I think the final comment about 'appropriate guardrails' pretty important in the AI discussion. It suggests that if we tell our students that they can use AI to help with homework, then the are probably going to use it to look up answers (aka: cheating).
I've given my adult EAP learners some tips on using AI in a more 'honest' way, which is to use chatgpt for correcting their writing and getting feedback on their authentic work . The idea seems good, but I think that for most people it takes quite a lot of self control for a person not to use technology in a dishonest way.
I guess one thing a teacher could do is to explicitly teach study skills using AI platforms. I've shown my learners how to correct their vocabulary usage, but if someone told me to do the same thing with math problems, I would have no idea how to approach it. It's very likely not an intuitive thing for a highschool student to do. I'd love to see some tips on how to use AI as a study tool for things like solving math equations and other less intuitive uses.
Thoughts about “Does GenAI help or hinder student learning?”
As mentioned in this study, students were concentrating on answer-finding rather than skill-building. According to my experience both as a student and as an instructor, the root of this issue is that students feel that building skills in math is a painful process. To improve the helpfulness of Generative AI, a redesign incorporating incentives for students to go through the learning activities can potentially provide better results. In other words, if students are doing what they are supposed to do, positive outcomes will follow.
Another thought relating to this study and my real-life teaching experience is that in education, the same pattern observed in the law of conservation of energy applies: the amount of effective input determines the extent of improvements in output. Instead of creating a magical process, effective teaching and learning seem to make the brain work harder within a specific time frame, resulting in a better learning outcome. The students using books and notes in this study did not have the option to get quick answers, so they had to work harder. This may contribute to the more desirable results. My recent teaching experience also confirms this to some extent: the class I teach performed significantly better in the midterm exam this semester compared to other classes. One factor might be the critical questions I asked during class time, which increased their thinking effort. The other factor might be the larger amount of work I assigned – instead of 15 questions provided in a typical quiz, I usually provide around 40 questions.
In short, there is no free lunch. Hence, the direction of education research should probably focus on inducing more intense brain work without cognitive overload.
Great edu-snippets. Thanks for covering the math anxiety article. Robin Codding and her co-authors are doing amazing work!
Thanks Anna! I agree, it was a nice study. I hope it helps reduce some of the irrational fears about timed tests.
I think the final comment about 'appropriate guardrails' pretty important in the AI discussion. It suggests that if we tell our students that they can use AI to help with homework, then the are probably going to use it to look up answers (aka: cheating).
I've given my adult EAP learners some tips on using AI in a more 'honest' way, which is to use chatgpt for correcting their writing and getting feedback on their authentic work . The idea seems good, but I think that for most people it takes quite a lot of self control for a person not to use technology in a dishonest way.
I guess one thing a teacher could do is to explicitly teach study skills using AI platforms. I've shown my learners how to correct their vocabulary usage, but if someone told me to do the same thing with math problems, I would have no idea how to approach it. It's very likely not an intuitive thing for a highschool student to do. I'd love to see some tips on how to use AI as a study tool for things like solving math equations and other less intuitive uses.
Thoughts about “Does GenAI help or hinder student learning?”
As mentioned in this study, students were concentrating on answer-finding rather than skill-building. According to my experience both as a student and as an instructor, the root of this issue is that students feel that building skills in math is a painful process. To improve the helpfulness of Generative AI, a redesign incorporating incentives for students to go through the learning activities can potentially provide better results. In other words, if students are doing what they are supposed to do, positive outcomes will follow.
Another thought relating to this study and my real-life teaching experience is that in education, the same pattern observed in the law of conservation of energy applies: the amount of effective input determines the extent of improvements in output. Instead of creating a magical process, effective teaching and learning seem to make the brain work harder within a specific time frame, resulting in a better learning outcome. The students using books and notes in this study did not have the option to get quick answers, so they had to work harder. This may contribute to the more desirable results. My recent teaching experience also confirms this to some extent: the class I teach performed significantly better in the midterm exam this semester compared to other classes. One factor might be the critical questions I asked during class time, which increased their thinking effort. The other factor might be the larger amount of work I assigned – instead of 15 questions provided in a typical quiz, I usually provide around 40 questions.
In short, there is no free lunch. Hence, the direction of education research should probably focus on inducing more intense brain work without cognitive overload.
Well said Linyi. Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts.