In some way this is a great loss for students, being a new source of temptation (like the internet & stackexchange) to just look at the answers instead of actually eating your vegetables. It seems like a harder environment these days to Build Character.
There’s the question in each education level of whether having a Magical Answer Tool makes your habits better or worse.
Clearly elementary schoolers need to learn how to solve problems on their own, and they probably can’t be trusted with the Magical Answer Tool for that purpose.
Professional researchers are skilled enough in solving problems, so they’ll find a good use of the Magical Answer Tool even when (especially when!) studying new fields they don’t have an intuition in.
So, there’s some point between elementary school and research work that makes this tool more helpful than harmful.
I tend to think it’s in the undergrad level; once you enter university level mathematics (/physics/philosophy/etc), you’re expected to understand things on your own. I’m sure that many will be tempted by the Magical Answer Tool to their own disadvantage, but honestly, this might be a Skill Issue.
Accesible/capable AI is also why teachers are going to have to stop grading on “getting the right answer” and start incorporating more “show your reasoning” questions in exams without access to AI. Education will have to adapt to this new technology like it’s had to adapt to all new technology.
To be honest, done correctly this may actually be a net positive if we stop optimizing learners only for correct answers and instead focus on the actual process of learning.
I could see a class where the students were encouraged to explore a topic with AI and have to submit their transcript as part of the assignment; their prompts could then be reviewed (along with the AI answers to verify that there weren’t any mistakes that snuck in). Could give a lot of insight into the way a student approached the topic and show where their gaps are. Not saying this is the ultimate solution, but it does seem better than throwing up one’s hands in resignation.
In some way this is a great loss for students, being a new source of temptation (like the internet & stackexchange) to just look at the answers instead of actually eating your vegetables. It seems like a harder environment these days to Build Character.
There’s the question in each education level of whether having a Magical Answer Tool makes your habits better or worse.
Clearly elementary schoolers need to learn how to solve problems on their own, and they probably can’t be trusted with the Magical Answer Tool for that purpose.
Professional researchers are skilled enough in solving problems, so they’ll find a good use of the Magical Answer Tool even when (especially when!) studying new fields they don’t have an intuition in.
So, there’s some point between elementary school and research work that makes this tool more helpful than harmful.
I tend to think it’s in the undergrad level; once you enter university level mathematics (/physics/philosophy/etc), you’re expected to understand things on your own. I’m sure that many will be tempted by the Magical Answer Tool to their own disadvantage, but honestly, this might be a Skill Issue.
Accesible/capable AI is also why teachers are going to have to stop grading on “getting the right answer” and start incorporating more “show your reasoning” questions in exams without access to AI. Education will have to adapt to this new technology like it’s had to adapt to all new technology.
To be honest, done correctly this may actually be a net positive if we stop optimizing learners only for correct answers and instead focus on the actual process of learning.
I could see a class where the students were encouraged to explore a topic with AI and have to submit their transcript as part of the assignment; their prompts could then be reviewed (along with the AI answers to verify that there weren’t any mistakes that snuck in). Could give a lot of insight into the way a student approached the topic and show where their gaps are. Not saying this is the ultimate solution, but it does seem better than throwing up one’s hands in resignation.