Artificial Intelligence in the Upper Elementary Classroom

Artificial intelligence (AI) is not. AI is a misnomer. In the case of ChatGPT, the most famous AI in the world, it is a large language model (LLM), more specifically, a generative pre-trained (GPT) large language model, "...a form of computer-based applied statistical analysis." (Whitely, 2023). Some people might call it an overly complicated auto-complete, or a glorified auto-complete, but that is unfairly reductive. Make no mistake that this technology is revolutionary, but also make no mistake to consider it intelligent, for there is no reasoning capability, nor does any LLM actually understand what its output truly means. That is not to say that LLMs cannot produce anything original, nor does it go so far to say that they can't be used to produce anything original. The image below was generated by ChatGPT using its DALL-E GPT based on the prompt I provided.

Prompt

I'm writing an article about using AI in the classroom. Please generate an image that captures all that that entails that I can use as my thumbnail.

There are many other AI websites that this blog does not dive into and you might be interested in them, so please see Appendix A for a list. OpenAI even has a guide for working with their models to make the best use of them as a teacher on their website. (Teaching with AI, 2023).

Hallucinations & Confabulations

LLMs, like ChatGPT, hallucinate, i.e., are confidently wrong. According to OpenAI, this happens about 25.3% of the time on average when they test GPT-4 on its presentation of facts in nine categories: learning, technology, writing, history, math, science, recommendation, code, and business. (OpenAI, 2023) The lowest performing category was code, with a hallucination rate of about 33%, while the highest performing categories were science and history, each around 18%. Imagine confabulating 1 out of every 4 times you speak. Could anyone trust you?

Before Using AI in Your Classroom

There are many things that you need to do as a teacher before using AI in your classroom. There are also many things you need to teach your students about as well. They include educating them about what a hallucination is, what confabulating is, how to initially prompt the AI, and how to ethically use AI. Since hallucinations and confabulations were already covered, let's go over how to initially prompt the AI and teach them how to ethically use AI.

Initial Prompts

Students need to know how to tell the AI how to behave in order to get responses they can understand. As such, I have provided a default initial prompt that is to be submitted to any conversational AI tool before other queries. I have turned it into a template for your use:

I am a INSERT_GRADE grader, so please answer me in a way that I would understand and be sure to keep things age-appropriate for me.

If you have a student who is in a certain grade but with a reading level different from their grade, use this prompt:

I am a INSERT_GRADE grader, but I can read at a INSERT_READING_LEVEL grade level, so please answer me in a way that I would understand and be sure to keep things age-appropriate for me.

Instructing Students to Use AI Ethically

AI has the power to completely remove the need for any student to learn anything. It is important that students are aware of the implications and potential issues that come along with using AI to aid them in their coursework. Before using AI in the class, I encourage you to develop a lesson by yourself that goes over AI and the ethics of using it. You might be wondering why I haven't provided my own lesson here. It's because you must TRULY grasp what AI is before you can let your students use it. Do your own work so that you can better understand what it is. With that said, I think that the pledge below can offer a great starting point from which you can develop a lesson.

I suggest you structure your pledge-signing day as follows:

1. Spend time discussing each item as a class.
2. Split the students into small groups and have them complete a worksheet about the pledge, asking them to discuss each item further.
3. Spend time discussing their responses to the worksheet as a class.
4. Sign the pledge together.

The pledge states that the student will do the below. Note that details are written in the pledge itself.

1. I Will Verify Everything the AI Provides Me
2. I Will Use AI to Help, Not to Replace My Efforts
3. I Will Be Honest
4. I Will Respect Others' Work
5. I Will Ask for Help When I Need It
6. I Will Use AI Safely
7. I Will Be Respectful and Kind
8. I Will Acknowledge That The AI is Not Human

An Introduction to Some AI Platforms

Below are the three models that have proved useful to me and my students in class. One bonus model would be Google's Duet AI, which is integrated into Google Slides. I have used it several times to create various images for inclusion into my slide decks for class. My students particularly enjoy trying to figure out which images were created by AI and which were not.

One important thing to consider about these tools is that they are all using OpenAI's GPT model, whether it be 3.5 or 4, so they are all subject to the hallucination and confabulation concerns that were discussed above.

Copilot

Copilot for Microsoft Edge has been around since September 26, 2023. (Mehdi, 2023) It is based on the latest OpenAI model, GPT-4, and has access to DALL-E 3. It's important to note that it is only accessible through Microsoft Edge, in Bing Search, and in Windows 11 (if it has been enabled).

Using Copilot in Class

My students and I have found this the most useful to use in class because it is a fantastic research companion. In Microsoft Edge, you can open a panel on the right side of the browser window. Copilot then has access to the webpage that you are viewing. Let's say a student is reading this article just published on The Conversation (McCulloch, 2024) and they need help understanding what findings means in the first paragraph. They simply open the Copilot panel and type the below:

In the first paragraph, I don't understand what 'findings' means. Please explain it to me.

Copilot processes the input, then provides an explanation.

The word 'findings' in the first paragraph means the results or conclusions of the research. The author is saying that their study, based on sea sponge skeletons, shows that global warming is more severe than previously thought. This is a new and important discovery.

Do you see that Copilot provides sources? The same is said for follow-up questions that provide new information. This makes it easier for students to abide by Item 1 in the pledge.

Perplexity.ai

Perplexity.ai touts itself as "...an alternative to search engines, where you can directly pose your questions and receive concise, accurate answers backed up by a curated set of sources." (What Is Perplexity?, n.d.) It uses GPT-3.5-generated text in response to user prompts. It works quite well, and in some cases better than Copilot in Microsoft Edge. It is great for providing sources, just like Copilot and is more accessible in the sense that students do not see it as 'attached' to the website they're currently viewing.

Using Perplexity in Class

Students tend to use Perplexity for one-off queries to find sources, then read the sources and use Copilot for help when reading the sources. They use it in the same way they would use a search engine, however, this search engine provides a nice summary of what they're wondering about.

ChatGPT

ChatGPT is the online chat bot made by OpenAI that is the fastest-growing web app in history. (Hu, 2023) Being that it is an app created by OpenAI, it has access to all of the GPT models, both 3.5 and 4, the free and paid versions, respectively. 3.5 is far faster than 4, but it also hallucinates far more than 4. (OpenAI, 2023)

Using ChatGPT in Class

In the beginning, my students and I used this in the same way as we use Copilot and Perplexity, but now that those tools have been released, we have since stopped using it. However, if a student is curious, I do have ChatGPT check their writing for errors, but only with student consent. I do, of course, also go over their writing with a fine-toothed comb on my own because ChatGPT makes a lot of mistakes and misses errors. Here is the prompt I use to get ChatGPT to check their writing:

My INSERT_GRADE student wrote an essay. I need you to help me to correct it. But, instead of correcting it directly, please only provide a hint next to the mistake. For example, if my student writes "I eats pizza", your output should be "I eats [conjugation error] pizza."

Conclusion

Using AI in class is fun for many students, but other students have no interest in using it. Nonetheless, it's important to get them familiar with these tools early, just as they're coming out to best prepare them for the future. Jensen Huang, the CEO of Nvidia, has stated that there will be artificial general intelligence (AGI) within the next five years. (Mok, 2023) Your fifth grader will be in the 10th grade by then. Who will be better prepared to use AI to help them, the students who had no exposure in their early years or the students who had exposure and were taught how to use it responsibly?

References

Appendix

Appendix A

Other interesting AI websites:

• https://consensus.src/app/ - "Consensus is a search engine that uses AI to find insights in research papers."
• https://teachmateai.com/ - "TeachMateAI is your AI-powered digital assistant, designed by teachers and tech experts to help you take control of your valuable time."
• https://www.magicschool.ai/ - "Join over a million teachers saving hours of time using MagicSchool to help lesson plan, differentiate, write assessments, write IEPs, communicate clearly, and more."
• https://www.eduaide.ai/ - "Eduaide.Ai is an AI-driven platform that helps educators create lesson plans, teaching resources, and assessments."
• https://www.almanack.ai/ - "Effortlessly create differentiated, standards-aligned classroom resources tailored to your students' needs using AI."