AI Agents & Vibe coding with students

[Lauren Ludwig]

Hi all, 

I am dabbling in the idea of having my computer science/makerspace elective build AI agents or automate a systems by vibe coding. I am curious if anyone has done this and what tools/platforms you are using? I know Replit and Loveable do this but they are not really aligned with the EDU space anymore. 

Thank you,

Lauren 

[Dov Lebowitz-Nowak]

Hi Lauren,

Google AI Studio (aistudio.google.com) is pretty decent for this, and will let you export the code behind what you've built (or even send it straight to GitHub).

You might take also a look at MSTY Studio (msty.ai). They offer free licenses for teachers and students for the duration of any course in which you want to use their tools in your curriculum. I'm playing with it now, and could definitely see working it into some future classes.

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[Curt Lewellyn]

We just wrapped up several Math projects where students designed calculators using P5 combined with ChatGPT. It was highly successful. (Students were in grades 6 and 7).

[Curt Lewellyn]

For those interested, here is a link to the project description. There are 2 tabs at the bottom. First is a description of the project, and the second contains the rubric and links to the various student iterations.

Curt Lewellyn

Director of Innovation

The Fessenden School
250 Waltham Street
West Newton,  MA 02465

617-928-8819

 

Follow the Ciongoli Center for Innovation on X & YouTube 

[Sylvia Martinez]

Vibecoding with students can be very accessible. We just published "The Learner's Apprentice: AI and the Amplification of Human Creativity" by Ken Kahn that explores this concept. From simple apps and games to complex constructions, students can make things that support all subject areas. More about the book here: https://cmkpress.com/product/learners-apprentice/

Sylvia Martinez

Invent to Learn

[Michael Mino]

Interested in learning more about Vibe Coding and other Experimental AI platforms... Join the pilot of a new Professional Development course for educators "The Creative Edge: Connecting AI & the Future of work" Visit https://jfynet.org/jfy-ai-creative-edge-course-pilot/ to learn more and sign up for the opportunity to join the pilot and receive a $100 Amazon Gift Card. You can also contact me directly if you have any questions. mm...@jfynet.org

[MUHAMMAD NIHAL CHETTIYAM VEETTIL]

Hi,

Antigravity by Google and Google AI Studio are excellent tools for this. We are currently using them and finding them quite effective.

Best regards,

MUHAMMAD NIHAL CHETTIYAM VEETTIL

[Michael Fricano II]

Just to help me as a teacher grasp this Vibe Coding concept, I've started challenging myself to vibe code one new app each day.

When I sit down at my desk in the morning, I run this Gemini Gem that I created. It basically generates three non-AI app ideas. I pick at least one and I copy/paste the generated prompt into Google AI Studio. Then I spend about 15-20 minutes vibe coding the app: adding and changing features, adjusting the app layout, etc.

Originally, i was following the suggestion of a YouTuber and trying the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button in Google AI Studio, but it was mostly generating ideas that utilized AI in the app which ultimately would require a cost to be used publicly. That's why I created a Gem instead to create Non-AI app ideas.

[Lucie deLaBruere]

Great idea, Michael

Your post is in line with some of the thoughts in this article I read recently - talking about AI in the  The AGE of Creation. 
This quote resonated with me   and lead me to the work Stanford is doing around AI Tinkering 

"The rise of generative AI opens profound new possibilities for how we learn, what we value, and who gets to create. But seizing this opportunity requires applying the science of learning. For decades, most instructional models relied on inherited intuitions. But the past half-century has given rise to a robust body of research on how people learn. We face a once-in-a-century chance to redesign education around what truly works."

Our CSTA-Vermont chapter just offered a Vibe Coding 101 workshop using Gemini (as it is most accessible to our schools using google Apps) as the primary interface, but also included Demo's of GoogleAI Studio, and Lovable.  Our presenter Josh did a great job modeling the importance of slowing down the AI in Vible Coding by making it go through a planning phase with you (telling it not to code yet).  He compared AI as an overly eager assistant that you must slow down.  Loved that analogy. 
The recording,  and slides are on our Vermont-CSTA Discussion page .  

Lucie deLaBruere

[Tim Cooper]

I worry when we say vibe coding, we may one day be saying coding. Will people start coding from a blank page? 

Mostly throughout my coding life, I have only started from scratch as a student. Every other time, I was starting from some code I needed to change or a basic template or starter I found or had. 

I usually have my students start from a basic template at their level, A basic library/settings/declaration. area, an area for functions and ending with a main (and main call). When they go into OOP we have a similar set up OOP style, depending on the language. 

I am playing with Antigravity (google's code generator). I have been giving it my student projects to see how it does. Here are some requirements for one project.

1. Create a dashboard program that shows you the time, the weather, an image gallery and some data you like such as sports scores, quotes, poetry,etc. derived from an internet data api call. Weather from api also.
2. Organize the program into the settings/functions/main format.
3. Use turtle or tkinter for graphics. (pillow if you like too) Have a background graphic or graphics.
4. The program should update on a schedule (quote every 10 sec, time every sec,etc.)
Antigravity made this in seconds, it know what apis to call and asked me what type of quotes. it created the background inamge and aof theimages fro the gallery base on a prompt. I themed it around Toronto and it made all of the images for it (not canned images but custom graphics of Hyde Park, The CN tower, City hall etc. Finally I asked it to change it all to be Paris themed and make it in French so it did (i ran out of graphics tokens so it made a few text graphics to placehold.  It created an OOP program in python which my students are not up to yet. The code was good and efficient. Well documented and named. It had to install a library or two since it was not in my regular IDE, but it just asked me and did it through the terminal. I am mulling over how I show the kids this. I am getting good at finding AI generated code in their assignments and I use Juicemind IDE where i can see their histroy so I am not worried about showing them AI. I am waiting for the question  -"So why am i learning to code like this if in the future it will be different. In the 90's when i used to teach kids how to write HTML from scratch, I have a similar feeling in the late 90's. If you make a website now, no one knows code. Even the most advanced web developers rarely deal in code, Will this be the future? What will most people do? What should be teaching them?

Thanks for listening,

Tim

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[Sylvia Martinez]

So a couple of thoughts on "vibe coding" -- the term originally meant that you would ask AI to do some programming task, and then follow its "vibe" -- let the AI take the lead and say yes to its suggestions, correcting and guiding only for errors, not for intent. It was sort of a game. That has expanded a bit to include any kind of coding done primarily with generative AI.

Semantics aside, you can think of AI coding as a way to "lock in" tasks you want AI to do on a regular basis. The problem with using prompts, even well tailored prompts, is the probabilistic nature of generative AI. You will get different results every time. But if you get the AI to do something you want, you can ask it to create a web app to do that same thing. Then save the code it generates and run it any time you want. The nice thing about asking for a web app is that you can open it in a browser (which is very safe for schools) right on your computer.

The question about teaching coding is, I think, not just about AI, but about teaching programming in general. There are always going to be debates about where to start and what language to teach. There can be a case made for all kinds of languages, and all kinds of support systems to help the programmer. Modern languages use sophisticated IDEs that provide all kinds of programming support. Do we not let kids use those? Do we ban auto-complete or code completion suggesters?

My inclination would be that these are things that help you finish tasks that you want to complete, and if we make it easier to make interesting things, students will be more able to try more complex things, and will learn in the process. But (and it's a big but) I think this only works if the student is making something that THEY want. If it's just monkey work to complete an assignment, they will just get to the finish line as quickly as possible. And if AI is the fastest way, it's kind of crazy for them to ignore that path, whether we call it cheating or not.

So this means that using AI in a constructive way to learn to code is to find problems and challenges that are interesting and meaningful to students. But this has always been the way...

Sylvia Libow Martinez

Invent to Learn: Making, Tinkering, and Engineering in the Classroom

https://inventtolearn.com

[Mirliss, Danielle]

Does anyone have experience using PlayLab? I am looking for a Vibe coding platform for Middle Schoolers.

Thank you!

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Danielle Mirliss, Ed.D. P'26

She/Her/Hers | Hear My Name

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The Pingry School 

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[Tatian Greenleaf]

It's possible to do vibe coding with Gemini. The trick is that it -- like ChatGPT and other LLMs -- reviews the entire conversation each time it responds so it sometimes includes errors from earlier in the coding process. It really feels like one step forward, two steps back. What I found that works better with Gemini is to explicitly ask it to create modules in separate files. So instead of something like index.html, code.js, and style.css, I'll have it set up files in a javascript folder more like this -- which was for a Square-type POS system I was making:

barista_view_Gemini.js
dashboard_Gemini.js
database_Gemini.js
firestore_Gemini.js
helpers_Gemini.js
inventory_Gemini.js
it_hub_Gemini.js
login_screen_Gemini.js
manager_hub_Gemini.js
pos_screen_Gemini.js
timeclock_screen_Gemini.js

• That way, if I need just the login screen improved or find a bug on the barista view screen of the web app, I can ask Gemini to target fixes on that specific screen and most of the time, it won't ruin anything else.

Tatian

Tatian Greenleaf

Design, Tinkering and Technology Integrator

Director of Summer Tinkering Camp

Gemini Certified Educator

Pronouns: he/him  

Mark Day School
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San Rafael, CA 94903 

415.472.8000 x1014