Five Tennessee students advance to national AI competition in Washington
A team of fourth and fifth graders from Alcoa Intermediate School will compete in the Presidential AI Challenge national finals June 7-10 in Washington, D.C., after winning state and regional elementary competitions.
The students developed a tool called Homework Helper to address anxiety among their peers. Their research showed that homework lasting more than two hours nightly contributes to increased anxiety, disrupted sleep, and health problems.
The tool functions as both tutor and timekeeper. It answers student questions while guiding them toward solutions without providing direct answers. It also manages time by prompting students to start homework at reasonable hours and balance academic work with extracurricular activities.
How teachers prepared students for competition
Hope McDonald, an Alcoa Intermediate teacher, recruited 35 students to form an AI club. Working with Emily Holtz, an assistant professor of elementary education at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, McDonald first taught students what generative AI is, what it cannot do, and ethical considerations around its use.
"Students were able to see that human oversight is still needed and that they need to critically evaluate AI's outputs," Holtz said.
The foundational lessons pushed students to think critically about local community challenges. They researched traffic infrastructure, homelessness, and book access before identifying homework anxiety as their focus.
The winning team went further than required. "They were inspired to think through the function and details of their proposed AI tool," Holtz said.
What's next for the team
At nationals, students will present their proposal in five minutes and answer judge questions for 10 minutes. They must clearly describe the community problem, explain the research supporting their solution, and show how their idea could scale.
The competition has already delivered value beyond the trophy. "The students are not only learning about AI - they're gaining deep researching skills, public speaking skills and the ability to respond to tough questions under pressure," Holtz said.
The experience also informed Holtz's research on how to train teachers to use AI for lesson planning. She worked alongside McDonald to plan how to teach AI to this age group.
Support from universities
The AI Tennessee initiative, founded and led by UT Knoxville, assembled faculty from four universities to support the challenge. The University of Memphis, Middle Tennessee State University, and Fisk University provided workshops, training, and mentorship.
AI Tennessee funded curricular resources and held a mock presentation to prepare the team for the regional competition.
Holtz emphasized at the inaugural AI Tennessee Summit in March that "efforts to bring AI into education are strongest when shaped alongside teachers, students and community partners, when they are grounded in real classrooms, questions and communities."
Next week, that classroom and community will represent Tennessee on a national stage.
Your membership also unlocks:
