Recently, ChatGPT has sparked a public outcry and has become popular worldwide.As a generative artificial intelligence software, ChatGPT can generate text on any topic, completing various tasks including answering questions, writing articles, papers, and poetry. It has been praised by various sectors for its “significant historical significance, comparable to the birth of the internet or personal computers.”
What challenges will ChatGPT bring to education? How should education respond to the challenge of ChatGPT? How can schools and teachers make use of ChatGPT? This article systematically reviews these issues. Let’s take a look—
What challenges will ChatGPT bring to our education?
Challenges We Face
The emergence of ChatGPT marks a significant turning point in the development of AI, and the rapid advancement of technology is, to some extent, forcing the education sector to initiate deeper reforms. We must rethink the impact and challenges that AI brings to education and teaching systems. The main points are as follows:
1 Challenges to Our Talent Perspective
What kind of people should we cultivate in the future? In contrast to the mechanical efficiency of AI, what advantages do humans need to develop? In the future, many jobs may be replaced by AI, so the direction of talent cultivation is the primary issue that education needs to clarify, ensuring that students have sufficient “future survival ability.”
2 Challenges to Our Curriculum Perspective
Looking to the future, what should children learn to meet the challenges? How to guide students to reasonably use artificial intelligence to improve learning efficiency while stimulating their creative thinking? Education must help students set creative learning goals, and promoting creative learning is a major challenge.
3 Challenges to Our Teaching Perspective
How should educators teach? The rapid development of AI brings more technical challenges to education, and educators must seize opportunities to use artificial intelligence technology to update teaching methods, improve teaching experiences, and enhance education quality.
4 Challenges to Educational Evaluation Perspectives
Artificial intelligence has caused a certain impact on the assessment of learning outcomes. Surveys abroad show that it has become common for students to complete assignments using ChatGPT.
Moreover, many students online admit to using ChatGPT to write papers. Faced with assignments completed by students and AI, many teachers find it difficult to distinguish between the two. Therefore, educators need to rethink and make substantial and innovative changes to teaching and assessment methods.
In summary, in terms of educational behavior itself, the development of artificial intelligence represented by ChatGPT has already forced the education model centered on knowledge transmission into a corner.
On one hand, ChatGPT can almost answer all questions asked by students and can teach according to the material; does that mean our teachers have no value left?
On the other hand, since such knowledge can be obtained so easily, is it meaningful for our children to spend so much time learning and doing exercises? What should our children learn that is most urgently needed?
In the face of the challenges posed by ChatGPT,
how should education respond?
In the face of the challenges brought by AI represented by ChatGPT, education must clearly see future trends, otherwise, putting in great effort to educate will be as useless as building a ship only to find decades later that the destination is a desert.
To this end, Ni Minjing, Deputy Director of the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission, proposed that educational reform urgently needs to make significant adjustments in the following three areas:
First, the primary goal of education should be to cultivate individuals who can think independently and have the ability to make correct value judgments, rather than just acquiring specific knowledge.
Of course, knowledge learning remains crucial as it is the most important clue for brain connections; the key is which knowledge is most important, which is a critical question.
Such knowledge should be adaptable to this rapidly developing world and contribute to the future world’s development. Therefore, I believe the most fundamental knowledge in humanities, technology, and mathematics remains important, as it contains a wealth of value judgments, thinking tools, and problem-solving methods, while programming thinking, modular thinking, and critical thinking content need urgent supplementation.
Second, the methods and approaches of education need significant adjustments, with the main direction being to use learning tools like ChatGPT to collaboratively improve educational teaching methods, rather than avoiding and fearing them.
The reason humans have progressed rapidly is that we use tools, and in fact, ChatGPT is a brand new knowledge tool, in this sense, it is no different from the books and libraries we have relied on for thousands of years. Learning based on such a powerful knowledge tool, our children should learn better. If we worry that children will rely on it and stop thinking, either our teaching content has no value, or we have not understood that there are higher-level thinking methods that need to be explored by educators beyond simple thinking.
We need not be anxious about the future of children being replaced by artificial intelligence, because in terms of human cultural evolution: new technology always replaces old production methods and old labor, but new technology always creates more new labor through the creation of new human needs.
Third, we must go beyond knowledge learning and pay more attention to the quality of learning.
Truly good learning, to some extent, seeks slowness rather than speed; only slowness can forge depth of thought and build deep interpersonal relationships through interaction;
it seeks difficulty rather than ease; only challenges can stimulate students’ motivation to learn;
it seeks less rather than more; only fewer tasks can provide leisure time to develop one’s personality and form a diverse brain;
it seeks clumsiness rather than cleverness; only by seeking clumsiness can one cultivate a spirit of research and resilience.
A person’s true success relies on learning focus, the ability to elevate interest to aspiration, and become a person with unique characteristics; it relies on responsibility and resilience, persevering through difficulties; it relies on good interpersonal relationships and a spirit of cooperation, receiving support and help from the team when necessary.
These learning qualities have never been related to technology, and certainly have nothing to do with the bull that suddenly charged into the porcelain shop—ChatGPT.
Therefore, in a world where new things emerge endlessly, we must maintain educational steadiness, adhere to the direction of reform, and truly provide appropriate and meaningful education for children.
How to take advantage of the situation,
and let ChatGPT be used for education?
Fear and avoidance cannot stop the tide of technology; the era of deep integration between education and AI has arrived, and how to use AI as a tool and turn it into an opportunity for education rather than a threat is a new change that the education system must face in the future.
Accepting ChatGPT as a teaching assistant, becoming a friend or helper to teachers, can unleash students’ creativity, provide personalized tutoring, and better prepare students to work alongside artificial intelligence systems in the future.
So, for the disruptive value of ChatGPT, how can schools and teachers get started? The following introduces six common uses:
1. Designing Courses
ChatGPT can provide creative ideas for teachers’ course design, assist in retrieving and organizing literature, and generate complete course materials such as teaching outlines, course plans, and reading materials.
For example, inputting “Please design an inquiry-based course for second graders on the theme of ‘The Sound of Crickets'” quickly yields the following results. Then, we provide more detailed design requirements: “To be conducted during the summer vacation, lasting ten days, with the goal of cultivating children’s inquiry ability, critical thinking skills, collaboration skills, and knowledge related to natural history, as well as measurement and statistics skills, combining formative and summative assessments, and requiring a timeline, materials to prepare, and background information.” Quickly, ChatGPT outputs a detailed course report (see below).
2. Assisting in Lesson Preparation
In addition to course design, ChatGPT can participate well in teaching research and lesson preparation, providing teachers with a starting plan, offering general and routine content, and helping teachers save initial brainstorming time. Of course, such plans are often like a simple recipe design guide; as a chef, one can design an actual recipe based on the ideas provided in this recipe.
Specifically, lesson preparation can be done through the following methods.
Knowledge Search: Quickly search for relevant knowledge points through Q&A. Just ask AI a question, such as “Explain the Doppler effect in language that eighth graders can understand” or “Convince me to ban animal testing,” and ChatGPT will quickly generate a set of plans.
Generating Teaching Content: By giving ChatGPT some instructions, it can automatically generate relevant teaching content, thus improving lesson preparation efficiency.
Conducting Classroom Simulations: By simulating conversations with ChatGPT, teachers can better understand students’ questions and prepare for class.
Language Translation: If teachers need to use other languages in class, they can use ChatGPT for translation to better prepare for lessons.
3. Classroom Assistant
ChatGPT can provide a real-time sharing platform for teachers and students, answering questions in real-time, providing ideas for classroom activities, increasing classroom fun and richness, and helping students understand complex content and concepts, becoming a teacher’s AI assistant, after-school mentor, or debate practice partner.
For example, in an English class, teachers can use the following methods to enhance classroom effectiveness.
Becoming a Writing Prompt Generator: Teachers can ask ChatGPT to generate story beginnings or creative writing prompts for students to use as a writing foundation.
Becoming a Reading Comprehension Tool: Teachers can ask ChatGPT to generate an article on the topic students are learning, allowing students to read and answer related questions. This helps assess students’ understanding of the material and identify areas where they may need additional support.
Becoming a Vocabulary Builder: ChatGPT can generate sentences using unfamiliar words for students, allowing them to guess the meanings of words based on context, thus expanding their vocabulary.
Becoming a Generator of Class Discussion Questions: Teachers and students can ask ChatGPT questions, combining them with substantial discussions in class to enrich discussions and benefit students in refining their thinking and practicing their ideas.
4. Assignment Assessment
ChatGPT can also participate in student assessment, generating assignments and exams, helping teachers evaluate students and monitor learning progress.
For instance, a teacher can send a robot an article about Ukraine and request ten multiple-choice questions to test students’ understanding of the article. Out of the ten questions generated by AI, six are usable, which is undoubtedly a great teaching assistant tool, allowing teachers to generate new questions anytime, anywhere based on teaching requirements.
For example, inputting the prompt “Please generate a fill-in-the-blank question in English” can yield the English assignment shown below.
5. Assisting Learning
ChatGPT can provide rich explanations, methods, information, and ideas, helping students understand knowledge more deeply and creatively, improving learning efficiency and interest, effectively aiding students in achieving self-directed and personalized learning, understanding their learning gaps and needs, motivating learning and self-improvement, stemming from its following functions.
Extracting Opinions. It can quickly generate learning materials such as summaries, flashcards, and quizzes, helping students review and learn course materials. Students can ask ChatGPT to read a chapter from their textbooks and generate a concise summary. ChatGPT can also help students break down tasks, dividing large tasks into smaller, manageable parts, fostering a sense of autonomy and confidence in completing tasks.
Content Translation. ChatGPT can freely translate teaching content, making it easier for students to understand. Students can also seek help from ChatGPT for learning various languages, obtaining resources such as vocabulary lists, conversation practice, and grammar courses. Moreover, when we learn a new word, we can also ask AI how to use it in a sentence:
Exclusive Guidance. ChatGPT technology can diversify teaching resources and information, helping students acquire problem-solving skills through explanations, distributed instructions, and additional resources. This is significant for students who struggle with a specific subject or concept and need extra support, as it can enhance their self-efficacy and motivation to learn.
Project Research. ChatGPT can also play an important role in research-based learning, project-based learning, problem-based learning, and thematic inquiry learning in primary and secondary schools. For example, a student writing a research paper on climate change can ask ChatGPT for relevant information and receive a list of materials.
6. Administrative Assistance
ChatGPT can easily complete tasks such as writing emails, papers, scripts, drafting business proposals, creating poetry, stories, and even coding and debugging programs. Naturally, it can also assist teachers and students in planning daily activities by generating ideas, improving suggestions, and providing feedback on written work.
For example, automatically generating various work summaries, weekly reports, and monthly reports can reduce the internal friction of routine tasks, fully realizing the “burden reduction for teachers” and “burden reduction for students.”
Ways for Primary and Secondary School Teachers to Use ChatGPT
1. Answering Questions
ChatGPT can be used to answer questions in real-time, making it a useful tool for students who need quick access to information.
In this sense, ChatGPT can serve not only as an AI assistant for teachers but also as an AI companion for students.
For example, a student can ask: “What is the capital of France?” ChatGPT will respond: “The capital of France is Paris.”
2. Assistance in Writing Papers
ChatGPT can help students write papers, suggest topics, outline structures, provide ideas, and offer improvement help and suggestions.
For example, students can ask for help writing an article about the environment, and ChatGPT can provide suggestions for thesis statements and potential topics for body paragraphs. Based on this, students can combine their thoughts and viewpoints to complete the article.
Of course, in the past two months, what has worried many educators and local education authorities worldwide the most is precisely this aspect. Therefore, many local education authorities in various countries have banned students from using ChatGPT on campus.
3. Generating Learning Materials
ChatGPT can generate learning materials such as summaries, flashcards, and quizzes, helping students review and learn course materials.
For example, students can request a summary of a chapter from their textbook, and ChatGPT can generate a concise and easy-to-understand summary of key points.
4. Personalized Tutoring
ChatGPT can provide personalized tutoring by answering questions and offering personalized feedback. For example, students can ask for help solving a math problem, and ChatGPT can provide step-by-step guidance to solve it.
5. Conversation Practice
ChatGPT can be used for language learning, providing conversation practice with a virtual language tutor.
For example, a student learning Chinese can practice with ChatGPT to improve their conversational skills.
This application can be said to be what large language models like ChatGPT excel at, and this kind of conversation practice is most beneficial for students to learn real, transferable language skills.
In recent years, many English classes in China have seen students using iFLYTEK’s Xiaofei, which is actually a similar practical application case.
6. Game-Based Learning
ChatGPT can be integrated into educational games to provide an engaging interactive learning experience.
For example, in a history-based game, ChatGPT can provide clues and hints to help players solve puzzles and complete challenges.
In this regard, the challenge to teachers’ teaching design capabilities is significant.
Of course, teachers can also use ChatGPT to assist in designing a history-themed game that integrates ChatGPT, such as the historical background of the Normandy landing.
7. Supporting Students’ Research Learning
ChatGPT can help students conduct research projects by providing information sources, search strategies, and other resource suggestions.
In research-based learning, project-based learning, problem-based learning, and thematic inquiry learning in primary and secondary schools, ChatGPT can play an important role.
For example, students can ask ChatGPT to help research a topic and receive suggestions for sources, search strategies, and further information resources.
A student writing a research paper on climate change can ask ChatGPT for information related to the topic and receive a list of relevant materials for reference.
8. Assisting Creative Writing
ChatGPT can assist in creative writing by generating ideas, offering suggestions for improvement, and providing feedback on written work. ChatGPT can also provide students with feedback on their written work, including suggestions for improvement, grammar corrections, and structural advice.
This blog post was actually completed with the assistance of the chatbot! Many of the teaching application ideas and practical examples of teaching were provided by the chatbot, which the author modified and improved upon. Similarly, our students can do the same.
For example, students can submit a draft of a paper to ChatGPT and receive feedback on writing style, organization, and grammar. Students can ask ChatGPT to help them write a poem and receive suggestions for rhyming words and ideas for expanding the poem. Afterward, students can refine, modify, and polish their work based on this, and even return it to ChatGPT for further revision and editing.
Through this iterative process, students complete their creative writing with the assistance of ChatGPT.
9. Generating Assessment and Testing Quizzes
ChatGPT can generate assessments, such as quizzes and exams, to help teachers evaluate students’ understanding.
For example, teachers can ask ChatGPT to generate a quiz on a specific topic and receive a set of multiple-choice questions for testing.
10. Generating Course Materials
ChatGPT can generate complete course materials, such as teaching outlines, course plans, and reading materials.
For example, teachers can ask ChatGPT to provide a lesson plan on a specific topic and receive a comprehensive, ready-to-use lesson plan.
11. Content Translation
ChatGPT can translate educational content from one language to another, making it easier for students to understand and access information, and assist in multilingual education by providing information and resources for learning different languages.
Students can ask ChatGPT for help learning English and receive resources for learning the language, such as vocabulary lists, conversation practice, and grammar courses.
For instance, teachers can ask ChatGPT to translate a scientific article from English to Chinese, enabling Chinese students to understand it.
This functionality and practical application are indeed a piece of cake for ChatGPT!
12. Virtual Learning Groups
ChatGPT can facilitate virtual learning groups, providing students with opportunities to discuss course materials and collaborate on projects. For example, students can use ChatGPT to facilitate a virtual learning group for a history course, discussing key events and sharing ideas and perspectives.
13. Promoting Teacher Professional Development
ChatGPT can respond to teachers’ questions and requests, providing relevant online courses, web resources, and MOOCs, thus offering targeted help and support.
For example, an English teacher wishing to learn how to use the 3-2-1 strategy to promote student reflection can ask ChatGPT, which can provide relevant case studies, videos, reading materials, online courses, tools, platforms, software, etc., for her to learn and use.
14. Review, Practice, and Exam Preparation
ChatGPT can help students prepare for exams by providing practice questions, exam strategies, and other resources. For example, students can ask ChatGPT for help preparing for a science exam and receive related review materials and a list of practice questions.
ChatGPT can provide students with an opportunity to practice public speaking, allowing them to deliver speeches and talks on ChatGPT. ChatGPT can facilitate debate practice, providing students with a virtual opponent to debate against and receive feedback.
For example, students can ask ChatGPT to listen to their speeches and provide feedback on their presentations, including suggestions for improvement. Students can participate in virtual debates with ChatGPT on current topics, receiving feedback on their arguments and presentation styles.
15. Problem-Solving Assistance
ChatGPT can help students solve problems by providing step-by-step instructions, strategy suggestions, and tips.
For example, students can ask ChatGPT for help solving a difficult math problem and receive guidance on how to approach and solve it.
Students can utilize ChatGPT as their research assistant and academic advisor when completing assignments, engaging in research learning, and working on their projects and tasks, gaining assistance, guidance, and suggestions for specific problem-solving.
16. Classroom Discussions
ChatGPT can provide students with a real-time platform to share ideas and perspectives, thus promoting online classroom discussions.
For example, teachers can use ChatGPT to facilitate class discussions on current events, allowing students to pose questions and share their opinions.
I believe that in the near future, this application will become the most common and popular classroom teaching application in primary, secondary, and all levels of training activities.
17. Peer Review Assistance
ChatGPT can assist with peer review by providing students with improvement suggestions and writing feedback.
For example, students can submit a draft of a paper to ChatGPT for peer review and receive feedback and improvement suggestions.
Regarding this point, we have already analyzed it in the previous section on creative writing assistance, so I will not elaborate further.
18. Career Guidance
ChatGPT can help students with career guidance by providing information on potential careers, job requirements, and related resources.
For example, students can ask ChatGPT for information on engineering careers and receive a list of potential careers, job requirements, and further information resources.
In recent years, there has been a strong emphasis on career education for students in China. In the era of artificial intelligence, career education has become exceptionally challenging due to the rapid changes in the job market, where many positions and careers are rapidly being replaced by robots and AI, while more and more new careers are emerging.
Applying large language models like ChatGPT in students’ career education and guidance is indeed a good application.
19. Time Management Assistance
Time management is a skill and knowledge that benefits everyone throughout their lives, yet unfortunately, it is a skill that most schools, teachers, and parents do not teach students.
ChatGPT can assist students with time management by providing tips and strategies to stay organized and prioritize tasks.
For example, students can ask ChatGPT for help managing their time and receive suggestions for creating schedules, setting priorities, and staying organized.
20. Learning Skills Support
ChatGPT can help students develop learning skills by providing tips and resources to improve their ability to learn and retain information.
For example, students can ask ChatGPT to help them improve their learning skills and receive suggestions for effective reading and note-taking techniques, memory strategies, and exam strategies.
However, the challenge here may lie in that teachers must teach students how to formulate prompts. If they cannot draft good prompts, students will quickly find the chatbot boring, let alone use it to learn and improve their learning skills.
21. Digital Citizenship and Technology Ethics Education
ChatGPT can assist in digital citizenship education by providing information on internet safety, privacy, and responsible use of technology.
For example, students can ask ChatGPT for information about online safety and receive a list of resources and tips for staying safe online.
This can significantly help schools and parents teach students about the ethical use of technology, privacy protection, and responsible technology use, as these topics are often too specialized for general subject teachers and student parents.
22. Homework Assistance
ChatGPT can help students complete homework by providing explanations, examples, and additional resources, offering step-by-step instructions and other resources to help students complete their homework.
For example, students can ask ChatGPT for help with math problems and receive step-by-step explanations, examples, and additional practice problems to reinforce the concept.
By using ChatGPT, students can receive immediate help and practice problem-solving skills to succeed in their coursework.
This is particularly helpful for students who struggle with a specific subject or concept and need extra support outside of class.
23. Promoting Teacher Scientific Research
ChatGPT can provide teachers with research ideas and suggestions, assist in retrieving relevant research literature, organizing literature, and recommending core references.
In scientific research, ChatGPT can have numerous practical uses and typical cases, which we will not elaborate on here.
Source: Guangming Society Educators, New Principal Media, First Education