Is AI killing critical thinking in the classroom?

{"text":[[{"start":6,"text":"At Thames Christian School in London, Madeleine Champagnie is less worried about her students overusing artificial intelligence than about them failing to use it enough. Despite widespread fears that young people are outsourcing their thinking and learning, she sees a reluctance to engage with technology’s rising role as a risk to their long-term success."}],[{"start":29.15,"text":"“Students are not all rushing to cheat with AI,” says Champagnie, the school’s innovation lead and head of English. “That’s been a big misunderstanding. Loads of them don’t want to use it. They are not always trying to get around the system. They are as scared of cognitive offloading as us,” she says, referring to the idea that delegating thinking and research to technology hinders learning. “I’ve had to persuade some extremely bright students to try it,” she adds."}],[{"start":55.849999999999994,"text":"However, there is increasing evidence that not all educators are facing problems with that reticence. A number of research studies demonstrate what many teachers now fear: that students are increasingly relying on AI in their learning and, in the process, using it as a substitute for developing their own critical thinking skills and independent judgment."}],[{"start":75,"text":"There are some controls on such excessive cognitive offloading in schools, notably the continued discipline of written “high-stakes” timed and invigilated exams without access to digital devices to test independent understanding."}],[{"start":88.65,"text":"But some research has already shown that while AI use can boost short-term speed and results, its subsequent removal can leave students performing less well than those who never had it in the first place."}],[{"start":99.85000000000001,"text":"Several educators are now experimenting with the idea that, when used with suitable safeguards, integrating the technology is not only necessary as the workplace adopts AI more broadly, but also offers the potential to boost learning."}],[{"start":115.05000000000001,"text":"Steve Marshall-Taylor, headmaster of Brighton College, which provides pupils with access to a variety of AI tools, says he is “very positive” about the technology on condition “there are some guardrails”. He stresses: “We have to make sure students can work with pen and paper for the English exam system.”"}],[{"start":131.85000000000002,"text":"A report looking into cognitive offloading published in March by the Australian Network for Quality Digital Education cautions against the dangers of the “false mastery” by students using AI that results in detrimental offloading or “cognitive atrophy”."}],[{"start":146.25000000000003,"text":"But it also suggests there is value in the “beneficial offloading” of lower-order tasks to AI to free learners to focus on essential intrinsic tasks. The approach can help foster “deep learning”, the authors say."}],[{"start":160.60000000000002,"text":"For example, the technology can be used to check grammar and syntax, liberating students in humanities to evaluate evidence, structure arguments and synthesise sources. In maths, it can provide worked examples and tests of understanding of a quadratic formula, rather than simply generating the answer to a set question."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":179.70000000000002,"text":"“Teachers are still in charge of overall learning,” says Kate Erricker, interim chief education officer at Nord Anglia, an international network of private schools. “They set the tone. AI can then personalise to each individual student’s area of need.” "}],[{"start":194.60000000000002,"text":"She has found the technology has been particularly valuable in supporting non-native English language speakers."}],[{"start":201.15000000000003,"text":"The personalised tutoring can include the use of so-called Socratic dialogue in which the AI tool poses questions that guide a student through a piece of learning, rather than provide answers. It offers scope for students to progress at their own pace, without embarrassing them, distracting others or consuming teachers’ time."}],[{"start":220.35000000000002,"text":"Elsewhere, AI is being adapted to go beyond written text questions and answers. Dan Wang, a professor at Columbia University Business School, has developed CAiSEY, which holds conversations with students as they prepare business teaching case studies ahead of classroom discussion."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":236.35000000000002,"text":"He has found the tool helps them explore a wider range of ideas, come better prepared and be more engaged in class. It also aids the professor in analysing the students’ initial ideas to help better structure the final group discussion."}],[{"start":251.8,"text":"Efekta Education, an edtech company, has developed an AI platform that uses digital avatars backed by AI to help personalise learning. It claims to have helped students to achieve a sharp rise in English proficiency in countries including Brazil and Rwanda."}],[{"start":268.25,"text":"More broadly, Rose Luckin, professor emerita at University College London and chief executive of the consultancy Educate Ventures Research, argues that it may be time to rethink the very process of education — including assessment."}],[{"start":283.4,"text":"“We need to verify what students have understood, and how you build critical thinking and a sophisticated learning capability,” she says. “We need to unpick the old processes and identify which bits matter.”"}],[{"start":301.75,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1785025553_4793.mp3"}