AI, in your hands
A hands-on afternoon of AI for the science classroom — safe, practical, and for every learner.
Delivered by InspiraEd with Cyclone, at St Patrick's College, Wellington.
Putting AI to work in the science classroom
AI is already in your students' hands. This free afternoon helped Wellington's science teachers put it to work — safely, practically, and for every learner.
Danny Bedingfield (Cyclone) opened on how to make AI work in a New Zealand school — from the MoE-funded tools schools already have, through to a workable AI acceptable-use policy. Benny Pan (InspiraEd) then put the tools in teachers' hands: most of the afternoon was spent working directly with AI on real science tasks, not watching someone else do it.
The facilitators
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Facilitator
Benny Pan
InspiraEd
Benny Pan is the founder of InspiraEd, an AI-in-education consultancy. A Chemistry & Physics teacher and Master's graduate in Learning Sciences with AI, he has trained 38 educators across 18 countries through the Asia-Europe Foundation. His work is grounded in Te Ao Māori values — turning AI anxiety into AI confidence.
On the day: put AI tools in teachers' hands — the Consumer-to-Co-Creator framework, live prompting (bad prompt → good prompt), and a traffic-light for what to automate and what to keep human.
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Facilitator
Danny Bedingfield
Cyclone
Danny Bedingfield is a Learning, Development & AI Specialist at Cyclone, where he helps schools across New Zealand navigate AI implementation, build acceptable use policies, and adopt MoE-funded tools safely. A former Science Roadshow presenter and qualified teacher with 20+ years in education, Danny is passionate about making AI accessible for every learner.
On the day: opened on AI in assessment — the AI Assessment Scale, how to scaffold student AI use, and what a working acceptable-use policy actually contains.
How the afternoon flowed
Benny opens — why assessment is the pressure point right now — then hands to Danny.
The AI Assessment Scale, how to scaffold students up it, and what a working AI acceptable-use policy actually contains — with real examples from schools around the country.
The Consumer-to-Co-Creator framework, a live prompting demo (bad prompt → good prompt), and a traffic-light for what to automate and what to keep human.
In small groups, teachers took a real assessment, mapped where AI fits, redesigned it for authenticity, then pressure-tested it: "could a student fake this?" Danny circulated for assessment questions.
Teachers tried prompts on their own assessment tasks from the sprint.
Everyone left with three concrete moves and a one-page take-home guide.
Co-led with Danny, with call-outs to the school clusters in the room.
"This is what peer-led PD looks like."
Who was in the room
Twenty-five science teachers, one school-holiday Monday.
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Science teachers
Secondary teachers from schools across the Wellington region, there for their science departments.
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Every starting point
From "knew little" to already experimenting — the room spanned the full range of AI confidence.
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On a day off
They signed up during the school holidays and gave a free afternoon to be there.
The first stop on InspiraEd's three-city Science Teacher AI Road Trip — Wellington, Dunedin, then Christchurch.
What teachers said
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Benny and Danny were awesome.
Anonymous · Wellington -
Really good to consider AI as a tool for learning and not a replacement.
Anonymous · Wellington -
Awesome — knew little and now have some knowledge.
Anonymous · Wellington -
Great workshop. Thank you.
Anonymous · Wellington
Across the whole three-city road trip, 34 of the 36 teachers who completed the survey reported measurable growth on every dimension.
On the day
Made free for teachers
This workshop was delivered by InspiraEd with Cyclone, and made free for teachers by New Zealand's science subject associations.
- InspiraEd — Benny Pan designed and facilitated the workshop
- Cyclone — Danny Bedingfield co-facilitated on AI in assessment
- SCENZ, NZASE & NZIP — the science subject associations that funded the day
- St Patrick's College, Kilbirnie — our host venue in Wellington