Helping Children Become Thoughtful Users of Generative AI (Part1)
Heidi Siwak
Equipping students with tools and skills to be confident and optimistic problem solvers ? SDGs ? AI in Education ? What is one thing you would want young people to think about as they explore AI?
Part 1
Last spring my grade 6 students and teaching partner, Tim Groenewegen, were part of the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board's professional collaborative inquiry into ChatGPT. About 30 educators from kindergarten to grade 12 were provided with a VPN-enabled iPad that allowed us to access OpenAI. Our job was to explore the potential of ChatGPT for learning and then make recommendations to the board as to whether or not ChatGPT should be made available to all teachers and students.
There is nothing I love more as an educator than exploring alongside my students technology-related ideas at the forefront of education. Having run an inquiry-based classroom for years, while the subject matter may change, the structure and processes of inquiry are always the same. Two questions help educators remain focussed on skills, knowledge, communication, and application as the inquiry progresses.
What should students know?
What should students be able to do?
Each inquiry also has a deeper question, one that I spend a great deal of time thinking about and which help me guide students towards deeper learning which is key goal of all the inquiries and project-based learnings we've explored over the years. Helping students become better thinkers and problem-solvers is at the heart of what I do as an educator. The heart of this inquiry into ChatGPT was, "How can I help my students become critical thinkers about and thoughtful users of Generative Artificial Intelligence?"
Well structured inquiries begin with student questions. I explained to students that they were going to observe ChatGPT generate a story and they were to write down what they noticed and wondered about on postit notes.
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The common observation and question was, "How can it type so fast?" By the end of the inquiry student thinking, discussions, questions, and concerns were so much richer. With their initial questions launched, we were ready to dive in. I invite you to follow this article series to discover what and how they learned ... and what they recommended to the school board.
Heidi Siwak