from Staff
Whether we like it or not, artificial intelligence (AI) changes the world in many ways.
Education is one of the areas affected by it. How can teachers use AI and lead their students through the challenging world of new technologies?
Although AI-based tools are quite new, we can safely say that they can become more and more common in their daily lives. The cat is out of the box and does not return. We may soon wake up in a world full of AI helpers and smart instruments, but today’s decisions will shape the future.
AI in education is already a real challenge and parents and teachers are facing a very important question: “How do we teach their children to use these new instruments safely and responsibly?”
After all, education technology is nothing new. Children use computers, smartphones and the Internet all the time, but we all know that although these tools are useful, they can also be abused.
The Internet is full of knowledge but also misinformation. Google does not replace critical thinking. Artificial intelligence can be the same – it can be useful, but it can also make future adults too dependent on it.
That is why it is so important for today’s teachers to begin to help children understand what new technology they can and cannot do.
How can we approach AI in education
The basics and risks
Before you leave your students with Chatgpt Or other AI tools, explain what they are and how they work. Is it really an AI Chatbot “Intelligent”? From a student’s perspective, he answers questions in a natural language and can give a deep idea, but does that mean it is always right?
You need to teach your students what language models and AI tools are and why they work. Explain that they were fed tons of data from which they receive answers, but that doesn’t mean they know what they are doing. Discuss current ethical dilemmas – why do people judge AI companies? What is it?
It is also important to pay attention to the security aspect. If students use AI, they should do it in a way that is safe for them. Teachers can explain that AI tools do not exist in a vacuum – all data go to the servers of the companies concerned, so children should think before posting personal information.
They also need to provide their connection using chatbots and other instruments, especially in public networks. A Mobile VPN is a good solution – it encrypts data, so it is less likely to be downloaded into the outside world when using a smartphone on an unsecured network.
AI as an instrument for learning critical thinking
AI can provide enormous help when learning students to conduct research and think critically. Do you worry that children will become too dependent on their AI assistants? If so, show them how to avoid such a scenario.
Ask students to use AI tools to find answers and solutions to a specific problem. Then discuss these answers with the class. Are they adequate? Are they biased or false? If they were, how would the students know?
Such exercises can help students find out why AI can be a useful tool in some cases, but it cannot replace thinking and knowledge on a topic.
Turn the tables around
Children like to investigate and dissect things. Use this childhood curiosity and competitiveness in your favor. What if instead of checking their essays, they checked the chatbot essay?
If you are talking about a book, generate text and let your students criticize and check it. Let them show their knowledge of the material and point out invalid or weak arguments. Ask them for counterarguments of chatbot arguments.
Children usually like to compete if you provide a safe and engaging environment for them. Crowning Chatgpt’s work will test their knowledge and teach them that “smart chatbot” may not be so smart.
See also Roles for artificial intelligence in education
Creativity booster
AI can be a good tool for raising creativity so why not use it in the classroom? Allow your students to throw ideas with the help of a chatbot and criticize their quality. Allow them to upgrade the ideas of Chatgpt or other chatbots and improve them.
Remember that AI can also help you as a teacher. You have no idea how to guide your next class? Maybe a chatbot can challenge creative ideas.
Teacher
These will be decades – if ever – before AI completely replaces teachers. After all, sitting in the classroom is not only for acquiring knowledge, but also for human interaction. No one would want to perform a machine assigned tasks.
However, AI may act as a teacher to some extent. No teacher can be fully accessible at any time. You can encourage your students to use AI at home to better understand the topic – after learning them that AI can also be wrong and that they need to check the facts.
AI is also an excellent self -testing tool. Students can give him some facts and then tell him to ask them questions, just like with a training friend.
A tradition in a futuristic world
Many teachers are worried about plagiarism with AI and for good reason. People can sometimes be lazy. If we can choose the easy way, we will choose the easy way. Students are already submitting essays generated using Chatgpt, and although it shows some technological check, this is still a solution.
Unfortunately, the human brain needs exercise to learn, which means that sometimes we have to do things in the difficult way to gain from it. The easiest solution is to focus more on writing in a class where students need to develop their arguments and learn how to communicate them on paper.
Consider chatbots as a “calculator” type – we let students use them to solve complex problems, but we still teach children how to perform mathematical operations so that they know why these problems are solved as they are. AI can be exactly the same.
Summary
Instead of letting children take care of themselves in a fast -changing technology, the education system should help them use it in their favor.
AI should not be the enemy of the teacher. It is even better that he can be an assistant. The help of children to understand their capabilities and restrictions is the best we can do to raise a responsible and bright generation.
