Weekly Reflection #2

Discussing the possible uses of Gen AI in the classroom has left me with some concerns. Using AI for lesson planning and classroom activities is a great time-saving strategy. However, it concerns me that the ease and accessibility of these tools will lead educators to become reliant on AI. I am a strong believer that the goal of teachers is to prepare students to be active and positive members of society. A large part of that is teaching students how to think critically and form their own educated opinions about the world. If teachers become reliant on third-party thinking, then how are we supposed to teach students the power of thinking for oneself?

In the future, I plan on teaching primary students. I struggle to think of ways that primary students can effectively use AI without becoming too trusting or too reliant on technology. In my experience volunteering in primary classrooms, it is very clear that younger students tend to believe anything they read on the internet or see on TV.  A great lesson that I once observed a grade 1 teacher do was this “Marshmallow Farming” lesson. The teacher played this video https://youtu.be/yflTu150QZw, which is a fake news segment about a marshmallow farm in North Carolina. After watching, the class discussed it. The children were completely engaged in conversation, and not a single student questioned the validity of the video. Shortly after the teacher explained that the video was made as an April Fools’ Day prank, and that not everything that they see on TV is real. I think that was a very valuable lesson that could be easily adapted to teach children that what AI produces is not always real or truthful.

There are a lot of scary things on the internet, and as helpful as Gen AI can be as a timesaving resource, it can also replicate almost anything and create believable false information. We, as future teachers, have to recognize this and teach students to think critically and develop strategies that they can use while using AI.