By reading this article, you will gain the following insights:
※ What challenges does ChatGPT pose to our education?
※ How do frontline educators respond to the challenges of ChatGPT?
※ How can schools and teachers apply ChatGPT in educational practice?
ChatGPT is essentially a chat tool, officially launched by the AI company OpenAI in San Francisco in November 2022. So, what makes ChatGPT special compared to other AI products?
In addition to answering structured questions, such as grammar correction, translation, and finding answers, the most crucial aspect is its ability to address relatively open-ended questions, such as programming. It can also solve complex structured problems, such as creating tables, translating, and summarizing.
Moreover, with just a slight prompt, ChatGPT can generate eloquent and beautifully written text. It has already been used to write love letters, poetry, novels, and school essays. In the latest survey data, 89% of interviewed American college students admitted to using ChatGPT for their assignments, raising concerns for many.
With the explosive popularity of ChatGPT online, what challenges does it bring to education? Is it a poison or a remedy for education? Let’s take a look.
What challenges does ChatGPT bring to our education?
The emergence of ChatGPT marks a significant milestone in AI development, 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 challenges are as follows:
1 Challenge to Our Talent Perspective
What kind of people should we cultivate in the future? Compared to the mechanical efficiency of AI, what advantages do humans need to develop? Many jobs may be replaced by AI in the future, so the direction of talent cultivation is the primary issue that education needs to clarify, allowing students to have sufficient “survival skills for the future”.
2 Challenge to Our Curriculum Perspective
Looking to the future, what should children learn to adapt to challenges? How can we guide students to use AI reasonably during the learning process to improve learning efficiency while also stimulating their creative thinking? Education must help students set creative learning goals, and promoting creative learning is a significant challenge.
3 Challenge 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 update teaching methods using AI technology, improve teaching experiences, and enhance educational quality.
4 Challenge to Educational Assessment Perspective
AI has created certain impacts 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, regarding educational behavior itself, due to the development of AI represented by ChatGPT, the education model centered around knowledge transmission has been forced into a corner.
On one hand, ChatGPT can answer almost all questions students ask and can teach according to individual needs, so do our teachers still have value?
On the other hand, since such knowledge can be obtained so easily, does it make sense for our children to spend so much time learning and doing exercises? What exactly should our children learn that is most urgently needed?
How will education respond to the challenges posed by ChatGPT?
Facing the challenges brought by AI represented by ChatGPT, education must clearly understand future trends, otherwise, the effort put into nurturing students will be as futile as building a ship only to find out decades later that the destination is a desert.
To this end, Ni Minjing, the deputy director of the Shanghai Education Commission, proposed that education reform urgently needs to make significant adjustments in the following three areas:
First, the primary goal of education is to cultivate individuals who can think independently and have the ability to make correct value judgments, rather than merely acquiring specific knowledge.
Of course, learning knowledge remains crucial as it is the most important clue for brain connections; the key question is which knowledge is most important.
This knowledge should be adaptable to this rapidly developing world and contribute to future world development. Therefore, I believe that the foundational knowledge in humanities, technology, and mathematics remains important, as it contains a lot of value judgments, thinking tools, and problem-solving methods, while the learning content of programming thinking, modular thinking, and critical thinking needs urgent supplementation.
Second, the methods and approaches of education need significant adjustments, primarily aimed at using learning tools like ChatGPT to collaboratively improve educational teaching methods, rather than avoiding and fearing them.
Humans’ ability to use tools is the reason for rapid progress, and 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. With such a powerful knowledge tool for learning, our children should learn better. If we worry that children will rely on it and stop thinking, it is either that the content we teach lacks 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 that future jobs will be replaced by artificial intelligence, as in the evolution of human culture: new technology always replaces old production methods and old labor, but new technology always creates more new labor by generating new human demands.
Third, we should move beyond knowledge learning and focus more on the quality of learning.
Truly good learning, to some extent, seeks slowness rather than speed; only by taking it slow can we forge depth of thought and build deep interpersonal relationships through interactions;
it seeks difficulty rather than ease; only challenges can stimulate students’ motivation to learn;
it seeks less rather than more; only a lesser amount allows for leisure time to develop one’s personality and form a diverse brain;
it seeks clumsiness rather than skillfulness; only by seeking clumsiness can we cultivate a person’s spirit of exploration and resilience.
A person’s real success relies on learning focus, the ability to elevate interest into aspiration, and becoming a uniquely characterized individual; it relies on responsibility and resilience, persevering through difficulties; it relies on good interpersonal relationships and collaborative spirit, being able to receive support and help from the team at critical moments.
These learning qualities have never been related to technology, and certainly have nothing to do with the bull that suddenly crashed into the porcelain store—ChatGPT.
Therefore, in a world where new things emerge endlessly, we must maintain educational focus, adhere to the direction of reform, and truly provide suitable and meaningful education for children.
How to leverage the momentum and make ChatGPT work for education?
Fear and avoidance cannot block the tide of technology; the era of deep integration of education and AI has already arrived, and how to treat 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 for teachers, can unleash students’ creativity, provide personalized guidance, and better prepare students to work alongside artificial intelligence systems in the future.
So, what practical ways can schools and teachers adopt ChatGPT, which has disruptive value? Here are six common uses:
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 results from the AI. Subsequently, we can provide more detailed design requirements: “To be conducted during the summer vacation, lasting ten days, aiming to cultivate children’s inquiry skills, critical thinking abilities, collaboration skills, and knowledge related to natural history, as well as measurement and statistical skills, incorporating formative and summative assessments, with a clear timeline, required materials, and background information.” Soon, ChatGPT outputs a detailed course report (see the image below).
2. Assist in Lesson Preparation
In addition to course design, ChatGPT can effectively participate in lesson preparation, providing teachers with a starting plan, offering general and routine content, and helping teachers save initial brainstorming time. Of course, such plans often serve as a simple recipe design guide; as a chef, one can design an actual recipe based on the ideas provided by this recipe.
Specifically, lesson preparation can be conducted through the following methods.
Conduct Knowledge Search: Quickly search for relevant knowledge points through Q&A. Simply ask the AI questions, such as “Explain the Doppler effect in a way that eighth-grade students can understand” or “Convince me to ban animal testing,” and ChatGPT will quickly generate a set of plans.
Generate Teaching Content: By giving ChatGPT some instructions, it can automatically generate relevant teaching content, thus improving lesson preparation efficiency.
Conduct 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 utilize ChatGPT for translation to facilitate lesson preparation.
ChatGPT can provide a real-time sharing platform for teachers and students, answering questions in real-time, offering ideas for classroom activities, increasing classroom engagement and richness, and helping students understand complex content and concepts, thus becoming an AI assistant for teachers, a tutor after class, or a debate practice partner.
For example, in an English class, teachers can use the following methods to enhance classroom effectiveness.
Become a Writing Prompt Generator: ChatGPT can be asked to generate story openings or creative writing prompts, allowing students to use these prompts as a basis for writing.
Become a Reading Comprehension Tool: Teachers can let ChatGPT generate an article on the topic students are studying, 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.
Become a Vocabulary Builder: ChatGPT can generate sentences using unfamiliar words for students, enabling them to guess the meaning of the words based on context, thereby expanding their vocabulary.
Become a Class Discussion Question Generator: Teachers and students can pose questions to ChatGPT, combining them with substantive discussions in class to enrich discussions and help students refine their thinking and practice their ideas.
ChatGPT can also participate in student assessment, generating assignments, quizzes, and tests, helping teachers evaluate students and observe learning progress.
For example, a teacher sends a piece about Ukraine to the AI, requesting ten multiple-choice questions to test students’ understanding of the article. Out of the ten questions generated by the AI, six are usable, which is undoubtedly an excellent teaching aid; teachers can generate new questions anytime, anywhere based on teaching requirements.
For instance, inputting the prompt “Please generate a cloze test in English” will yield the English assignment shown in the image below.
ChatGPT can provide rich explanations, methods, information, and ideas, helping students understand knowledge more deeply and creatively, improving learning efficiency and interest, and effectively supporting students in achieving autonomous and personalized learning, understanding their learning gaps and needs, motivating learning and self-improvement, stemming from its following functions.
Point Extraction. 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 a textbook and generate a concise and understandable summary. ChatGPT can also help students chunk tasks, breaking down large tasks into smaller, achievable parts, fostering students’ 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 to learn various languages, obtaining resources for that language, such as vocabulary lists, conversation practice, and grammar courses. Moreover, when we learn a new word, we can also ask the AI how to use that word in a sentence:
Personalized Guidance. ChatGPT technology can diversify teaching resources and information, providing explanations, distribution instructions, and additional resources to help students acquire problem-solving skills. This is significant for students who struggle with a particular subject or concept and need additional support, as it can enhance their sense of self-efficacy and motivation to learn.
Project Research. ChatGPT can also play an important role in research-based learning, project-based learning, problem-oriented 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.
ChatGPT can easily complete tasks like writing emails, papers, scripts, drafting business proposals, creating poetry, stories, and even coding and debugging programs, and naturally can also assist teachers and students in daily activity planning by generating ideas, improvement suggestions, and feedback on written work.
For example, automatically generating various work summaries, weekly reports, and monthly reports, reducing the internal consumption of routine tasks, fully realizing the “burden reduction for teachers” and “burden reduction for students”.
23 Ways for Primary and Secondary School Teachers to Use ChatGPT
ChatGPT can be used to answer questions in real-time, making it a useful tool for students who need quick 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 might ask: “What is the capital of France?” ChatGPT would reply: “The capital of France is Paris.”
2. Help with Essay Writing
ChatGPT can assist students in writing essays, suggesting topics, outlining structures, providing ideas, and offering improvement help and suggestions.
For example, students can request help writing an article about the environment, and ChatGPT can provide suggestions for thesis statements and potential main points. Then, based on this, students can incorporate their thoughts and viewpoints to complete the article.
Of course, in the past two months, what has worried many educators and local education authorities globally is precisely this aspect. Therefore, many local education authorities in several countries have banned students from using ChatGPT on campus.
3. Generate 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 a textbook, and ChatGPT can generate a concise and understandable key point summary.
ChatGPT can provide personalized tutoring by answering questions and offering personalized feedback. For example, students can request help solving a math problem, and ChatGPT can provide step-by-step guidance to resolve the issue.
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 type of conversation practice is most beneficial for students to learn real, transferable language skills.
In recent years, many English classrooms in various parts of the country have seen students using iFlytek’s Xiaofei, which is actually a similar practical application case.
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’ instructional design capabilities is significant.
Of course, teachers can also utilize ChatGPT to assist in designing a history-themed game that incorporates ChatGPT, such as the historical background of the Normandy landing, etc.
7. Support Students’ Research-Based 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-oriented learning, and thematic inquiry learning in primary and secondary schools, ChatGPT can play an important role.
For example, students can ask ChatGPT for help researching 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 about the topic and receive a list of relevant materials for reference.
8. Creative Writing Assistance
ChatGPT can assist creative writing by generating ideas, improvement suggestions, and feedback on written work. ChatGPT can also provide feedback on students’ written work, including suggestions for improvement, grammar corrections, and structural suggestions.
This blog post, in fact, was completed with the assistance of the chatbot! Many of the teaching application ideas and examples of practical applications were provided by the chatbot, which the author then modified and improved. Similarly, our students can do the same.
For example, students can submit a draft of an essay 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 to expand the poem. Afterward, students can refine, modify, and polish their work based on this, and even return to ChatGPT for further review and editing after completing it themselves.
In this iterative process, students complete their creative writing with the assistance of ChatGPT.
9. Generation of Assessments and Tests
ChatGPT can generate assessments such as quizzes and tests, helping teachers evaluate students’ understanding.
For example, teachers can request ChatGPT to generate a quiz on a specific topic and receive a set of multiple-choice questions for testing.
10. Course Material Generation
ChatGPT can generate complete course materials such as teaching outlines, course plans, and reading materials.
For example, teachers can ask ChatGPT for a lesson plan on a specific topic and receive a comprehensive, ready-to-use lesson plan.
ChatGPT can translate educational content from one language to another, making it easier for students to understand and access information by providing information and resources for learning different languages, thus assisting in multilingual education.
Students can seek help from ChatGPT to learn English and obtain resources for learning that language, such as vocabulary lists, conversation practice, and grammar courses.
For instance, a teacher can ask ChatGPT to translate a scientific article from English into Chinese so that Chinese students can 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 their history course, discussing key events and sharing thoughts and opinions.
13. Promote Teacher Professional Development
ChatGPT can respond to teachers’ questions and requests, providing relevant online courses, web resources, and MOOCs, thereby 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 inquire with ChatGPT, which can provide relevant cases, videos, reading materials, online courses, tools, platforms, software, etc., for her to learn and utilize.
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 relevant 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 presentations to ChatGPT. ChatGPT can facilitate debate practice, providing students with a virtual opponent to argue with and receive feedback.
For example, students can ask ChatGPT to listen to their speeches and provide feedback, including improvement suggestions. Students can engage in virtual debates with ChatGPT on current affairs topics, receiving feedback on their arguments and delivery.
15. Problem-Solving Assistance
ChatGPT can help students solve problems by providing step-by-step instructions, strategic suggestions, and hints.
For example, students can ask ChatGPT for help solving a difficult math problem and receive guidance on how to approach and resolve the issue.
Students can utilize ChatGPT as their research assistant and academic advisor while completing assigned homework, engaging in research learning, and working on their projects and tasks, obtaining help, guidance, and suggestions for specific problem-solving.
16. Classroom Discussions
ChatGPT can provide students with a platform to share ideas and opinions in real-time, thus facilitating online classroom discussions.
For example, teachers can use ChatGPT to promote class discussions on current affairs topics, allowing students to pose questions and share opinions.
I believe that in the near future, this application will become the most common and popular classroom teaching application in primary, secondary, and various training activities.
17. Peer Review Assistance
ChatGPT can assist peer review by providing students with improvement suggestions and writing feedback.
For example, students can submit a draft of an essay to ChatGPT for peer review and receive feedback and improvement suggestions from other students.
On this point, we have already analyzed it in the previous section on creative writing assistance, so we won’t elaborate further.
ChatGPT can assist students in career guidance by providing information on potential careers, job requirements, and related resources.
For example, students can ask ChatGPT for information about careers in engineering and receive a list of potential careers, job requirements, and further information resources.
In recent years, there has been significant emphasis on students’ career education domestically. However, in the era of artificial intelligence, career education has become exceptionally challenging due to the rapid changes in the job market. Many positions and careers are quickly being replaced by robots and artificial intelligence, while increasingly more new professions are emerging.
Applying large language models and chatbots like ChatGPT in students’ career education and guidance is indeed a good application!
19. Time Management Assistance
Time management is a skill that benefits everyone throughout life; unfortunately, this is a skill that most schools, teachers, and parents do not teach students.
ChatGPT can assist students in 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, determining priorities, and staying organized.
20. Learning Skills Assistance
ChatGPT can help students develop learning skills by providing tips and resources to enhance their ability to learn and retain information.
For example, students can ask ChatGPT for help improving 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 teachers needing to teach students how to formulate prompts.
If students cannot formulate good prompts, they will quickly find this chatbot boring, not to mention using 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 technology use.
For example, students can ask ChatGPT for information about cybersecurity and receive a list of resources and tips for staying safe online.
This can greatly help schools and parents teach students about the responsible use of technology, ethics in technology, privacy protection, and so on, as these topics can be overly specialized for general subject teachers and parents!
ChatGPT can help students complete homework by providing explanations, examples, and additional resources, offering explanations, step-by-step instructions, and other resources to assist students in completing their homework.
For example, students can ask ChatGPT for help with math problems and receive step-by-step explanations, examples, and additional practice questions to reinforce the concept.
By using ChatGPT, students can receive immediate assistance and practice problem-solving skills to succeed in their coursework.
This is especially helpful for those students who struggle with a particular subject or concept and need additional support outside of class.
23. Promote Teachers’ Scientific Research
ChatGPT can provide teachers with research ideas and topics, assist in retrieving relevant research literature, organize literature, and recommend core references.
In scientific research, ChatGPT can have numerous practical uses and typical cases, which we will not elaborate on here!
Source | New Principal Media, First Education,“Educational Technology Self-Help” WeChat Official Account article“30 Ways for Primary and Secondary School Teachers to Use ChatGPT”and others
Supervised by: Zhang Baojian Coordinated by: Xu Liansheng
Reviewed by: Bi Yanhua Edited by: Guo Zongyuan
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