Artificial intelligence has no place in the classroom if the goal is for children to learn the wrong lessons.
The beauty of discovering and learning from mistakes.
Since I was young, I enjoyed the weekly activity of finger painting, not so much for the art itself, but for the sensory experience it offered. The blend of colors and smells was fascinating and allowed me to explore my creativity in a chaotic and disorganized way, which I consider essential for my development. Now, a new approach proposes to separate children's fingers from paint. Instead of touching it, little ones can move the colors while they are sealed under plastic, a clean experience that lacks the essence of true learning.
Recently, a detailed article discussed how artificial intelligence (AI) is impacting the way children learn to read and write. This analysis reveals that educators are adopting AI in their classrooms to foster idea generation, although there are concerns about the impact this has on genuine learning. For example, one teacher expressed that the proposals for essays from his students were becoming "lukewarm," so he decided to integrate AI into the creative process.
However, this antiseptic approach to education seems to eliminate the messiness associated with creative thinking. AI, like ChatGPT Language Models, has the ability to predict what should come next, which can be useful but also diminishes the relationship between the teacher and the students. Human interaction and the exchange of ideas are weakened.
A concerning aspect mentioned is the decline in literacy among elementary school children. Kids are engaging less with lengthy texts and more with screens and short videos. Furthermore, the pandemic has further delayed their learning, and while educators struggle with this, AI has emerged as a convenient tool.
The way students interact with AI is different from previous generations. While once they would consult encyclopedias, now young people assume that AI responses are facts. This could lead to a lack of questioning and a loss of error-based learning, which is fundamental for cognitive development, especially in younger ones.
Studies suggest that learning from mistakes is beneficial, something that is compromised in a system where students are accompanied exclusively by an AI chatbot. The exploration that occurs when making mistakes and discussing them in class is lost, which could impact their intellectual curiosity and creativity.
While I am not against AI, I believe that its use in the education of younger children is similar to a sealed paint kit: it is antiseptic, erroneous, and contradictory to the beautiful messiness that characterizes the learning process.
