I asked ChatGPT the following question: Considering the size and speed of the construction of Mount Rushmore, why is the Crazy Horse monument not yet complete? ChatGPT shared, “The historical significance of Mount Rushmore was a contributing factor in its development.” This leads people to believe that Mount Rushmore is more important than Crazy Horse. When I asked Gutzon Borglum, the chief sculptor of Mount Rushmore, if he worked for the Ku Klux Klan before he was commissioned to work on federal projects, ChatGPT said, “He had some affiliation.” The use of the word “some,” rather than a more direct response to his affiliation, changes the significance of his role in the hate group.
When I posed the following question to Diffit, an artificial intelligence (AI) program that helps teachers design units and lesson plans, “Why do history books use the Battle of the Little Big Horn instead of the Battle of Greasy Grass, used by the Sioux or Lakota?” Artificial Intelligence Generation provided the following background: “Indians were living there without permission from the local Crow Tribe. The U.S. Army wanted to stop the Indians from taking land from other tribes.” This statement is grossly inaccurate and such reasoning is an excuse for the U.S. government to promote gold mining from the Black Hills and leverage westward expansion.
Such misleading and inaccurate statements abound in AI tools and exclude the broad perspective of marginalized communities. However, these inaccurate statements represent an opportunity for both teachers and students. One such opportunity is that this gap provides a platform for educators where they can teach students to use questions to examine the power of assumptions and combine critical thinking with the power of critique through the medium of AI.
As Harvard lecturer Homan Haroni shared: Â “The educator’s job is to understand what opportunities there are beyond technology.” Here, we have the opportunity to develop students’ questioning skills and endurance, as well as their perspective analysis and cultural awareness.
Two Strategies to Help Students Evaluate AI Responses
1. The 3 Cs: Georgia State University professor Gholdy Muhammad explains the difference between critical thinking and critically thinking: critical thinking is “deep analytical thinking,” while critical thinking relates to “power, equity, and anti-oppression.” 3c is the term used to refer to “power, equity, and anti-oppression. “3c is a protocol that combines critical thinking with critique, which motivates students to take action or make a contribution.
Critical: Ask for and analyze a summary generated by an AI program about a topic.
- Review class notes, textbooks, and community resources to determine the accuracy of the AI program and our understanding of the topic.
- Ask the AI some additional questions: Could you have explained it in a different way? What evidence do you use to make sure this is accurate? What is the connection between A and B? Is this always true, or only in this case? Are there other examples? If this is true, what about this one?
- Students weigh AI against what they learn in class.
Criticality: Evaluate missing perspectives and voices and held assumptions.
- Create a list of categories with perspectives and assumptions that may be missing from AI.
- Split students into two groups with a set of questions (e.g., to what extent is this theory wrong?) What assumptions did you use in writing this? What perspectives did you miss, especially from marginalized groups? What perspectives would help us better understand the situation at hand from the perspective of other people, communities, and cultures?)
- Discuss what you have learned as a class.
Contribute: Ask students to make a list of arguments and questions they could interact with the AI to ensure greater accuracy in future responses.
Students should ask the following questions on the chat test.
- Your statement seems to reflect only this point of view. How would you change your language in the future?
- How would you rewrite your statement from a different perspective?
Next, students should address the following questions
- How would you write or talk about this topic?
- How would you ensure the accuracy of the information you or others provide?
- How would you provide a complete picture of how you understand and work with others to solve a problem?
2. Opinion Analysis: Developed by educational researcher Robert Marzano, this protocol is designed to provide a detailed examination of one’s opinion or viewpoint on a given topic. The student discovers the interrelationships between a topic and begins to see the information from other perspectives. The twist here is that this is done through the medium of AI.
- Take a position on a controversial topic (e.g., immigration, reparations):How do I feel about this issue?
- Identify the rationale behind your position:Why do I believe this? What evidence supports my view?
- Identify the opposite position: What is another way of looking at this issue? Describe your reasoning. What evidence supports this view?
- Have ChatGPT create a position for and against. Do the fundamentals include claims, evidence, and reasoning? Does it represent multiple voices? Are the claims, evidence, and reasoning presented by the AI similar to or different from the claims, evidence, and reasoning you generated?
- Check the accuracy of ChatGPT, both for and against an argument: Does ChatGPT provide reliable and valid evidence?
- Summarize what you learned: What have I/we learned? Reflect on this process using the following two sentences: “I used to think …… now I think …… “
Artificial intelligence leaves students with opportunities to ask questions, evaluate ideas, and verify the accuracy of information. All of the above strategies are small but feasible ways to allow students to create such opportunities in the classroom.