It was Friday afternoon and I was in a panic. As a high school physics teacher, I had a busy week meeting with students and parents and completely forgot that I needed to submit my lesson plans for next week’s unit on electricity to the department head by Monday morning. I had nothing prepared and only the weekend to come up with a lesson plan for five 50-minute classes introducing the basic concepts of electricity and Ohm’s law. There was no way I could pull this off on my own with so little time.
In desperation, I turned to my AI assistant Claude for help. I explained my situation – that I needed to create a comprehensive lesson plan covering five class periods on electricity and Ohm’s law by Monday morning. Could Claude help me put something together quickly?
Claude calmly said he could absolutely assist me in creating a lesson plan very rapidly using his knowledge and lesson planning skills. Here is an overview of how Claude was able to help me create a full five-day lesson plan for teaching electricity and Ohm’s law in just a few hours:
First Class: Introduction to Electricity
For the first class, I asked Claude: “Can you suggest an engaging opening activity or demonstration that would interest students in electricity?”
Claude responded: “You could have students brainstorm common electrical devices and components, then estimate the electrical power used by various appliances in their homes. This would get them thinking about electricity in their everyday lives.”
For the main lesson content, I prompted Claude: “Please outline the basic concepts of electricity I should cover in this introductory 50-minute class.”
Claude provided this bullet point list:
- Static electricity, electric charge
- Electric current, voltage, power sources like batteries
- Conductors, insulators, switches and resistors
- Hands-on activity using static electricity
Second Class: Electric Current and Circuits
For the second day on circuits, I asked Claude: “Can you suggest a good warm-up activity related to electric circuits?”
He proposed: “Have students draw predictions for how a simple circuit with a battery and bulb would work. This introduces circuits.”
For the main topics, I prompted: “Please outline the key concepts I should cover in a 50-minute lesson on electric current and circuit basics.”
Claude outlined:
- Defining electric current and amperage
- Closed circuits and circuit diagrams
- Batteries, wires, bulbs or resistors
- Build a simple circuit hands-on
Third Class: Voltage and Resistance
For the third lesson, I prompted Claude: “What video or simulation would visually show voltage and resistance?”
He suggested: “Use a short video or simulation demonstrating voltage and resistance in a circuit.”
For the main topics, I asked Claude: “Can you outline the key concepts for a 50-minute class on voltage and resistance?”
His outline contained:
- Definition of voltage and water pressure analogy
- Explain resistance and effect on current
- Conductors with low resistance
- Insulators and high resistance
- Use resistors to explore current hands-on
Fourth Class: Introducing Ohm’s Law
For the Ohm’s law lesson, I asked Claude: “Can you suggest a good warm-up activity and main topics for a 50-minute class on Ohm’s law?”
Claude responded with:
- Quiz reviewing concepts so far
- Experiment with circuits and record voltage/current
- Overview of Georg Ohm and experiments
- Introduce V=IR formula
- Use formula to calculate V, I, R
- Verify Ohm’s law with resistors hands-on
Fifth Class: Review and Assessment
For the final class, I prompted Claude: “Can you suggest a fun review activity and assessment for electricity concepts covered?”
Claude proposed:
- Play a jeopardy-style review game
- Give a quiz or circuit challenge to evaluate learning
To generate sample quiz questions, I asked Claude: “Can you provide 5 sample quiz questions on the electricity concepts covered?”
Claude supplied these multiple choice questions:
1. Which equation represents Ohm’s Law?
a) I = V + R
b) V = IR
c) R = V – I
d) I = VR
2. Which term refers to electric pressure or force?
a) Current
b) Resistance
c) Voltage
d) Power
3. What happens if resistance increases in a circuit?
a) Current increases
b) Voltage decreases
c) Current decreases
d) Power increases
4. What do switches do in an electrical circuit?
a) Increase power
b) Change resistance
c) Allow current to flow
d) None of the above
5. Insulators are materials that ___ electrical current.
a) Conduct well
b) Block
c) Have no resistance
d) Generate
With Claude’s rapid suggestions for warm-ups, outlines, hands-on activities, review games, and quiz questions, I was amazed at how quickly I had a comprehensive five-day lesson plan on electricity and Ohm’s law! In just a few hours, Claude was able to provide me with everything I needed to successfully teach this unit. I was relieved knowing that even when I was unprepared, I had Claude to rescue me with thoughtful lesson ideas.
My department head was going to be very impressed with the detailed plans Claude helped me create even at the very last minute. I couldn’t have done it without his knowledge, creativity and rapid responsiveness to fulfill my request. Thank you Claude for saving me when I needed you most!
Additional tips for teachers on using AI to efficiently create curriculum:
This experience showed me firsthand how invaluable an AI assistant like Claude can be for rapidly generating comprehensive lesson plans, even at the last minute. With Claude’s knowledge of pedagogy and ability to quickly produce well-thought-out activities, outlines, assessments, and more, I was able to put together a full five-day lesson plan on electricity in just a few hours.
- Ask for an engaging warm-up or introductory activity to spark student interest
- Prompt for clear outlines of key concepts to cover each day
- Request suggestions for hands-on activities, demos or simulations to reinforce learning
- Have the AI generate review games or assessments to evaluate comprehension
- Get sample quiz, test or exam questions tailored to your lesson objectives
- Ask for recommendations for videos, readings or online resources to supplement instruction
- Prompt for differentiation ideas to support various learning needs
- Use the AI to put together presentation slides, worksheets or other materials
- Ask for a course overview to map out units or semester plans
With some creativity and strategic prompting, teachers can leverage the power of AI to design truly inspired lessons, units and courses. The ability to instantly develop engaging learning experiences customized to your needs makes AI like Claude an invaluable asset for 21st century educators.
