Equipping students with "AI thinking skills"

Recently, we've frequently encountered keywords like 'AI replacing teachers', 'educational revolution', and 'smart schools'. The excitement is real, but there's also considerable anxiety. Are our children being overly 'digitalized'? Will teachers lose their standing in the classroom?

South Korea, a country renowned for its leading technology infrastructure, once placed a large bet on an AI-integrated digital textbook project (AI Textbooks) with the ambition of revolutionizing the classroom by 2025. They hoped AI would personalize learning, supporting weaker students and challenging stronger ones. However, after only four months of pilot implementation, that expectation was met with harsh reality. The South Korean National Assembly had to pass a bill stripping AI materials of their legal status as "textbooks," reclassifying them as "supplementary materials." Usage rates in elementary schools dropped below 30%.

Teachers act as "digital guardians," guiding students to distinguish right from wrong in the age of AI.

PHOTO: NHAT THINH

The project failed not because of poor technology, but because of "haste and a lack of humanity." The system frequently malfunctioned, turning teachers into reluctant "machine repairmen" instead of teachers. Parents worried about their children becoming addicted to screens and losing their ability to interact socially in real life. Furthermore, teachers lacked the necessary digital pedagogy skills to master the tools.

The lesson here is clear: "Technology cannot replace the carefulness of education ." Innovation must be accompanied by a solid pedagogical foundation.

SEE model

The Ministry of Education and Training is beginning a pilot program to introduce AI content into secondary schools. It's important to note that teaching AI isn't simply about teaching coding or using ChatGPT for assignments; it requires teaching digital literacy skills related to AI.

According to the digital competency framework and the latest research, AI Literacy comprises three main pillars that we often refer to as the "SEE Model" (Safe - Ethical - Effective).

Safety: Students must understand that the data they input into AI may be collected. They need to be aware of privacy risks and the potential for reliance on virtual relationships with chatbots.

Ethical: Do not use AI to cheat or create deepfakes. More importantly, students need to understand AI bias – that AI can discriminate based on race or gender based on the data it learns.

Effectiveness: Knowing how to write commands (prompts) for AI to serve you, rather than having AI do things for you. Students need critical thinking skills to verify information generated by AI, because AI is very prone to "illusions" (fabricating information).

For Alpha generation students, teachers need to change their methods, transforming the classroom into a place of "continuous performance" with images, videos , and interaction...

Photo: Nhat Thinh

The "traffic light model" solution in the classroom.

The traffic light model, currently being implemented in many advanced education systems, will help teachers and parents flexibly manage their children's use of AI.

Red light (Absolutely forbidden): Applies to in-class tests, handwritten exams, or activities requiring assessment of purely independent thinking skills. The goal is to ensure students master foundational knowledge without relying on technology.

Yellow light (conditional/supported permission): Students are allowed to use AI for brainstorming, outlining, or correcting grammar errors. However, they must ask the teacher for permission and publicly disclose (cite) which tools they used and how they used them. This area fosters academic integrity.

Green light (recommended use): Complex project, creative, or research assignments. In this case, AI acts as a "partner." For example: "Use AI to generate three solutions to the environmental pollution problem, then critique those solutions."

Teachers are the "digital guardians".

Today's high school students are mostly Gen Alpha, children who "surf" faster than they "read," a generation born when iPads were readily available. They have very different learning characteristics: Having become accustomed to 15-second TikTok videos, traditional 45-minute lectures are a torment for them. Therefore, teachers must change their methods, transforming the classroom into a place of "continuous performance" with images, videos, and interaction.

The role of the teacher is undergoing a dramatic shift. Instead of simply lecturing (something AI does very well), teachers need to create an environment where students can debate, work on projects, and solve problems. In the chaotic sea of ​​information on the internet, teachers need to help students distinguish between truth and falsehood and guide their critical thinking.

In this generation, children no longer blindly trust textbooks and are willing to Google or use ChatGPT to challenge their teachers. They learn very quickly through videos and apps, but their knowledge is often fragmented. Therefore, the task of adults is to help them connect these pieces into a solid foundation of knowledge.

The AI ​​era is not the era of machines, but the era of "humanity." As machines excel at computing and memorizing, humans are compelled to do better at… being human. This includes creative thinking, ethics, empathy, and the ability to connect.

Don't resort to extreme prohibitions, nor should you simply abandon technology to its whims. Let's be like "digital guardians," guiding our children through the "yellow light" zone towards the "green light" of knowledge, while always preserving the "red light" foundation of integrity and self-effort.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/trang-bi-tu-duy-ai-cho-hoc-sinh-185251211190554843.htm