K12

Using AI to Teach Critical Thinking

A short video clip describing an assignment given to pre-service teachers to help them refine critical thinking skills

Hear how students in the teacher preparation department at East Carolina University strategically engage with AI tools to develop their critical thinking skills.

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Julie Stanley:

To kind of piggyback off of both of these folks who brought up really great points, so part of what I do in teacher prep here at ECU is I have them strategically use AI. But then, their assignment, their task is to critique that AI and to look for those places where, it missed the mark here, and here’s what I as the human being would do, as the empath would do. Here’s where context… And so, they actually have to go in and highlight and reflect and point out those things.

I have them use it for differentiation strategies, for question generation, for all kinds of things. But the point is that they have to think critically, and that’s the skill, to answer your most recent question. That’s the skill we have to instill in them is it’s not a replacement, it’s a tool. And think critically, “Okay, I like this that AI gave me, but this is not it. I, as the teacher, as the experienced human in the room, this I can make better.” So the point of their assignment is to be critical of AI and to understand where it hit the mark and where it missed.