The following is a narration of my research and thought process on the question of whether AI should be used in the High School classroom.
At the end of last year there was the formation of summer study groups but for whatever reason my group didn’t seem to take off and I began researching on my own. The following is the result. The title was A.I. generated.
A.I.R.
( Dealing with the A.I. Revolution)
Admittedly, I have gone back and forth on whether AI should be used in the HS Classroom.
As AI became so public last year, my first reaction was that it should be off limits to the students. I also realized to do so, especially with the number of devices students have, that it would require a total ban of devices in the classroom. I was an early advocate for computers in the classroom and here I was, as the summer approached , becoming an early advocate for its removal.
Being what it is, an intelligence, I thought it was best to learn about AI by interacting with it. One of the first things I asked it to do was to create a series of cross curricula activities that supported Massachusetts Literacy Standards to introduce ChatGPT to High School students. Two things stood out from its reply. First was the wide ranging and engaging activities it created and secondly there’s a lot more AI’s than just Chat GPT. Impressed, I asked for more activities focused in my area of the curriculum. Again, I was impressed and I could see myself using many of the activities in my classroom. Even more particularly I asked for activities where chatGPT could be used to teach historical research. I liked these as well, so yes, my attitude began to change as well. Perhaps we need to use it in the classroom.
I next tried to move from the theoretical to the real and tried to use AI to help me in my own personal historical research. Two kind of quick results one was that replies were a bit vague and more concerning it gave me to my knowledge false information. I guess I got past this with the realization that research always has to be backed by credible sources. While the AI may provide information additional research still needs to be done. Perhaps things haven’t changed so much.
I next asked AI to help me write something. I wanted an email that would help me introduce a project that I recently completed. While the emails it wrote were good there was something missing. Part of it of course was that I knew more about the project than the AI did . Even as I helped, by supplying more and more context, it was a bit off. I finally realized what was missing was my own voice. It made judgements and chose words that I personally disagreed with, often it was in a matter of degrees, but I was coming to the conclusion that it would be quicker to write it myself. In the end however, my final draft was a mixture. AI seemed better in making sure I reached all the goals that I had put forth and while not perfect it achieved the goal I was looking for with some edits by me.
Turing away from helping me write, I turned to see if it could help me research. I had it provide some information about a specific topic. Next, I had it create research questions that based on its information would help make knowledge on the topic more complete. I liked the results. Furthermore, I asked based on those questions what were some possible claims I could make. Again, I thought the answers given were spot on.
So where to go next? I asked Chat GPT. I asked for additional topics that I should research to decide whether ChatGPT should be used in the classroom or not. It gave me 15. The one that first caught my eye was Feedback and Assesment. I had not thought about this before so I quickly asked ChatGpt to give me feedback on what I had written. Pleased that it said it was well written I was more blown away by the amount of feedback. To be honest, it gave more feedback than I ever give my students. I can also see by adding the context of a rubric it could asses text as well. Certainly this is a bit of a game changer, one I think will certainly increase the quality of education.
Another topic AI suggested to research was ethics. I think every curricula I’ve had AI generate included a discussion about ethics. Questions about using AI to cheat, AI bias and misinformation, and the ownership and origins of creativity are certainly important topics to discuss. However, even without AI these are discussions we should be having. That’s not to say this point is moot. It says we should already be having these discussions and we need to bring AI into them.
Ai also identified the topic of curriculum integration. Certainly, the question of integration would include possible differentions, modifications and accommodations based on multicultural an academic needs. AI can quickly translate into other languages and can modify text based on a grade level. This certainly could aide both students and teachers.
Lastly, AI identified the topics of Life long learning skills, Long Term Impact, and Student Perspective. Combining them together it seems clear to me that AI is here to stay and that students will need AI skills to compete economically in the future. In some sense I believe this years Freshman class is the beginning of an AI generation. With that said I think not introducing AI to our students or allowing them to use it would be to their detriment.
At this point, as the new school year approached, I decided to conclude my research. I asked ChatGPT to write a conclusion for what I had written. I will not say I agree with everything it wrote but the one line it wrote stood out. It said “With the world evolving at a rapid pace, introducing AI to education is not merely a choice, but a necessity”. I think I agree.
One last added reflection. To be clear, my initial reaction to AI was to ban it. The clear reason why was because I thought it would be difficult to stop students from accessing ChatGPT during exams and other assessments. I know in part we need to create perhaps some new ways to assess but in the end I will still need to test content knowledge and writing skills. To be honest we already have this problem. Students accessing ChaptGPT is not that much different than students accessing the general internet. Screen monitoring and classroom “Presence” can enforce temporary bans when students are answering questions or given a writing task.
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