Education

Asbury Park High School: Learning about the Carthaginian Wars with an AI twist

Students in Mr. Wronko’s history class explored the Carthaginian Wars—an epic struggle between Carthage and Rome.

Published

4 months ago

October 13, 2025

Asbury Park High Carthaginian Wars metal man dino

Just recently students in Mr. Wronko’s history class were learning about The Carthaginian Wars, Carthage vs Rome. One major battle in these wars was The Battle of Cannae.

About the Carthaginian Wars with an AI Twist

During this battle, Hannibal, leader of the Carthaginians, had a smaller army going against a huge Roman force. The size of the Roman army to Hannibal’s was like comparing a huge city to a small little town in the suburbs. However, that did not matter because Hannibal was a brilliant military strategist who outsmarted the bigger leviathan. What Hannibal did was used what they called a double envelopment tactic to trap the Roman force. When the Roman force was encircled, there was nowhere to go. As a result, the entire army was slaughtered.

Asbury Park High Carthaginian Wars

Even though the Romans lost that battle, they came back to defeat Hannibal at the Battle of Zama. Hannibal met his match when he met another brilliant military strategist, Scipio Africanus. After this battle, Carthage had to accept a very demanding peace settlement.

After presenting The Carthaginian Wars to my students, I changed the history by creating a story that added some science fiction elements to it. Once the story was created, I put all the information into an AI tool to see what kind of picture narrative could be generated. Here was the result:

Second Punic War with T. Rex! (AI educational video)#ai #dinosaur #epic #battle #history #rome

I made this video a required assignment for my students and asked them to compare what was real to what was not. To my amazement, they took a genuine interest in comparing historical fact to fiction. It seems the fictional element made the history more engaging because it sparked curiosity—made them wonder, “What if?”

Beyond the comparisons, the students also embraced the opportunity to learn new vocabulary introduced in the narrative. In conclusion, what I’m discovering is that the AI tool uses highly sophisticated vocabulary that supports my students’ comprehension and enhances their presentations.