Teachers working around AI tools as student use of Chat GPT grows in high schools

The use of Artificial Intelligence continues to grow all around the world, including in our schools.

Students are using these tools to help write papers.

But that leads to the question about ethics and whether students are actually learning.

“Write about the top three issues that presidential elections that young people care about,” Juno Wozny typed into ChatGPT.

The 18-year-old showed News 3 how she uses the AI tool that allows you to have human-like conversations to complete tasks.

Within seconds an entire paper popped up on her screen, something that would have taken many of us hours of research and writing to complete in the past.

“There’s plenty of ways where it can be used,” Wozny said. “You could put your essay in there and say, write it at this level grade.”

The Rancho High School student, graduating in just a few days, says this is just one of several AI tools she’s used to help her at school.

“I take little snippets and then I’d also do a little research on my own and just type it up like that,” she said.

Wozny’s history teacher Reuben D’Silva says he caught on quickly that students were using AI for school work.

“I was getting perfect essays, you know from the prompts I was putting up for students, down to the commas in the punctuation,” said D’Silva. “I was getting these like theses back from students, you know, five-paragraph responses within hours of those assignments.”

When he would confront students, he said they would get creative.

“They started getting better at it, you know, you know, copy and pasting certain portions, doing their own writing into the mix,” said D’Silva.

There are several AI detection tools online.

But D’Silva says he doesn’t use them because they don’t have 100% certainty.

So, he’s been taking a different approach.

“We’re taking it back to the 80’s, 70’s,” said D’Silva. “A prompt on the board and then having the students write then and there you’re right in front of me.”

AI has been taking over schools nationwide over the last two years.

The ACT, the nonprofit that administers the college readiness exam, released a report in December after polling more than 4,000 high school students around the country. https://www.act.org/content/dam/act/secured/documents/High-School-Students-Use-and-Impressions-of-AI-Tools-Accessible.pdf

It showed that 46% of students reported using ai tools, the most common being Chat GPT.

46% of the students who used AI said they used it for school assignments.

64% of those students reported they used AI tools a few times a month or less.

News 3 asked Wozny if she believes she’s still learning of using AI.

“It’s not necessarily not doing your work,” said Wozny. “It’s more of just looking for extra assistance when sometimes you’re a little too scared to ask teachers or whatever.”

Last year, Chat GPT was banned by some of the largest districts.

New York City Public Schools was included on that list.

But last May the district reversed the decision and instead created a policy around how to best use it.

D’Silva agrees that AI can be valuable for students if used correctly.

“We should try to embrace it and see how we can, you know, create a partnership now of technology, student needs, teacher expectations,” he said.

News 3 reached out to the Clark County School District regarding its policy on AI use.

In a statement, the district said:

“CCSD continues to monitor emerging artificial intelligence technology, such as ChatGPT, Gemini, and others. While new technologies may provide opportunities for student learning, the District is still evaluating the best options for using these programs on CCSD devices.

Using such technology to complete school work could violate the Student Code of Conduct and may result in a failing grade or loss of credit for the assignment or task, detention, and/or suspension.”

What are your thoughts on students using AI for school work?