05 Mar AI in the History Classroom by Sonia Slonim (Head of HASS)
Michelle Zimmerman, in her book Teaching AI: Exploring New Frontiers for Learning poses compelling questions about human intelligence and its relationship with artificial intelligence. “What is human intelligence? Is it based on an IQ score? Is it the ability to apply learning? Is it the ability to solve a complex algorithm. Are there multiple types of intelligence or not? “If we are finding it hard to answer these questions it is no surprise that defining AI is very complex and accepting that it does have the potential to be a learning tool that could transform the classroom is the process.
We use artificial intelligence in our daily lives without realising it. Online sales website will try to predict what your next purchase will be based on what you buy. Fraud detection by banks. When an unusual transaction takes place, the bank will ask you if it was you. How many times have you had to say what you wanted when you called a support line, the answers you get are generated by AI. In 1997, an IBM computer, Deep Blue beat world champion Kasparov in Chess. The computer could evaluate 200 million chess positions per second, this is today classified as artificial intelligence.
Since the emergence of ChatGPT in November 2022, the academic community has been exploring the impact of AI on teaching and learning. In our department we asked ChatGPT to write essays on topics we usually discuss in class. While those essays covered some of the required content, the work produced was not of a consistently high standard. As time goes by there is no doubt that AI will continue to evolve . it likely that its capabilities will improve making it more difficult to distinguish between original work and AI produced content.
AS AI becomes more prevalent, the teaching and learning must shift to incorporate the benefits of AI. As educators, it is incumbent upon us to teach our students the usefulness of AI while emphasising the moral issues of integrity and dangers of misinformation.
In the Humanities classroom, Ai can be used to personalise the learning experience with more ease by asking it to adapt a texts to different reading levels. This helps the teacher cater for students’ needs, and facilitate more complex discussions. In Year 9 we recently learnt about Shabbtai Zvi, for some the texts were lengthy and difficult, with the help of AI we were able to adapt the readings to students’ abilities and involve everyone in the class discussion.
Often students struggle with writing projects, if they resort for AI for essay writing, chances are that they will not achieve their desired mark and the work will be considered plagiarised. However, if a student asks AI for an essay structure, or some dot points to help get started that eventually lead to better outcomes and improve their learning. Students can also learn valuable research skills with AI, but they need to be diligent when quoting sources to ensure that they do in fact exist. For example, Year 10 students were learning about the Treaty of Versailles. They could use AI to analyse the reaction of different countries by comparing primary sources that will enhance their understanding of the topic.
Like any other tool, one must approach AI with a critical mind. In today’s world, it is important to help students develop technological literacy and critical thinking skills necessary to navigate a world controlled by so much technology.
When AI is used as a “crutch” to help students and not as a personal assistant to complete work it can be extremely useful to both students and teachers. We use AI every day, we should learn how to use it ethically with integrity and reject it as greatest evil that has come about. I personally am looking forward to the AI course which I will take later this year.