AI and ChatGPT are forcing Arizona teachers to rethink lessons

PHOENIX – Artificial intelligence is becoming a part of our everyday lives, and that includes your child’s classroom.

Eighty-four percent of high school students nationwide use some form of AI according to the College Board, a number that’s grown 5 percent since January.

As AI and ChatGPT become more common among students, teachers have to adjust the way they teach.

Amber Gould is an English teacher in Glendale and said she’s had to find a balance between educating students about new technologies and making sure they’re not taking advantage of the digital accessibility.

“How can we make sure that they are good consumers of that technology, if they are AI literate… And then how do they use AI on their end as a thinking partner, but not as something that thinks for them,” she said.

Gould added she’s begun using a more collaborative approach to projects, so students don’t rely on AI. She added fill-in-the-blank worksheets may not be the way to judge a student’s proficiency anymore, instead shifting to a focus on process and analysis.

Gretchen Clifton, an English teacher in Phoenix, has also made a shift in her classroom assignments.

“Instead of using Google Docs or Microsoft Word to submit everything… a lot of us are kind of actually scaling back and going back to pen and paper work and notebook work in class,” she said.

Students relying on AI

According to the College Board study, 80% of teachers surveyed agreed that AI can create dependence on technology among students.

Clifton said some of her students have tried to submit full essays written by ChatGPT. She said although she can tell, it’s an issue that continues to pop up.

“The ones that have been relying on AI for their responses tend to be less flexible in their thinking. They tend to be the ones that look for the easy way out and when push comes to shove and they’re forced to write out their essay or outline or complete their work on pen and paper, they often don’t. They just refuse to do it,” she said.

Gould said students can struggle with confidence when they become too dependent on technology, with creative thinking encouraging students to push past what they think they can do and excel.

Positive aspects of AI

Spencer Tracy Brown is a Fine Arts teacher at Goodyear High School and says he and his students use AI daily in his classroom.

“I’ll write a lesson plan on the dry erase board… I’ll take a picture of that and then I’ll submit it to a custom GPT that I created that has lesson plans and rubrics,” he said.

Brown explained that having students use AI to plan projects and bounce ideas off doesn’t take away from creativity, as all ideas come from other sources anyways.

Clifton added in the future, these students will need to know how to use AI as a tool, and it’s the teachers’ responsibility to educate them on technology. She said she supports AI but is cautious about the negative aspects of it.

Funding for this journalism is made possible by the Arizona Local News Foundation.

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