BRI Teacher Council Member Advocates Using AI In The Classroom

By Spencer Burrows

While serving as a secondary school teacher in 2016, something was clearly apparent following the election that year — students were unprepared for the election result. Not necessarily the outcome, but rather how to interact with their peers.

Students’ emotions ran high (which was undoubtedly also a reflection of the adults around them, parents and teachers alike), and having a classroom discussion around government, policy, or anything to do with capital “R” or “D” politicians was near impossible. Beginning this year, educators have a chance to prepare students for the 2024 election. As outlined below, classroom engagement with artificial intelligence (AI) will be instrumental in this process.

An unfortunate byproduct of the social media environment our students grew up in is trouble conducting difficult face-to-face conversations with their peers. When someone says or posts something on social media that offends or is disagreeable, students can simply unfollow, withdraw from the conversation, or reply with a similarly strong message without fear of retribution. However, that is not how adults should have a rational conversation with someone whom they disagree.

Managers nationwide noted that Gen-Z, digital natives since birth, are now entering the workforce and appear “unable to negotiate or compromise, which inevitably leads to conflict.”

How can teachers prepare students now with the ability to negotiate and compromise, which are skills that will be essential to navigate the 2024 election outcome, regardless of the result?

Utilizing AI in classroom activities is an outstanding vehicle to simulate the electoral process and build students’ capacity for difficult conversations. For example, ChatGPT can be used as a debate partner in a classroom mock primary election debate. With student groups acting as candidates with specific policy views (for example, a left-of-center view on immigration policy, or right-of-center view on income tax reform), the class will conduct their mock primary debate.

Using ChatGPT as one of those candidates, the students can decide which prompts to input to elicit a specific policy response, like “Draft a left-of-center position statement on infrastructure spending in one paragraph” (ChatGPT explains this position aims to not only create well-paying jobs and boost local economies but also to rectify historical inequities, reduce carbon emissions, and promote resilient infrastructure systems that benefit all members of society).

Students should learn the more specific the query input to ChatGPT, the more specific and refined its response will be. Through this exercise, students learn to craft engaging and balanced debate scenarios that cover a range of policy issues, techniques for participants to research candidates' positions, gather supporting evidence, and create compelling arguments to be used during the simulation.

Furthermore, students build their public speaking skills, including speech writing, delivery, and effective use of rhetoric to convey their ideas persuasively. Lastly, they learn how the primary debate system works, including managing time, presenting opening statements, engaging in rebuttals, and fielding questions from both moderators and participants.

 It is imperative to impart these skills of debate, compromise, and ability to identify misinformation to the students leading up to the 2024 election. Recent polling indicates the majority of Democrats and Republicans are not excited about the possibility of a Biden vs. Trump rematch in 2024 — a sentiment that is sure to trickle down to the students.

Despite that, emotions will surely run high again. Not educating students on the civic process and how to debate respectfully is clearly a missed opportunity for educators and their students!

Spencer Burrows teaches history and government at Pacific Ridge School in Carlsbad, CA. He is also a member of the Bill of Rights Institute's National Teacher Council.