By Shauna Carlson

In a school year defined by tight schedules, rising expectations, and newly emerging district AI policies, many science educators are asking the same question: How can I use AI to save time without sacrificing NGSS rigor or equity?

At the 2025 CASE Conference, I led a 75-minute hands-on workshop designed to help teachers answer exactly that. The session moved beyond AI theory and focused on practical application—giving educators the opportunity to generate, evaluate, and refine science lessons using AI and high-quality multimedia resources.

We began by grounding ourselves in the real-world challenges teachers face: limited prep time, the demands of three-dimensional NGSS instruction, and the need to meaningfully support multilingual learners and students with diverse needs. Participants then used AI tools to create draft lesson plans that included slides, worksheets, quizzes, and videos aligned with their selected standards.

To ensure rigor, teachers applied an NGSS Alignment Checklist that guided them to identify the appropriate NGSS standard, examine associated Performance Expectations (PEs), and evaluate whether lesson tasks authentically engaged students in Science & Engineering Practices (SEP’s), connected to Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCI’s), and highlighted Crosscutting Concepts (CCC’s).

Educators then used an Equity Adaptation Menu to strengthen access and inclusion. This menu supported teachers in adding scaffolds such as vocabulary supports, visuals, sentence frames, pacing adjustments, and differentiated questions—ensuring that AI-generated lessons became truly equitable, not just efficient.

Small groups functioned as PLCs, using a structured peer-review protocol to provide feedback on each lesson. This step reinforced a central message of the workshop: AI can help generate materials, but teachers give those materials meaning. Teacher expertise—especially around context, equity, and standards—remains essential.

The workshop concluded with a whole-group activity where participants co-created Shared Principles for AI in Science Education. The principles emphasized teacher oversight, student-centered design, transparency, and the importance of using vetted, standards-aligned content. Educators left with not only classroom-ready materials, but a leadership-oriented framework for guiding responsible AI adoption in their schools and districts.

As AI becomes more integrated into educational tools, science educators are in a powerful position to shape how these technologies support high-quality, equitable NGSS instruction. AI should empower teachers, not replace them—and when used thoughtfully, it truly can give teachers back valuable instructional time.

• JoVE Equity Adaptation Menu.pdf
• JoVE NGSS Alignment Checklist.pdf
• JoVE PLC Lesson Review Protocol.pdf
• JoVE Shared Principles for AI in Science Education.pdf

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