Much like inventions such as the wheel, the first automobile, smartphones, and the internet, the invention of AI (artificial intelligence) seems to be the next big thing, and no doubt it will change how schools around the world perceive education.
This year at LP, teachers and staff members started experimenting with new AI tools, primarily through the AI chat platform SchoolAI, which became safe for student use following a privacy agreement reached with Lake Park earlier this year.
With a new AI tool students and teachers are freely able to use, in various different ways, department managers have started to incorporate AI into some of their curriculums. The two most enrolled Advanced Placement history teams, for example, have both taken advantage of SchoolAI’s generative chatbot, mainly for students to conduct research.
“Recently, we have experimented with SchoolAI for students to conduct artificial interviews with Thomas Jefferson, former third President of the United States,” said social studies department leader and AP U.S. History teacher, Mr. Donald Fulmer. AP World History teacher Mr. Jeffrey Sichz highlighted that SchoolAI is also being used in AP World History classes, most notably assisting students in research for mock trials. “Using SchoolAI has really helped students find the information they were looking for. The AI’s ability to answer follow-up questions from the students regarding anything they wanted to know resulted in a deeper understanding about their person, as compared to them getting their information solely from Google searches and web articles.”
While the incorporation of SchoolAI in social studies classes has proven successful in various ways, department teachers still have concerns that the platform’s ‘guardrails’ may not be sufficient to prevent students from occasionally misusing it. “With a large part of AP World History being note-taking, I fear the possibility of people using AI to take notes for them,” Mr. Sichz said. Similarly, AP World History teacher Mr. Michael Foleno expressed his concerns, stating, “I fear AI in education will be heavily used to do work for students, and AI summarizing large readings is no different.”
While AP teachers express their concerns with AI being used to complete work for students, they point out that the excessive use of AI could hinder a student’s ability to learn the material. Mr. Sichz explained, “We must guide students in terms of the proper use of AI and the possible impacts it may have on their academic growth. The one thing about an AP class is that the exam always reflects the amount of work and effort a student puts into the class throughout the year. Students who take shortcuts will see that reflected in a lower score and possibly lose out on college credit that they could have earned if they had put in the daily grind that all AP classes require.”
AI is not only restricted to shaping how social studies classes are being taught. Educators in other departments have shared their approach to artificial intelligence being used in their classrooms as well. Last year, Written & Oral Communication classes experimented with AI for generating images to raise awareness about particular social issues in students’ presentations. “Students were allowed and encouraged to work with AI-generated images,” East Campus English teacher Mrs. Wendy Elm, said. “The products were undoubtedly impressive,” English teacher Mr. Erik Uppling noted.
Although many teachers are hesitant, others have experimented with AI as a means to help them grade assignments, create lessons, and facilitate discussion. West Campus English teacher Ms. Youla Simos noted, “From creating and differentiating lessons to translating texts and creating rubrics, many teachers have already embraced it.” Mrs. Elm mentions that some teachers have used AI to produce exams. “Some of my colleagues have used AI to produce quizzes, and I’ve heard of other high school teachers using it to evaluate student writing.” Technology coach and social studies teacher Mrs. Lexie Hamilton utilizes AI in various ways, stating, “I use AI to help me create rubrics and brainstorm alternate project ideas to freshen up my curriculum,” she said.
While many teachers have embraced AI, others are apprehensive about using it. “I’m very skeptical of the value of generative AI in schools,” said West Campus English teacher Mr. Michael Bundalo. “I have ethical concerns about my use of AI to generate curriculum and class activities. I also worry about the cost to the essential human element of the learning experience in schools.”
Teachers beginning to experiment with AI is in large part due to workshops held by Mrs. Rokki Parrinello and Mrs. Hamilton, where they present to teachers AI tools students can use. “Since AI is so new, it is really important that teachers teach students how to use it in a way that would allow them to create their own authentic work,” Mrs. Hamilton said. “AI is a really powerful academic tool, but only when it’s used correctly,” she added.
In recent years, the misuse of AI by students has emerged as a growing problem in schools. Around 80% of Lake Park teachers I spoke to have claimed they have caught at least one student using AI inappropriately. Mr. Bundalo recounts a time when enough people in a class used AI irresponsibly in an essay that he had to address his class as a whole. Mrs. Elm recounts multiple times when students using AI irresponsibly has slowed her down tremendously in the grading process.
Educators, however, have developed multiple ways to identify AI misuse. “Sometimes you can easily tell if the writing doesn’t sound like the student’s own writing voice, but we also have extensions that go beyond AI detectors where we can see how long someone spends on a document, for whether they copied and pasted the text in or not,” said East Campus English teacher Ms. Jennifer Miller. Other teachers noted other ways to detect AI, such as having them show their work, complete written assessments in class, and having them on lockdown browsers. “Students often think that we cannot tell when they submit work in an AI voice,” Mr. Uppling said. “We can tell. We can tell every time.”
While students’ misuse of AI is becoming a growing concern, it raises the question: should students’ mere “use” of AI be frowned upon? Many teachers emphasize that they do not completely oppose students using AI. “I am not against using AI in the classroom. I am against students avoiding the challenge of generating authentic work and using AI as a means to an end,” Mr. Uppling said. Mrs. Simos similarly argued: “It’s our job to draw a clear ethical line between cheating with AI and getting help from it,” she said. “Some students feel like interacting with an AI chatbot to improve an essay is cheating, while others feel like they have grown as writers because they have benefited by thinking through their ideas with it.” Other teachers struggle to see its benefits in the hands of students at all. “I do think many–even most–students don’t understand the appropriate use of AI,” Mrs. Elm said. “Right now, students who turn in blatant AI work claim they are turning to AI only to help them, but at what point does ‘helping’ become ‘producing’?”
Artificial intelligence is a vastly discussed and growing topic, and while it has made its way into the hands of students and educators, it is important to note that this field is still growing, and the education industry will only have to adapt to this advancement. “The way teachers teach curriculum has been rapidly changing with the growing technology over the last few years,” Mr. Sichz said. “When I was young, I had to use encyclopedias and books to do research for papers and projects. My children grew up using the internet for research, and now the next generation will use AI! Is it any different from when Google first started? Or videos? Or overhead projectors? It is just another tool that teachers will increasingly use within the classroom, and we need to be ready for it.”
