Fifth grade students at Park Elementary School are taking classroom discussions to a new level by using artificial intelligence in their social studies Socratic seminar unit.
The technology assists students in generating thought-provoking questions, analyzing multiple perspectives and fostering deeper dialogue on complex topics.
When chatbots like ChatGPT first emerged online, educators quickly implemented policies to prevent students from using them to plagiarize or bypass their classwork. Now, however, they are beginning to embrace the technology.
Durango School District 9-R officials said the initiative not only engages students in more meaningful conversations but also prepares them for the increasingly tech-driven world.
The topic students were tackling last week was whether school should be attended year-round.
After completing research on the subject, students would enter their argument into School AI, an artificial intelligence chatbot utilized for educational purposes.
Park Elementary fifth grade teacher Dylan Atkinson prompts the chatbot using counterpoints advocating for year-round school attendance.
The students spent the hourlong class drafting their arguments, conducting research and debating with a computer.
There’s some pros and cons to both sides of the argument, said Park fifth grader, Matthew Tapp.
“Were basically just trying to justify one side or the other,” Tapp said.
The students were considering what kind of vacation time they would see under a year-round schedule and what impact it would have on the teachers.
“I agree with it (year-round attendance) partially, with how they divide up the teaching so that you have more breaks and you're less fried,” Tapp said.
Atkinson said using AI makes students think about their language when they’re building an argument. At times, the chatbot will challenge a student's argument depending on how it's phrased.
Across the district, 9-R has been implementing AI technology into classrooms.
“I think it has the potential to really provide a lot of equity in education,” said district Technology Integration Specialist Matt Smith. “We've used it to give feedback to kids on their writing. We've created bots that tutor kids and help them prepare for tests. I think about kids that maybe don't have someone in their life that can proofread their writing or help prepare them the night before a test.”
But with the implementation of AI technology, questions arise about how much students should trust information being provided by chatbots.
The district uses two AI services: School AI and Magic School.
Both platforms are programmable by teachers, and they ensure the protection of student data. The district does not allow students to use common chatbots like ChatGPT, as they do not guarantee data protection.
However, the district’s chatbot services do pull information from the internet, and a key part of students’ education in using the technology is learning to verify the credibility of the sources.
“It can also help kids push their thinking on their research, and we always have them corroborate with sources in Google as well what the bot says,” Smith said. “We've had some really awesome, organic AI literacy opportunities where the bot said something incorrect.”
Over the last decade, questions have risen about the dissemination of information on social media and various websites.
“We've stopped class and shown screenshots (of false information) because that's super important for them, not to just take everything that comes out of the bot as true,” Smith said.
Smith said AI technology is going to be a large part of students' future. In fact, it’s already a part of the professional world.
According to data from LinkedIn, job postings mentioning AI or generative AI more than doubled globally between July 2021 and July 2023. On Upwork, a platform for hiring contract workers, AI-related job listings surged by over 1,000% in the second quarter of 2023 compared to the same period the previous year.
In other instances, the district has used generative AI for research and translation for nonnative English speakers.
“They created a chatbot that spoke to the kids in Spanish and then translated to English,” Smith said. “Kids were working in the same group that were nonnative and native-English speakers, and they were using the chat bot to bridge the language gap,” Smith said.
However, the introduction of new technology also brings a higher risk of student misuse.
As a result, the district has implemented a policy on AI usage.
The district approves use of AI technology for research assistance generating creative assets, editing writing and tutoring.
The policy clearly states that students are not allowed to submit exclusively AI-generated work, plagiarism, or using AI when it's not permitted for a specific assignment.
“I think if we can teach them how to interact with AI and use it in a positive way – where it's not taking away critical thinking – they're going to be more successful as they grow into both their educational career and when they hit the workforce,” Smith said.
tbrown@durangoherald.com
