AI Lesson Plans - What Pango Are Doing

Adam Still

Evolving at a rapid pace, AI lesson plans are being trialled, but will they change the way you teach and plan for your class? As with everything, you may find three types of people when it comes to new technology and methods. Those who jump in with two feet and adapt to it straight away. Those who stay clear of it because they like their current method. Then there are those who try the new technology, but are apprehensive. Which category do you fall into? In this article we explore the rise in AI lesson planning within the education sector, what this could mean for you, and how Pango are helping drive the change.

Table of Contents:

What is AI?

AI is the abbreviation for artificial intelligence. In short, it is a form of technology which can be used to perform tasks, which may have previously needed human intervention. Spanning many industries, including education, in 2024 it is likely you’ve heard of various AI tools, such as ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google’s own Bard. But what do they all have in common? They are categorised as ‘Generative AI’, which is a sub-theme within the AI-sphere.

Generative AI is the subcategory closely linked to content creation, as it has the abilities to read algorithms and code, which in turn can form tangible pieces of work such as:

Videos
Audio clips
Images
Blogs / Written copy

It’s this type of AI, which is commonly used when you see AI lesson plan models being advertised.

How Can Generated Lesson Plans Help Teachers?

Lesson planning can be one of the most time consuming elements you as a teacher faces each week / month / term. Imagine halving the time you’d usually spend structuring and finding appropriate resources, allowing you to allocate your time towards other projects. The dream, right? With AI lesson planning that could be your reality. While still in the early stages of adoption, planning your lessons using AI can help take some of the heavy lifting out of a manual process. This can be particularly helpful if you are trying to plan for a subject you’re not the lead on.

One thing to remember as teachers is that AI is not here to take over your jobs. It is a friendly companion who can enhance your job and make your work-life balance more achievable.

How Do AI Lesson Plans Work?

Using a similar framework to what the majority of teachers currently use, AI planning tools can help pull together a structure once given a brief. The brief may include:

The subject,
What year group / age group the lesson is for,
Theme of the lesson eg. if planning a history lesson in the UK, it may be on the Tudors,

With this guidance, the AI generative model can provide an easily digestible template for your lesson plan.

Challenges of ‘Off the Shelf’ Lesson Plans From Open AI and other platforms

‘Free’ AI tools like OpenAI offer much potential. However, they still require the right nack or prompts to get exactly what you need. The perceived time saving benefit of AI could be lost by trial and error trying to get the right prompt for your class.

Equally these tools can offer quite generic lesson plans that need your expertise to shape them for the class and focus.

Exploring the three most common challenges of ‘Off the Shelf’ templates

While AI is here to help streamline processes that would otherwise have taken humans longer to perform, it doesn't mean it comes without challenges. The top three challenges faced with using AI in the education sector include:

Wrong or biassed results: Machine learning programs are ever evolving, however, they can still make mistakes. As they work based on being fed thousands of data points, sometimes the AI program can generate misinformation which it believes to be correct. For this reason, it is especially important within the education sector to ensure you are double checking what is being produced and not just leave it to chance.
Outdated Results: Even with the advanced technology being used for the likes of ChatGPT, the data which it currently stores may not be in time with real world events and timelines. For example until September 2023, ChatGPT could only access data up until September 2021, meaning real world data was not available. This could be a challenge within our sector, as we need to ensure information is current and inline with government guidelines.
Lack of knowledge: A major challenge behind adopting AI within education, to help with the likes of lesson planning, is people's lack of knowledge behind the technology. With a gap for workplace learning on the topic of AI, for some it can be a daunting world full of unknown. It’s also where people’s ethics may come into force. With some not wanting to adapt to change because they don’t feel they can ‘trust’ the technology, or simply feeling like it doesn't have a role within their job. In a recent DfE survey towards AI in education, ‘I don't know enough about how generative AI tools could be used in my role’ was the top reason for school teachers and leaders not using generative AI in their current role.

What Is Pango Doing About These Challenges?

Taking the previously discussed challenges on board, here at Pango we wanted to provide a solution. Afterall, our goal is and always will continue to be ‘made by teachers, for teachers’.

We are currently testing our own generative AI lesson plans, which we know you can trust to provide appropriate results in real time. Our new AI platform helps educators find the right resources quickly, saving both time and effort. What’s more, our AI tool will also allow you to edit lesson plans to suit your needs and focus. Being adaptable, while still focusing on the main task at hand is what’s most important to us. We know how hard teachers' jobs are to balance not only the in-person teaching, but the additional work that goes on behind the scenes. Finding solutions to help you quicken processes such as lesson planning, can only be a benefit.

Unlike the generic AI tools, our lesson plans combine the benefits of generative AI with content from our trusted partners, including:

Using AI should not be scary for teachers, or anyone from different industries for that matter. Remember that it’s here to help rather than hinder, is the mindset we should all adopt. In April 2024, Ofsted released a policy paper outlining their approach to AI. If they’re using it within the Education sector to explore the data they hold, you can use it to generate your next lesson plans.

4 Benefits of Using Pango’s AI Lesson Plans

Discussing the steps we at Pango are taking to drive AI forward within the education sector, it’s only right to showcase the benefits of choosing us as your provider.

AI’s ease and convenience: Often taking seconds to generate a response, AI can not only save you time lesson planning, it can be a convenient method of structuring your week as a teacher. You can also adapt and modify plans to meet the needs of your unique setting and pupils or ask for suggestions on how to teach, demonstrate, explain, assess or evaluate parts of lessons to support pupil progress.
Our trusted reputation as an established UK education partner: Designed and made by teachers, for teachers. Pango is an established UK education partner you can trust to source your primary school schemes of work, worksheets and resources from. Having built this reputation, you know that the content generated through our AI tool is just a streamlined process of what you can currently find on site. Saving you time and effort every week.
Lesson plans and teacher resources from recognised leaders: Our content and resources are driven from recognised leaders within the industry, including Corbettmaths, KS2 Gems, Teacher of Primary and more. Having these education partners means the resources pulled through during our AI lesson plans are all in line with the English National curriculum.
AI-powered suggestions: Receive personalised follow-up question recommendations based on your teaching objectives and the information you share with PangoGPT. From adaptive teaching strategies to assessment questions, PangoGPT will suggest follow-up enhancements that will further ensure your lesson is tailored and suitable for the needs of your class.

Inspire the Next Generation With Pango Teaching Resources

Take back your time from lesson planning and let Pango lighten the load. Sunday planning days can be a thing of the past with AI technology helping to plan lessons and find the appropriate resources for your year group. From geography activities, to science worksheets and history resources, our high-quality worksheets and teaching resources are just a click away. Sign up today and receive a 7-day free trial to all our premium content.