AI tools can generate everything from essays to artwork to music. In order to be able to use it as a learning tool, we need to have students assess AI’s performance. We know what AI can do, but we need to ask, can AI do it well?

By allowing students the opportunity to assess the products that AI generates, we can prompt their learning and their development of critical thinking skills. In a previous piece, I shared how technology fosters engagement when it prompts students to construct, collaborate, create—what I call the 3Cs. AI can be used to allow students to construct knowledge, collaborate with their peers, and create something new in any content area. If we can design AI tasks that foster the 3Cs, we can use it as a tool for learning and thinking.

AI IN A MATH CLASSROOM

Mathematical thinking fosters students’ problem-solving skills, and AI can be used to engage students in that process. Teachers can give students a math problem that students input into an AI tool like Photomath. 

Once the AI creates an answer, students can collaborate in groups to construct their own answer by using the mathematical problem-solving approach they’ve been taught. With the two answers in hand, AI’s and their own, students can create a response to the question, “Which solution is more correct?” This allows students to test solutions to complex problems against criteria that the classroom teacher has provided through a rubric or by testing it against the process that the teacher has taught. This leads students to  form a conclusion, which is another important facet of critical thinking.

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