AI in a Remote WA Science School: Beating Workload, Student Cheating & Better Assessments

In this Teacher’s AI Cafe episode, Kane interviews Sri, Head of Science at Karratha Senior High School in country WA, discussing technology use in a remote, diverse mining-town context and recent cyclone concerns. Sri explains how COVID accelerated adoption of digital tools like PhET simulations and Socrative, though many teachers reverted to pen-and-paper afterward. They explore how ChatGPT’s release in early 2023 shifted assessment practices toward more open-ended tasks and increased in-class validation, noting AI detectors are unreliable. Sri describes encouraging cautious staff use of AI for planning, auditing support, and resource creation, while tackling student overreliance and poor referencing. They discuss equity issues around access, literacy, and subject knowledge, compare tools like ChatGPT and Claude, and conclude AI should support—not replace—teacher expertise.00:00 Welcome to AI Cafe00:23 Meet Sri in Karratha01:07 Cyclone town context02:25 Tech in science teaching03:58 COVID tools that stuck10:00 From digital to AI13:49 AI changes assessment design16:00 AI detectors and planning limits18:48 Leading staff AI use20:23 Referencing in the AI era22:06 Teaching source evaluation23:53 Student AI use in class25:41 Bad Online Answer Keys26:43 AI Exam Question Banks28:15 Building a Custom Revision GPT29:34 Which Subjects Suit AI31:53 Equity Access and Literacy35:37 Teacher Judgment Still Matters37:14 Training Staff on AI42:12 Claude vs ChatGPT Workflows45:16 AI and Future Jobs46:34 Advice and Wrap UpSubscribe the the newsletter for podcast cheatsheetsFind the YouTube version of this hereGo to this Facebook group to access the cheatsheethttps://www.facebook.com/groups/learnaiforteachers/Email: [email protected] to you by: https://learnaiquickly.com/