BRI Talks AI in Social Studies Classrooms

The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies like ChatGPT has led to nationwide debate among social studies educators.

Can AI be a useful teaching tool? What should educators do about students turning to AI for help with their schoolwork?

As an organization that supports civics and history educators and students, the Bill of Rights Institute closely monitors the impact of technology trends. Rachel Davison Humphries, Senior Director of Civic Learning Initiatives at the Bill of Rights Institute and a former classroom teacher, joined a recent episode of the EdSurge podcast to discuss some of the ways AI could benefit social studies classrooms.

Joined by Zachary Cote, Executive Director of the nonprofit Thinking Nation, Humphries discussed how AI may help teachers with time-consuming tasks, such as grading and feedback. It could actually free up teachers’ time to dive into more interactive lessons and weighty discussions about civic engagement and our rights and responsibilities as citizens.

“One of the activities that we do is the classroom constitution, where from the minute the students come together as a new community, you walk in and you say, ‘How are we going to govern ourselves?’” Humphries said. “We need to know things, but we also need to have the opportunity to practice the skills of negotiation, the skills of engagement, the skills of give-and-take that happens in conversation.”

Humphries added that civics classrooms provide an ideal environment for students to develop critical thinking skills and learn about civic virtues that will help them make responsible use of AI. 

Click here to listen to the full episode of the EdSurge podcast.