In education, many teachers have opposed artificial intelligence due to its impact on student cheating. But the Upper St. Clair School District is taking a different approach.
Will AI make kids smarter, or will it hurt their math, language, and even thinking skills? Students can spit out a term paper on “Moby Dick” in seconds without getting past the first words of “Call me Ishmael.” And this is concerning even in the Upper St. Clair School District, where students consistently rank among the top in the state.
“A lot of that will be solved by AI,” asked KDKA's Andy Sheehan.
“I think that's the risk, right? This risk is something that can happen if we're not smart enough to recognize it,” said Brad Wilson, the district's director of strategic initiatives.
Upper St. Clair is tackling AI head-on and wants to take full advantage of these amazing language models to teach students about the risks and advance their education.
“That's the strength of this district is that we embrace it and have the mindset that we're going to get through it together,” Assistant Principal Dan Beck said.
To this end, the district spent a day teaching students about the dangers and appropriate use of AI. Teachers are using AI detection tools to tackle the issue of plagiarism and stressing the need for independent critical analysis.
“Instead of accepting the status quo, we should try to turn it around without human critical thinking,” said English teacher Cristina Guarnacio.
And to discredit those results, we provide examples of deepfakes, bias, and rampant mistakes that come back to haunt students if they rely on that information.
“You think it knows everything and can answer any question,” social studies teacher Ben Edwards said. “That’s why we must use it responsibly when we use it.”
While Edwards highlights the pitfalls, he encourages students to incorporate AI into their lesson plans and use it to deepen their knowledge. Dante Cooley says language models have become his personal tutors.
“I tell them what class I'm in, what I'm having trouble with, what I need help with. I ask them questions and they break things down for me, and they explain it to me as many times as I need,” Corey said.
And Edwards says teaching students these skills will be essential as they navigate the brave new world of AI.
“As Americans, we want to be on the cutting edge to be able to use it. Whether we want it or not, it's a big part of our future, so it's not something we should hide from,” Edwards explained.
This will all be a work in progress, but the Upper St. Clair neighborhood knows AI is here to stay. And while teaching them the dangers, they also try to reap the benefits.
