COLUMN: Think Again – Artificial intelligence impacts education in a big way

A new school year is underway. Now more than ever before, teachers must grapple with the increasing challenges posed by artificial intelligence (AI).

Technology has always been a mixed blessing in schools. For example, while calculators made it easier to solve advanced math problems, they also gave students a ready-made excuse for not learning their multiplication tables. This created a problem for classroom teachers who knew the importance of these skills.

Of course, it would have been a mistake to stop teaching basic math to students just because calculators were available. Good teachers know that calculators are a tool, not a replacement for memorization and critical thinking.

More recently, the internet has made it much easier for students and teachers to access specific information from anywhere around the world. Now teachers must deal with the growing use of AI.

Not only can AI programs, such as ChatGPT, write formal essays, create original stories, and craft elegant poetry, they are getting better at it every day. It’s becoming increasingly difficult for teachers to distinguish between assignments written by AI and those that are written by students.

Unsurprisingly, the growing popularity of AI has led to some progressive commentators suggesting that there’s no longer any need for students to memorize facts or commit historical events to memory. Rather, they argue that it’s time to move away from so-called rote learning and embrace creativity and critical thinking instead.

While this argument has a certain amount of intuitive appeal, it is dead wrong. The reality is that it’s impossible to think critically about something you know nothing about. There’s a huge difference between a student who knows by memory the factors that led to Canadian Confederation in 1867 and students who need ChatGPT to tell them the names of the people and provinces involved.

One of the most essential concepts in education is cognitive load theory. Cognitive load theory says that because our working memory is limited, it’s important to transfer as much knowledge as possible into our long-term memory. This is why it’s nearly impossible for someone to solve a multi-step algebraic equation if they don’t know basic math facts such as the order of operations.

By committing basic math facts to their long-term memories, students free up space in their working memories to tackle challenging math questions. It would be a huge mistake to allow students to get away with not mastering important math skills.

In addition, there is a strong correlation between background knowledge and reading comprehension. Simply put, the more you know about the topic of an article or book, the higher your ability to understand what it means. This is why students usually have no trouble reading complex books and articles about topics that they have studied and are interested in, because they already possess considerable background knowledge.

Thus, while AI is having an undeniable impact in classrooms, it’s crucial that we remain focused on the things that matter most. Students need to continue learning their math facts, and they also need to memorize plenty of historical and scientific facts. Foundational knowledge will always remain important.

This is also why in-person tests and exams are more important than ever. If tests are written with pen and paper under a teacher’s supervision, students won’t be able to use AI to formulate answers. Tests are the one thing that remain immune from AI’s influence. Thus, rather than abolish tests and exams, we must embrace them even more than before.

AI is here to stay, but that doesn’t mean we should let this new technology take over. The key is to keep AI in its proper place.

Michael Zwaagstra is a teacher and deputy mayor of Steinbach. He can be reached at mzwaagstra@shaw.ca.