Lower Merion High School junior Emily Wang recently shared her knowledge about artificial intelligence (AI) with students from Mrs. Doran and Ms. Binder's classes at Black Rock Middle School.

Emily, a member of LM's Dawgma Robotic team and EncodeAI, guided the younger students through a hands-on exploration of AI’s real-world applications. The lesson aligned with EncodeAI's mission of increasing AI literacy among young learners.

Before Emily's visit, the students submitted questions about AI, which Emily answered, sparking meaningful discussions that encouraged critical thinking and created excitement throughout the room. The students were curious about topics such as, “How does AI learn?” and “Can AI become too powerful?”

The students had already experienced digital citizenship lessons about how to use AI safely and responsibly. Middle School Instructional Technology Coach Ms. Phillips led an interactive mini-lesson, including a hands-on activity with Google's Quick, Draw! that showed how AI recognizes patterns.

Mrs. Doran’s students also explored the articles “The Rise of AI” and “AI Made Four of These – Can You Guess Which Ones?” to spark discussion about how AI-generated content blends with human creativity.

Building on that knowledge, Emily led students through a creative experiment using Google’s Teachable Machine. With this tool, students trained simple machine learning models using images, poses or sounds, gaining a first-hand look at how AI systems are built and refined.

This collaborative lesson, which aligns with the LMSD Strategic Plan Pathways of Student-Driven Schools and Transformative Curriculum, showcased the power of peer-led learning and highlighted the District's commitment to future-ready education.

You can see photos from Emily's lesson at Black Rock below.