B.C. teachers fear AI could harm critical thinking

0:00This episode is brought to you by Facebook. So you were scrolling on Marketplace. And there it was. The bike you've been searching for. You sent a message, and it turned out the seller was super chatty, kind of funny, and an avid cyclist. The next thing you know, you're in a cycling crew. Well, a community cycling group. The thing about Facebook, you might find more than what you're looking for. From a browse to a bike ride, this summer find more on Facebook. Next week is back to school. Lots of teachers, families, students getting prepared for that. And this year is going to look even more different than previous years have. As more and more people start to use AI, it's just becoming a normal thing. Every year it's more and more normal and common and accepted. And students are using it. And how are teachers dealing with that? What difference is it making in the lives of students? Well, a recent survey suggests that a lot of teachers are concerned that AI is harming students' ability to think critically.

1:08So where do we go from here? Well, Carol Gordon is president of the BC Teachers Foundation and joins me to discuss. Thanks so much for being here, Carol. How are you? I'm good. Good morning. How are we dealing with AI in the classroom this coming year? Well, I think this year is the same as last year for teachers. They have lots of hopes and concerns around AI in the classroom and even broadly the impact that it has on kids, both within schools and outside of schools. And so we at the BC Teachers Federation on behalf of teachers are calling on government and do bring teachers to the table to talk about those implications for students. And education and to be part of those conversations and shaping policies and regulations around the use of AI in schools. What could that look like? Can you give me some examples? What the table could look like. Well, it could look like the ministry, you know, bringing, bringing forward educators who have the expertise, but also, you know, we're working in the classroom and we'd be subject specific areas, talking about, you know, the tools in particular,

2:21you know, the technical side of it, what tools are being used? What are some of the safeguards that we can put in place on the technical side of it? And then there's the professional side of it as well, which is, you know, how do we, how do we use it in a responsible way? How do we teach kids how to use it in a responsible way, that digital literacy component, which could provide some resources and the service and learning opportunities for everybody within the school system? And what sort of, you mentioned, you know, safeguards and perhaps policies, what could those look like for students who, you know, are using AI in the classroom? I guess I think that much of this, and I've used this example before, you know, when the internet first landed, I was in high school and then those, you know, and it was like, oh, you can't just Google everything, you need to know how to use a library and how to do actual research. And then of course, now we just accept that Google is a part of our daily lives. So what do the policies and safeguards look like that balance the use of AI with also being able to teach students to actually use their brains?

3:26Well, I mean, I'm not an expert in AI in particularly in the technology. So some of the safeguards that are related to the tools and sell, I think that's sort of for the experts to deal with. But what I, what I know is that there's some good guidance that we can give to teachers in terms of learning around, you know, how to continue to develop those critical thinking skills that kids need and try to ensure that kids don't become over reliant on it, which I think is the bigger one of the bigger pieces, right? Like you said, new technologies they come in and we use them. They're meant to help us. But when we over rely on them, it has a, it can have a negative impact. And so we have those hopes for, you know, appropriate use that can benefit learning. But we also have those deeper concerns. The other one, you know, is the privacy. You know, we, you know, when we use AI, we're accessing other people's information that's been collected. Again, not an expert, but we're talking about copyright of other people's art, literature, their own work, but we're also talking about how kids access and what they put into.

4:32I'll say the system and, and how their safety matters and their privacy matters to us. And so we have to really put student safety as the top priority and all of this as well. What are you hearing from teachers who I truly interact with these students in the classrooms? Are they talking about how many students are using AI? How they're using it? Are they surprised by the things that they're seeing? What's the feedback been like? I don't think teachers like it. We're talking about the upper grades here for the most part. I don't think any of them or any teachers are surprised at how kids are using it. I think what the, in the spaces that I'm in, the concerns around misinformation that kids will be accessing, the bias that that misinformation and the system itself, the bias, because everything actually is still a human interaction with AI where it's being loaded up, right? So that there can be bias in that. So there's concern about what kids are getting out of it as well. And so always what we want to know in education is what are kids learning? And are we assessing it accurately? And that, that was before AI, that was before you had the internet in high school.

5:47We were always concerned about making sure that we're really understanding what kids are learning. And so there are ways to do that. And that's part of what teachers do is make sure that every assessment we do sort of cross references and has validity to it. So when kids are creating things outside of the classroom, we're also asking them to demonstrate their learning inside the classroom. How do we teach kids critical thinking skills outside of AI? How do you do that in the classroom as a teacher? Well, you know, I mean, learning is a human thing. And so we have to interact with each other. And I think that starts in kindergarten critical thinking skills start early. And so the analysis, that digital literacy piece of it, you know, trying to understand what the source is, always looking at source, really talking to each other, understanding opinions, understanding facts, making sure things are facts. And there's so many different ways we do that. But it really is a relational effort, I think, when we're talking about critical thinking skills. And I mean, I could go into sources and all that, all of it. But you taught, you brought up the internet. And, you know, I think that, that understanding sources and everything that's out there isn't always true is sort of the basis for it.

7:14Carol Gordon is president of the BC teachers federation talking about the need for critical thinking skills in the age of AI in the classroom. Something that a lot of teachers are concerned about and speaking about. Carol, thanks so much for your time this morning. And also for the work that you do, I think that teachers are our most valuable assets and are doing the Lord's work. So again, thank you. And wish all the best in the in the new school year. Thank you very much. I wish the same for all the teachers out there as well. I'm for the kids too. Fall is the perfect time to refresh and reorganize your space at the Home Depot, find power tools and tool sets starting at $50 to help tackle DIY projects, home updates, and more, whether you're drilling brackets to support new shelving or sharpening your head trimmer blade with an angle grinder. The Home Depot has the tools you need to check projects off your list, shop Labor Day Savings at the Home Depot, and gear up for fall projects with the right tools to keep your projects moving.