As back-to-school season is around the corner, students and teachers share similar questions about what school supplies to buy and what should be prepared for courses. However, one question has not been answered: Should artificial intelligence, or AI, be used in the classroom?
Artificial intelligence is on the rise as society continues to experiment with technology. The group of people using this digital source often includes students and teachers. The continuous development of data, efficient processing graphics processing unit (GPU) and quick-paced research of AI are the key contributing factors to the growth of AI.
More and more students have been using artificial intelligence platforms such as ChatGPT to assist them in their academics. According to a Common Sense Media study, 58% of students ages twelve to eighteen have used ChatGPT. The majority of students in this age range are high school students– a population that is learning how to incorporate AI into their learning.
Princeton High School social studies teacher, Katie L. Dineen, occasionally uses AI in her classroom of high school students. Often, she believes it is understandable to use AI depending on the context or the circumstance students are put in. She mostly allows the usage of AI for project ideas, resources for their studies, making posters and accessing archives. However, she has decreased the amount of computer work her students have to do.
“I think where students are most often using generative AI is to respond to questions or essays that are sent home with them,” Dineen said. “I usually don’t assign homework, so their work time is in school so I can monitor what tools they’re using.”
Dineen is realistic, admitting that even with her monitoring and avoiding assigning tasks outside of the class, she knows that nothing would stop her students.
“My own monitoring is pretty limited when you’ve got 30 screens facing away from you,” Dineen said. “Our capability as educators was outpaced by AI.”
According to Dineen, AI can be implemented in the education system depending on the circumstance. AI can be helpful to the creative mind in coming up with ideas, but it can be tempting for young minds eager to use the technology to lessen their time spent on their academics.
While Dineen believes students can use AI in the classroom, other educators believe AI is best used for a different purpose: creating lesson plans.
Sean Hammer instructs biology at Ewing High School and teaches science with the Princeton University Preparatory Program. As a teacher, Hammer said that he is not using AI in the classroom, although he knows teachers who are.
“So as much as I’ve understood the value of what AI could do for education, it’s the idea to bring in options for more students to kind of stress the pace that they need,” Hammer said. “Asking an individual teacher to design all those different things individually would be a huge task in terms of the amount of prep time to try it and build it out.”
Hammer believes that AI can be used in certain situations, such as creating an individualized plan for each and every student so that they can learn at their own pace. According to Hammer, AI can help both teachers and students in the education system.
Artificial intelligence can be great in being a resource for educators and their students. However, it can also lead to cheating, which can often deteriorate a student’s academic performance. In the short term, cheating may seem to be leading students to better grades and possibly better occupations, but in the long term, students are not fully learning and earning the education they receive.
However, AI seems to be leading more and more students into the direction of cheating. There have been instances of cheating using AI at Hammer’s school, according to Hammer, and there have been others at schools across the globe. Although it can be useful, it can be just as harmful.
