The Story of Chicago Neighborhoods with 3rd grade: Research, 3D Printing and Collaboration with AI Coding

Third graders dived into the fascinating history of Chicago's iconic elevated train system. They explored the reasons the CTA was founded and how it has grown and evolved throughout the years. They read research about the train system, examined images of the train and watched a video on the experience of living right next to the elevated train. They discovered the journey from the first steam-engine-powered train cars all the way to the construction of the subway and the exciting addition of the newest line, the Pink Line, in 2006.

Next, students made meaningful connections with their classroom study of Chicago as a vibrant city of neighborhoods. We discussed how Chicago is home to many distinct neighborhoods, each with its own rich history and unique character.

Students then explored an exciting idea: maps can tell stories! They examined all kinds of Chicago maps: parks, murals throughout the city, even every Chicago hot dog restaurant. Each map revealed something special and told its own story about our incredible city.

Then came the big challenge: 3rd graders connected everything they'd learned about the CTA and how the trains link all our neighborhoods together. Students had to create a 3D map of the CTA that tells the story of Chicago’s diverse and amazing neighborhoods.

Each student researched a different neighborhood, learning about its history and the elements that make it special. Then, they created a website telling the story of the neighborhood and the CTA train line that takes people to that neighborhood. Students used Tinkercad to design a 3D object representing their neighborhood or train line, then brought their designs to life using the TIDES Garage 3D printers. To make their projects truly interactive, students connected their websites to their 3D prints using NFC tags. 

There was one more element to add: an interactive quiz about the "L" train for their websites. We first shared the HTML code for websites, a more advanced coding language that 3rd graders are not ready to use. We suggested the idea of students collaborating with our Flint AI for Schools program to help us code the quiz. We talked to students about artificial intelligence, the positive ways to use it as a tool and its challenges. We shared the different features of Flint AI and the ways it can be a tool we collaborate with to generate the code we would need to add the quiz to our websites. 

The first step was to input the students’ research on the history of the elevated train system and give Flint AI prompts on the type of quiz they wanted: multiple choice, a timer, points, etc. After giving the first set of prompts, Flint AI generated hundreds of lines of code necessary for the quiz. Next, we tested the quiz. Students discussed the things that worked and those that did not; they gave feedback to Flint AI with changes they wanted it to make and the elements they wanted to add or take away from the first iteration of the quiz. Flint AI generated a new set of HTML code with the feedback. The Flint AI system got some changes right, and some not. This led to more discussion with 3rd graders about the limitations of AI and how it can be a tool to help, but they, as the users, need to be knowledgeable about what they are asking the AI to do so they can identify mistakes and adjustments they must make to the AI’s output. 

This portion of the project also helped students understand the amount of coding involved in the websites they use all the time. A simple quiz on a website needed hundreds of lines of code to work, which helped students better understand complex coding languages and the degree of work and code to generate the code that enables technology we use all the time. 

All the 3rd grade prints now live on a large-scale map of the Chicago train system, creating an interactive experience that tells the story of the trains and neighborhoods in our amazing city! Stop by and check out the 3rd graders' amazing work!

Links to a couple of example websites: https://sites.google.com/fwparker.org/hanna/home?authuser=0&pli=1