New Brunswick is weaving AI into its K-12 curriculum, drawing praise — and pushback

In a Moncton middle school this week, students entered a virtual dungeon, tasked with escaping from the dragon within while learning about cybersecurity.

After, some moved on to designing a visual presentation, while others tapped through colourful screens to read and answer questions for a unit about food. A few more programmed tiny robots.

Artificial intelligence tools were part of the activities, as the Grade 7 students worked under the watchful eyes of their teacher.

For the last few years, the Anglophone East School District has been exploring bringing AI into its classrooms, but now more New Brunswick schools are joining them, after the Department of Education added learning about AI into its updated anglophone K-12 curriculum.

The move comes as some international school systems recently set strict prohibitions around AI, with Norway banning most student use of generative AI through Grade 7, and the two largest U.S. school boards (New York and Los Angeles) restricting student use.

Amid wide, ongoing calls for more consistency and clarity teaching students when, how and if AI should be used, some are calling for more deliberation and pushing back against the technology in classrooms right now, especially for younger learners.

New Brunswick's approach

The curriculum update in New Brunswick basically fleshes out its digital literacy curriculum to incorporate AI in a structured way, according to André Côté, executive director of public policy think tank The Dais at Toronto Metropolitan University.

It's an important first step he hopes other provincial and territorial peers will soon follow, given that our education systems generally haven't moved urgently enough to address the "tsunami of AI use that has washed into schools," he said.

New Brunswick has "mindfully integrated" AI so educators can teach students in an age-appropriate way and to consider the technology with a critical eye, says Jordan Smith, Anglophone East's tech, innovation and AI subject coordinator.

That means students in kindergarten through Grade 2 start to learn basic digital literacy concepts via classroom discussions, says Smith, a former elementary teacher. They will talk about how they feel during and after using technology, for instance, or noticing that information from digital sources or tools isn't always correct.

As students get older, they start practising on digital devices like tablet computers, but AI in the curriculum doesn't mean primary students using chatbots, she said.

Smith noted that any school use of AI tools must adhere to platform age restrictions and, of Anglophone East's nine approved platforms, about half are listed as for students 13+ (younger students require parental consent) and a third are for teachers alone.

Along with the Microsoft chatbot Copilot (accessible to Grade 9 and up), that approved list includes visual design platform Canva, music-maker Suno and chatbot Gemini Notebook that works from user uploads (for educator use).

In high school, a student might input their interests into Copilot to generate potential book choices for an independent study, she shared as an example, or use it to analyze the intro to an essay they're writing. Students learn to consider any use or interaction with AI critically, Smith emphasized, and use it as support but not a shortcut for their own work.

Smith also said teachers are getting professional development on multiple fronts, with educators in her district trained at periodic professional development sessions and supported in class by a roving team of tech coaches. The province has also released learning modules about AI for teachers.

New Brunswick's anglophone curriculum update incorporates safe and ethical AI use in schools and development of AI literacy, Education Minister Claire Johnson told CBC News in a statement Friday, noting similar work is ongoing on the francophone side.

Integration, however, doesn't displace "fundamentals of literacy and numeracy," she said, nor the importance of teacher judgement for learning.

This is a learning journey schools and families are on together, according to Anglophone East Superintendent Randolph MacLean. "It's very much a Rubik's Cube that we're all working on at the same time — and we don't have all the sides figured out yet," he said.

However, "introduction of any new piece of technology, any new curriculum ... these are not done rapidly or without thought."

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Digital consent forms for using AI tools have already gone home this year, MacLean added, so if parents don't want their kids engaging with AI, they don't.

"We've had very few parents who have pushed back on us, but the ones who have, [we] engage in the conversation. It's not an us-versus-them," he said.

Calling for a pause

There's been a renewed wave of parental concern over tech use in classrooms today, with some highlighting AI amid broader alarm bells over the breakneck pace of AI development.

Generative AI made its public debut less than four years ago and research remains early about its impacts on learning, but many parents are concerned "things were going too fast," said Ben Humphreys, father of a seven-year-old and co-founder of Vancouver group Parents for AI Caution in Schools.

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Many also don't want kids serving as test subjects for new technology without oversight, he added. "Is the tool there just because it's a tool that is popular right now or does it help students learn?"

Along with worrying about the social development of kids befriending AI chatbots, Humphreys is wary of student overreliance on AI stunting cognition and wants schools to take a pause right now.

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"Having that time in school where they can learn to think for themselves and figure out what they feel about the world, to learn ... determination to really push through tasks even when it's difficult — that's something that I'm worried will go away."

Many educators have similar concerns, according to Canadian Teachers' Federation president Clint Johnston, whose national alliance represents more than 370,000 elementary and secondary teachers.

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"Slow down, give proper support and training to educators," many of whom feel unprepared, Johnston said from Ottawa.

"Right now it's this presumption that [AI] will be pervasive and therefore everyone needs to be using it all the time."

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More policy, guidance needed

A recent KPMG Canada survey of 1,009 Canadians over 17 attending or teaching at secondary or post-secondary schools on their use of AI found that students' use is dramatically overshadowing that of educators.

"Students are absolutely using it, educators are starting to ... but we're not on the same page in terms of what it shouldn't be used for and how it should," said Rob Clayton, KPMG Canada's national education leader.

Both student and teacher respondents indicated we're not teaching responsible AI use adequately or enough, he said. Clayton thinks part of the disconnect "comes down to a lack of clear policy and guidance" from above.

Change "really does need to start at the top," Dais executive director Côté said, noting that ministries of education should be moving in unison: sharing successes "at a pan-Canadian level" and leveraging AI in education best practices and research from global organizations like the OECD and UNESCO.

He also wants to see movement to tackle thornier issues, including evaluating teaching, learning and assessment against the backdrop of AI and the multitude of risks facing students, from cognitive offloading to data privacy and online safety.

"This is a really generational and systemic change that we're experiencing and it can't just be dealt with at the classroom level."