AI vs. Education

By Tiago Lirman and Javier Diaz Alonso

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Source: CBC News

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ChatGPT and other AI tools are completing student’s assignments every day across the world. All that’s needed is to copy and paste the question and the answer is spit out. As a result, cheating is easier for students. Because of its profound impact on education, many teachers are debating whether or not it should be incorporated into the classroom,

Generally, teachers are against the use of AI in the classroom. This is because many students use AI to copy word for word without retaining any information and thus, be unable to fully comprehend or learn the content. This has been seen mainly with courses that deal with writing such as English and History.

Mr. Pelegrin, Columbus AP English Literature, said that AI is a fantastic tool to complete research, however, students shouldn’t use it to write.

"Knowing how to write is crucial for all stages of life and AI can hurt a student's ability to learn it. As long as it is just used for research and inspirational purposes, it shouldn’t pose a threat to traditional education," Pelegrin said.

In these classes, it is harder to lower the rate at which students use AI as compared to science classes where students usually need statistics or data to answer questions correctly.

Columbus science teacher Ms. Taylor hasn't noticed students using AI in her classes.

“AI hasn’t had as big of an impact on science classes as compared to other school subjects that deal with grammar and writing strategies. I use AI to create my lesson plans as it is quick and simple," she said.

Many teachers have mixed feelings about AI because it makes their lives easier; however, it makes it harder to detect cheating.

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Some teachers are conflicted about the use of AI in the classroom. For example, Mr. Ferguson thinks that it should be incorporated and even taught to students, but in a useful way.

“It shouldn’t replace a student’s work, but it can definitely be used to help students learn,” Mr. Ferguson said.

For example, giving out homework is harder because of the difficulty in detecting plagiarism. However, Mr. Ferguson remarked that it is a great tool when using it to create new problems and scenarios. If you have a type of problem you are struggling with, you can ask the AI to assign you similar problems for extra practice.

Overall, while AI is definitely something that should be assessed carefully and each teacher should deal with it differently, it is a tool that could be used in the classroom to enhance education. Through extra practice problems, research, and inspiration, AIs such as ChatGPT could be helpful both inside and outside the classroom.