AI-Powered Activities to Enhance Student Engagement

By Med Kharbach, PhD

Tech and Learning

Summary for Educators: “AI-Powered Activities to Enhance Student Engagement” by Med Kharbach, PhD

In his July 2025 article, “AI-Powered Activities to Enhance Student Engagement,” Med Kharbach, PhD, explores how generative AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude can become powerful classroom collaborators for educators. These platforms are not just time-savers—they're creativity boosters that support teachers in crafting engaging, customized learning experiences. Kharbach provides eight practical strategies to integrate AI into lesson planning, each designed to make content more engaging, relevant, and responsive to students’ interests.

1. Start with Student Interests Before deploying AI, educators should gather information about their students’ hobbies, favorite media, and learning preferences through informal conversations, surveys, or quick polls. With that context, teachers can prompt AI tools to suggest activities that align both with curriculum standards and student passions, ensuring lessons feel personally meaningful.

2. Request Content-Specific Interactive Activities Teachers can input specific topics—like photosynthesis, the Civil War, or fractions—into AI tools and request interactive lesson ideas. The key is being specific: the more targeted the prompt, the more customized and creative the response. Suggestions might include small-group projects, simulations, or hands-on investigations aligned to the subject matter.

3. Gamify the Lesson Kharbach encourages using AI to design gamified learning experiences. Teachers can prompt AI to create classroom games—such as vocabulary bingo, escape room-style activities, or point-based quizzes—tailored to both the topic and student age group. These formats drive motivation and engagement through friendly competition.

4. Search for Multimedia Resources Instead of spending time digging through YouTube or podcast platforms, educators can prompt AI to find relevant videos, animations, or audio materials. For example, a prompt like, “Find a video and podcast on 5th-grade ecosystems,” will return curated suggestions, streamlining multimedia integration into lessons.

5. Cross-Curricular & Real-World Connections To boost relevance, teachers can ask AI to suggest ways a topic connects to other subjects or real-world scenarios. A geometry lesson might link to architecture, or a civics unit to current events. These applications help students understand the broader importance of what they’re learning.

6. Introduce Topics in Unexpected Ways Teachers looking to break classroom routine can use AI to suggest surprising ways to introduce a new topic. Prompts like, “What are unusual ways to start a lesson on renewable energy?” might yield creative hooks, such as riddles, memes, or role-playing activities that spark student curiosity.

7. Use Analogies for Complex Concepts Abstract topics can be made more accessible with analogies. Teachers can ask AI for real-life metaphors—like explaining cybersecurity with a lock-and-key analogy, or photosynthesis with a cooking recipe. These comparisons help students connect new ideas to familiar concepts, improving comprehension and retention.

8. Generate Custom Visuals AI can also help teachers generate visual materials by crafting prompts for image-generation tools. Educators can request specific styles (e.g., cartoonish, photorealistic, hand-drawn) tied to their lesson topics. These visuals can support visual learners, enhance classroom decor, or serve as discussion starters.

Final Thoughts Kharbach emphasizes that AI doesn’t replace teachers—it supports them. Generative AI can lighten cognitive and logistical burdens, enabling teachers to focus on the human aspects of education: connection, curiosity, and care. Educators are encouraged to begin with just one or two of these strategies, adjust prompts to fit their classroom context, and build from there.

By integrating AI thoughtfully, teachers can transform lesson planning from a solo endeavor into a dynamic partnership—one that fuels engagement, saves time, and creates richer learning experiences for every student.

Original Article

------------------------------

Prepared with the assistance of AI software

OpenAI. (2025). ChatGPT (4) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com