Artificial Intelligence (AI) use from students continues to increase despite countless warnings. According to statista.com, “it was found that a whopping 86 percent [of students] said they were using artificial intelligence tools in their schoolwork. Almost a fourth of them used it on a daily basis.”
86% of students is way too high of a number for teachers to combat AI use effectively. This has led a lot of teachers to change their curriculums and teaching plans to avoid AI use.
One way to mitigate AI use that teachers can implement is requesting to see more of students’ progress on assignments before they submit their final product. This could mean requiring students to submit drafts, notes, websites, or outlines that helped them create what they are going to submit. Or if an assignment is supposed to be done only using class resources, teachers could require students to prove they used the classes notes or presentations instead of internet or AI use. This could be done by students having to submit where in the resources they found their information in order to answer a question.
A lot of teachers are starting to assign more work that students need to complete in class. With this idea, teachers can supervise their students to make sure they are not using AI or any sources that were not given to them. Assignments are beginning to be more complex, so they aren’t as easy to replicate through AI, which includes handwritten worksheets, handwritten essays, and oral presentations.
Teachers are also incorporating more project based learning into their curriculum. According to inspera.com, “It [AI] won’t develop the same innovative approaches to problems that the human brain can when properly trained.” When projects lack critical thinking, AI use is more evident.
Some students argue that AI wouldn’t be as widely used as it is now if the work assigned wasn’t quickly “searchable”. “[Teachers need to] Stop giving students meaningless, repetitive work that can be easily done by machines,” said Stacy Wang, senior.
However, some teachers have harnessed the idea that students who use AI will learn their lesson later on in life, the students who still choose to use AI will receive the grade they want now but lack the skills they will need when it really counts.
“I think overall in the larger picture of it, you use AI all through highschool, have you learned to critical think? Then you use AI in college, have you grown your critical thought process there? Probably not. Now you’re at a job and perhaps your job requires you to use critical thought. So, when are you actually going to learn that skill? Are we just going to have a lot of people in our world who really don’t know how to critically think. They just resolve or use AI all the time to get answers and direct them through life. That’s what my concern is, when are you going to learn that critical thought process,” said, Dr. Eagle, AP Earth and Environmental Science and Biology teacher.
It’s up to students if they want to still rely on AI to complete their work, but by using it now irresponsibly it’s compromising their education and skills they will need further down the road.
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