Don’t panic: ChatGPT and generative AI can only get students so far
As the parent of two kids, I’m going to impart some easier-said-than-done advice. The first thing to remember this fall is: Don’t panic about AI. AI has been around for at least 20 years – but chatbots do introduce a valid and novel concern for parents and educators alike as “the ultimate cheat tool,” Dr. Michael Rich of Boston Children’s Digital Wellness Lab tells me.
The shortcuts offered by AI will only get students so far. “There will be a significant minority of kids and parents that will rely on us… to do better” in writing and editing essays, says Dr. Rich. ChatGPT will produce “perfectly good, mediocre” results for this contingent of students, though once they’re tasked with creating their own work in more advanced settings – in the workplace and graduate school, for example – they may not be equipped to think for themselves.
Dr. Rich is optimistic that eventually students and parents will realize where the tech falls short and crave the path of resistance and rigor. “My hope is that there will be a reverse of the tide,” Dr. Rich says. He predicts a new generation will develop a “make me work, make me learn this” attitude. “They’ll be aware that just getting to the next step is not good enough anymore.”
AI can provide structure and information, but it can’t teach kids how to form their own ideas
Part of what’s deceptive about AI is the notion that it’s a source of unquestionable intelligence. It can “aggregate voluminous research information,” says Dr. Rich, “but it’s not generating intelligence. It’s all old ideas [that are] frankly homogenized… What we really need to be teaching these kids is how to be reflective.”
“What we really need to be teaching these kids is how to be reflective.”
“Kids say to me, ‘why do I need to learn photosynthesis or memorize a poem or understand what year the Battle of Waterloo happened? I can Google that,’” says Rich. “And then what they have is a dearth of… information [about] the way the world works that they can put together in new ways.”
Dr. Rich sees this wave in education as the critical moment for parents and educators to guide kids into being adept at not just navigating but also questioning the vast informational ecosystem before them. “Without critical thinking, [kids] are accepting everything that comes over the transom with equal weight,” says Dr. Rich. “We’re going to have to start thinking very differently, even from the earliest stages of school, how to use and absorb information, what information to absorb… and that source of information constantly.”
“We’re going to have to start thinking very differently, even from the earliest stages of school, how to use and absorb information, what information to absorb… and that source of information constantly.”
AI can save time for classroom learning
AI offers new tools that, when used judiciously, can innovate how we learn. Generative technology can boost a slow start for a kid who needs help with structuring initial ideas so they can focus on getting to the bigger ideas. For educators, AI can also more quickly help identify where a struggling student is missing a key concept that might be leading to the same mistake made over and over again, for example.
“The reality is that the same set of fears [we see with AI] came pouring out when calculators were let into math class,” says Dr. Rich. “What we realized is that once they understood the concepts, they could use the calculators and get to much higher functioning concepts more quickly.”
An exercise that educators are using to great effect is to see where ChatGPT falls short. Instead of forbidding students from using the technology to write their essays, teachers can ask students to write their outline in class, then have AI help them write their first draft. “Identifying ‘where did the AI screw up?’” can be a fun exercise to engage students in, Dr. Rich says. It’s also a comic reminder that the technology isn’t perfect, and that it’s obvious when you’re trying to pass it off as your own.
A big solution to anxiety over AI and technology misuse: learn from your child non-judgmentally, and teach them how to use smartphones as a power tool, not a treat
One of Dr. Rich’s most salient metaphors was the idea that teaching kids how to use a smartphone and technology is just like showing them how to use another supermachine: the car. “With any of these devices or platforms, part of teaching it as a tool is sitting in the front seat white-knuckled next to them,” as they set up Snapchat accounts and Instagram, says Dr. Rich.
“With any of these devices or platforms, part of teaching it as a tool is sitting in the front seat white-knuckled next to them.”
The painful reality is that kids will know things that parents don’t, and they’ll find a way around safeguards. To foster the sense “that the digital ecosystem is a shared space,” Dr. Rich tells me, is key to fostering a healthy, judgment-free dynamic for kids to feel safe coming to parents when they have made mistakes or come across something that makes them uncomfortable.
At the end of the day, coming from a place of love and knowing that each child will learn and adapt uniquely is essential. “We want to help every child be the best that she, he, or they can be at that age and at that developmental stage.”
