Friday News Roundup

It’s Friday! Time for the News Roundup.

Survey: 5 Ways AI Is Cutting Into Students’ Ability to Learn (The 74)

According to a new survey released this week by Common Sense Media, The 74 reported on teens’ own sense of how they use technology – and what AI is doing to their thinking. Here are the five major findings:

“Most teens say they’re using AI to support their thinking, but nearly as many see it as an answer machine. – Among the 70% of teens who use AI, 77% say they use it as a support tool, using it for brainstorming, checking their work and getting feedback on writing, for instance. And 66% say it helps them understand schoolwork, not just finish it faster. But 63% separately report going straight to a chatbot for an answer rather than working their way to it themselves. Of those, 25% use AI output as-is, while 31% rewrite it to sound like their own voice. Another 35% ‘improve it with what they know.’”

“Teens know that AI takes a cognitive toll. – Many of those who rely on AI for schoolwork acknowledge that it’s changing how they think: 38% say having AI available leads them to develop fewer original ideas, and 39% say that when they use AI to complete assignments, they feel they’re missing out on learning.”

“School AI bans don’t really work. – Among teens who use AI for schoolwork, 44% say they’ve had an AI tool blocked on a school device or network. Yet 59% of these students say they simply switched to a personal device with less oversight – and less support – than a school-managed device or network.”

“Teens are clear on which skills matter most going forward. – Asked to name the skills that matter most for their future, teens zeroed in on a few key ones, dubbed ‘the human skills that AI can’t or shouldn’t replace’ by Common Sense:

55% chose ‘working well with others

50% chose ‘fact-checking and critical thinking

48% chose ‘reading and understanding complex information”

“AI literacy instruction in schools is the exception, not the rule. – According to the survey findings, only 30% of teens overall say a teacher has ever talked with them about how to use AI safely – and just 26% say teachers have discussed how to evaluate whether AI-generated information is accurate or trustworthy.”

Should State Boards Have More Oversight of Curricula? (EducationWeek)

According to an article posted by EducationWeek earlier this week, David Steiner, the executive director of the Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy, thinks yes.

Steiner advocates for a standardized curriculum, generated by a state, a region, or possibly by a federal government. He points to a handful of states – Louisiana, Tennessee, and Mississippi – as current examples where state legislatures, state boards of education, and school boards have all aligned to produce curriculum that has produced better readers, writer, and problem solvers.

The problem with Steiner’s position is that all the entities that have currently aligned are political bodies, and each of those bodies will probably change their complexion (and probably their priorities) over the next few election cycles. And with each political change, there will probably be minor or maybe major revisions to the current curriculum shared with the state’s young learners.

Rare is the state that can “stay the course” when it comes to maintaining a consistent and effective curriculum. The last state that probably did it the best was Massachusetts in the early part of this century. But even Massachusetts is struggling now, based on changes made at the legislative, state board, and school board levels.

That’s the News Roundup for this week. Til Monday. SVB