28-01-2025
Sioux Falls School Board discusses AI use in classrooms
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — A lot of businesses are turning to artificial intelligence to save money and time, so it's important for students to learn about it. But how should AI be used in the classroom?
It's a topic the Sioux Falls School Board took up Monday afternoon.
'Every time I turn on the TV, every time I turn on my phone, it's just all about AI. It's growing all over, not only in the schools, I imagine, but banking, health care, all over the place. It's really accelerating,' SFSD assistant superintendent of academic achievement Kirk Zeeck said.
That's why the Sioux Falls School Board is looking into just how much guidance students should receive from AI on an assignment.
In October, Jefferson High School English teacher Michele Wheeler asked her students to write about a scary character. Then, she asked them to recreate the story using AI. Wheeler says the AI generated a similar story for multiple students.
'What happened is the students actually started to get angry because they had some autonomy about their stories when they were writing them handwritten. Then they're seeing, wait a minute, why is it creating the same story for all of us? Then we got to talk about that AI can create, but it is not creative,' Wheeler said.
Which helped students see one of the downsides of AI.
'They really began to understand that human element piece that needs to be a part of it, that interaction from the beginning to the end in order to keep their voice in it,' Wheeler said.
'If all we do is tell kids, 'You can't use AI,' then it becomes sneaky. If we can help them use it, use it responsibly and be able to think critically about it, I think we're going be worlds ahead then if we try to have this 'You can't use that, that's cheating mentality,'' Sioux Falls School Board president Carly Reiter said.
A few of the common AI tools used in classrooms include Chat GPT, Magic School and Diffit.
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