AI in Classrooms A Double Edged Sword for Students

This school year, Chicago high school English teacher Jordan Clayton-Taylor is taking a stand against the rise of AI by going back to basics. Her students will be swapping their Chromebooks for pen and paper when it's time to write essays. This decision is a direct response to a growing trend she observed last year: students using ChatGPT to generate entire essays, passing them off as their own.

Clayton-Taylor's concern goes beyond simple cheating. She believes that over-reliance on artificial intelligence chatbots is undermining a fundamental skill. "It definitely does impact students’ critical thinking skills," she says. "They’re not able to think on their own. The purpose of English is for you to be able to formulate your own idea."

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The emergence of AI in education has sparked a fierce debate. On one hand, it's praised as a revolutionary tool that could personalize learning, help close achievement gaps, and level the playing field for underfunded schools. On the other hand, issues like built-in bias and the potential to hinder original thought and knowledge retention have teachers and experts worried.

As a growing number of teens turn to ChatGPT for schoolwork, educators are grappling with how to adapt to a world where AI can produce answers and essays in seconds.

AI's Impact on Critical Thinking

A recent study from MIT lends weight to these concerns. Researchers found that individuals who simply copied and pasted prompts into ChatGPT to write SAT essays showed lower brain engagement. Their final work, much like the AI's raw output, was often bland and lacked originality.

However, Devery Rodgers, who teaches educational technology at California State University, urges a more nuanced perspective. She points out that new technologies, from the calculator to Google, have always faced criticism for supposedly eroding critical thinking. The key, she argues, is not the technology itself but how it's applied.

"There is a way to learn and do good with it, just like there’s a way to learn and do evil with it," Rodgers explains. She believes that instead of banning AI, teachers should learn the technology themselves to guide students toward becoming responsible digital citizens.

"Your part is to learn it yourself," Rodgers advises teachers. "The kids are always going to learn faster than us... They will always play with it a whole lot more, and that’s how you learn."

Addressing Bias and “Woke AI”

Beyond critical thinking, the inherent biases within AI models present another significant challenge. The federal government has even raised concerns about "woke AI," highlighting the potential for pervasive and destructive biases.

Despite this, Rodgers encourages educators to understand and account for these biases when using generative AI to create personalized learning experiences. While a Pew Research survey found that a quarter of U.S. teachers believe AI does more harm than good in K-12 education, others feel a responsibility to master it to teach their students effectively.

Chatbots do a disservice to Black students in particular.

Clayton-Taylor agrees, stating she feels it's her duty to teach students how to use AI as a tool, not a crutch. She has observed that when students rely on AI, they lose confidence in their own writing abilities. This is particularly damaging for Black students.

"The idea of perfection does not look like us," Clayton-Taylor says. "It does not sound like us. It limits us. I’m very strong on instilling in our kids like you are perfect the way you are. You just have to believe in yourself."

In another classroom, veteran teacher Shannon Singleton is taking a different approach. Her students in Northwest Indiana will use Chromebooks, but she'll be using monitoring software like GoGuardian to prevent misuse of AI.

"They will cheat," she says plainly. "Now that there’s AI, they can just put the essay prompt in it and it spits it out. I think having kids write at home isn’t going to be as successful as it has been in the past. The biggest thing is teaching kids that it’s not about the grade, but it’s about wanting to learn."