AI is being put into everything and is becoming the future but no one seems to know how to use it correctly. Even governmental officials misuse AI when writing official reports.
Over 2,089 websites are run by AI and provide fake information while posing as professional news websites with no human oversight,
If no one learns how to use AI, the world will be full of misinformation and fake news.
In schools, AI can assist students with their assignments by providing sources, invoking ideas and reducing the length of time it takes for students to complete assignments. But AI also can provide false information, provide easy access to cheating, and remove the opportunity to think and learn.
Yes—AI could be a tool to help students, but the way it is currently being used is hurting students’ learning.
Of course, if students learn acceptable ways to use AI, it could turn into a good tool for schools.
Artificial intelligence can help students with many different supports. It can lighten the workload by helping students research, fact check and proofread their essays. AI is also personalised, so it can answer questions in ways the student wants it answered.
But with AI growing faster and smarter, is AI a tool to help with workloads or a threat to students’ learning?
During the school day, I hear many peers talking about using ChatGPT on their assignments, but the ways they are using it are not ok. People are using it to find answers and immediately use what the AI reports.
“I know a lot of students at the school do for at least, like help and things like that, but I’ve never used it. I don’t see the need. I feel like that students can do that, like do their work on their own,” senior Alli Smoots said.
According to the LSHS student handbook, “use of an AI program or text generator … is also plagiarism, since you are submitting words and ideas you did not create and producing them as your own.”
The student handbook states the problem with using AI is turning in AI-generated content. But a bigger problem with using AI for completing assignments is that it harms student learning.
One of MIT’s research studies revealed that when students research and write essays using large language models (LLM), compared to search engines and their own thinking, using LLMs doesn’t support long-term learning.
In the research, MIT studied the brain activity of students as they researched and wrote an essay. The engagement of a topic is consistently connected to better academic performance and understanding. While LLM had immediate or short-term engagement, there was no long-term engagement with the content.
While LLMs like ChatGPT could make assignments faster and easier, using LLMs leads to limited critical thinking and weaker problem-solving skills.
Students who are researching a topic using AI for a school assignment find answers. But the students who take the answers from AI don’t learn anything and aren’t engaged in the subject.
According to the LSHS student handbook, “The mission of Lake Stevens High School is to inspire and prepare all students chasing a diploma to be lifelong learners.”
The way the vast majority of students are using AI does not align with the school’s goals because it is not giving students a proper opportunity to learn.
The ways I use AI, which is not perfect but better than how most other students use AI. Before anything, I research the topic till I know the basic premise and have an idea for what to focus on. I ask the AI for sources, not flat information and then look at the sources it provides. Finally, I ask follow-up questions to get a clearer understanding of the material.
Even though my strategy still needs more work, as AIs make it easier to get answers and not engage, it currently allows for engagement in the topic and a deeper understanding. Other people have different strategies, but those who use AI for schoolwork need to learn how to use AI in an engaging way.
Otherwise—learning will become a thing of the past.
