When I looked at the different options for AI tools to try this week, I chose to play around on Magic School. I have used Chat GPT many times for looking up information or generating lesson plan ideas, but I have never heard of Magic School.
When I signed up, they asked me questions such as if I am a student or educator, what grade levels I teach, and what subject areas I am interested in. They then take this information and use it to show me tools that are relevant to what grade I would be teaching. I selected that I was an elementary educator interested in teaching all the basic subject areas.
The Main Home Page
As you can see, there are many different tools and options to try out! It’s overwhelming. I subbed at a school this week in a grade 1/2 classroom with many behavior challenges. I found a generator where I could enter the specific behaviors and it would provide me with instructional strategies for those behaviors. This is a great tool for new teachers, especially!
Other Tools & Usages
- Unit & lesson plan generators
- Group work generator
- Syllabus generator
- Science lab generator
- Presentation generator
- Song generator
With teachers being more busy than ever, Magic School seems like a great tool that I would use in my classroom. While it is a tool, I would be cautious on blindly using it to generate all of my lessons and units. We have to remember that it is a robot, not a human. There is a possibility that it may not be accurate and miss areas of the curriculum. It also may not be focused around the Saskatchewan curriculum specifically.
Vocabulary Generator
While I may be cautious about using this technology to form the basis of my lesson and unit plans, I think I would mostly rely on it for the smaller time consuming tasks, like making worksheets or assignments. This is far less risky. One cool feature that I found was the ability to generate a vocabulary list for a certain grade based on a particular subject. I plugged in a grade 5 novel study on the book “Bridge to Terabithia” and this is what I found:
Challenges
- Accuracy in material
- Is it comprehensive?
- Is it designed to meet the Sask Curriculum objectives?
- If students use it, is it making work too easy?
Benefits for Student Learning
- Tutoring option
- Writing feedback
- Create a skit
- Idea generator
- Coding assistant
- College on career counsellor
As you can see, there are a variety of amazing tools that could be used to enhance student learning & creativity. Tools such as creating a skit and coding encourage student creativity. There are also a variety of tools that can aid in learning material such as the tutor function and writing feedback. I also thought it was so cool that it has a career counselling function!
Overall, I think Magic School is a great tool for both teachers and students. I don’t think it should be used exclusively by either teachers or students to do all of their work/learning, but it can definitely but used to enhance learning/planning and make life easier. Also, it’s free to use!
I would rate Magic School 9/10!
I love the aesthetic of it lol. It sounds like it’s be really useful for planning or getting organized on a topic!
Thank you Kerina for such a detailed review of Magic School! I’ve used ChatGPT before as well, but like you, I hadn’t heard of Magic School until recently. I love how you explored its tools from both the teacher and student perspective.
The behavior strategy generator sounds incredibly useful—especially for substitute teachers walking into new classrooms. And the vocabulary generator for novels like Bridge to Terabithia really caught my attention! That would save so much time and spark deeper comprehension.Great Work!