Bytes, and websites to collect large data sets from including Kaggle).

The workshop would be divided into two mini sessions. The first will focus on simulation creation. The teachers will be able to work on creating their own simulations in pairs, then share with the group. The second session will focus on data analysis tools and will be conducted in a similar manner.

In the afternoon session we will focus on 3 modules that can be adapted to create a Student – Led AI School to Community Event for your school. You will leave with a plan for creating an AI community night at your school. 

In this interactive afternoon workshop, educators will move from awareness to application by exploring research-based Discovery Education SOS Instructional Strategies that can be used across grade levels and content areas. Participants will work collaboratively to develop, curate, adapt, and practice strategies they can immediately implement in their classrooms.

Educators will first explore high-impact instructional strategies that work with or without AI, then examine how AI can be used intentionally to increase rigor, support accommodations, extend student thinking, and create more responsive learning experiences. Using knowledge from the morning session, participants will design or adapt classroom-ready lessons for their own subject areas while determining when AI adds value and when strong instructional strategy alone is enough.

Educators will leave with:

5–7 practical instructional strategies they can use for engagement, discussion, collaboration, and formative assessmentA stronger understanding of when AI can meaningfully support instructionA classroom-ready plan for using AI to increase rigor, support student needs, and strengthen learning

Referencing what we explored in the morning session #14, attendees will dig into the tools and resources to curate, create, or adapt at least one (hopefully more!) complete plan that is aligned to their standards and instructional materials that they can use this fall in their classrooms.

*This is a cohort session. Following one morning session on Monday, July 13, this group will meet every afternoon to continue its exploration and learning.*

In the afternoon sessions participants will continue to examine various problems in applied mathematics and will explore how AI connects disparate mathematical concepts.  By attempting challenging problems from various resources (e.g., the Mathematical Association of America, The Art of Problem Solving, and The American Mathematical Society), teachers will again apply a blend of traditional techniques and numerical tools to solve advanced problems; however, unlike the morning session these problems will include examples that current AI models often fail to thoroughly grasp. By discovering more of AI’s limitations, they will be reminded of the value of primary source materials, such as time-tested, multi-edition textbooks.  These examples will reinforce the necessity of human oversight and boost professional confidence in identifying "hallucinations" or errors.  Additionally, teachers will also be encouraged to research and solve relevant problems of interest to them and their particular course w

*This is a cohort session. All participants who attend the morning session are invited to attend an accompanying afternoon expansion pack session each afternoon this week to apply your morning learning to the Special Education classroom.*

The 3-hour afternoon workshop gives participants dedicated creation time to apply the morning's framework to real materials from their own classrooms. It is structured as a creation studio rather than a continuation of the lecture.

Hour 1 (1:00–2:00) — Identify and Design: Participants select one real instructional challenge. A lesson that needs differentiation, a text that needs to be adapted for a lower reading level, an assessment that needs scaffolding, or a documentation task they want to streamline. Small groups form around shared challenges. Special educators learn as much from each other as from any presenter. Introduction to the creation workflow: original material → AI prompt → draft → critical review → revision.

Break (2:00–2:15)

Hour 2 (2:15–3:15) — Create: Hands-on creation using Gemini and NotebookLM. Facilitator circulates with targeted coaching. Structured peer feedback in pairs: Does this serve the student? What did the AI miss that a human expert would catch? What needs to be fixed before this goes near a classroom?

Hour 3 (3:15–4:00) — Share, Critique, and Plan: Small group shares. Not just "look what I made" but "here's what the AI got wrong and how I fixed it." Whole-group reflection on AI as a tool for inclusive practice versus a shortcut that bypasses expertise. Individual action planning to identify one specific thing I will try with students in fall 2026.

Participants leave with a real, usable adapted resource and a realistic, critical framework for continuing independently.

The afternoon workshop will allow teachers to investigate some of these tools and develop their own models, simulations, or data interpretation ideas. I’d like to introduce my collaboration with Taylor to create a simulation for my passion project, as well as some other data analysis tools (CODAP, Data Story Bytes, and websites to collect large data sets from including Kaggle).

The workshop would be divided into two mini sessions. The first will focus on simulation creation. The teachers will be able to work on creating their own simulations in pairs, then share with the group. The second session will focus on data analysis tools and will be conducted in a similar manner.