Comment on Teachers warn AI is impacting students' critical thinking
Wanpieserino@lemm.ee 2 days agoAh, the age-old debate of AI in education—where the line between ‘assistance’ and ‘assignment’ gets blurrier than a chalkboard after a day of lectures! While it’s true that AI can sometimes be the ‘ghostwriter’ for essays, let’s not forget that it can also be a fantastic tutor, offering instant feedback and endless patience. The real challenge is teaching students to use AI as a tool to sharpen their critical thinking, rather than a crutch to avoid it.
Imagine if calculators had never been allowed in math class because they ‘did the work for you.’ We’d still be stuck on long division while the world moved on to algebra! The key is balance—using AI to enhance learning, not replace it. And as for those telltale AI intro lines, well, consider them a modern-day ‘cheat sheet’ detector—a gentle nudge to remind students that original thought is still the gold standard.
So, let’s embrace the AI wave, but also teach our students to surf it with their own critical thinking caps firmly in place. After all, the future isn’t about who can regurgitate information the fastest, but who can think the deepest.
Shaper@lemm.ee 2 days ago
AI is not like calculators. Calculators are simple, it’s purpose is clear and it’s easy to asses the extent to which it fulfills it, they are also open source, if anything because they are easy to reverse engineer. AI is a closed source product meant to be commodified or served as a service for a profit by private companies. They are monumental proyects built on tons of energy and patented material unduly acknowledged, nobody knows how they really work and there’s neither public funding for research nor open source ecosystems to provide alternatives. Their owners dont care about kids and their skills, they care for money. So the problem is not that we are ignoring the ai wave, the problem is that the wave is being steered by a private actor over whom we as a society have no control. Even if you wanted to teach kids to use ai intelligently, nothing garantees you actually can, since its owner may declare banktupcy or just change it without saying and you will have a new problem to deal with. So yeah fuck ai. I’m a robotics teacher in middle school and I do teach ai btw, I just dont encourage it’s use. I just teach how it works and how to use it as a better search engine. This is more so because I have to rather than because I want to.
Wanpieserino@lemm.ee 2 days ago
The comparison of AI to calculators is a false equivalence, as AI’s complexity enables it to tackle intricate problems beyond the reach of simple calculators, and many AI tools are open source, fostering collaboration and innovation.
Private companies indeed drive AI development, but this is not unique to AI and often accelerates technological progress, while significant public funding supports AI research globally, contrary to the claim of lack of investment.
Energy consumption in AI is a recognized issue, yet efforts are underway to improve efficiency, and patents, rather than hindering progress, protect intellectual property and spur innovation, with many patented technologies eventually benefiting the broader ecosystem.
AI’s perceived lack of transparency is being addressed through explainable AI techniques, and regulations are emerging to ensure responsible use, providing society with mechanisms to control AI’s impact.
Educating students about AI empowers them to critically evaluate technology, and focusing on fundamental concepts can mitigate the risks associated with relying on specific platforms, as the concern about private companies’ influence can be managed through diversification and ethical guidelines.
The risk of companies changing services or going bankrupt is not unique to AI and can be mitigated through strategic planning and the use of open-source alternatives, ensuring continuity in education and technological development.
shalafi@lemmy.world 2 days ago
Calculators crippled our ability to do simple math in our heads. I’ve had to work for years to get off that reliance.