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In the age of digitalization, artificial intelligence (AI) has become a ubiquitous tool transforming many industries, including education. Despite its growing importance, AI remains abstract and often needs to be understood by many students. This article discusses the relevance of AI in education and how, through a daily question-based pedagogical approach, we can help students better understand the advantages and disadvantages of AI tools. As a teacher, I implemented this approach in the classroom. In this article, I share my experience.
According to a UNESCO report, AI has the potential to address some of the biggest challenges in education today, innovate teaching and learning practices, and accelerate progress towards achieving Sustainable Development Goal 4. Although efforts have been made to integrate AI into the school curriculum, they often need more resources and an understanding of effective teaching with artificial intelligence.
“There is a growing trend towards using a question-based pedagogical approach to teaching with AI. It involves asking relevant contextualized questions so that students investigate, formulate questions correctly, evaluate the results, discern the information, and obtain valid information they can use later.”
Question-Based Learning for Comprehension (QBLC)
Question-Based Learning for Comprehension (QBLC) allows us to build integrative and contextualized learning environments on the content based on an ordered sequence of questions that can be factual, comprehension, and creative questions (Sánchez Soto, 2017). This method allows students to explore their previous ideas and synthesize acquired information (organizing and hierarchizing it) to transfer and apply their knowledge to new situations. In addition, it strengthens collaboration and metacognitive skills (learning to learn) (IPChile, 2023).
On the other hand, instruction-based learning is a machine learning technique in which the computer receives a series of instructions or questions and then learns from them. This technique is similar to how humans learn by asking questions and trying to find the answers (TechEdu, 2023).
Regarding the resurgence of Question-Based Learning combined with Artificial Intelligence (AI), QBLC has resurfaced in modern education due to its focus on the student and its ability to foster critical thinking and problem-solving. In the information age, where access to data is quick and easy, QBLC helps students learn how to learn, an essential skill for navigating the sea of information.
Moreover, AI has adopted techniques like Question-Based Learning to enhance its learning capabilities. Like QBLC, AI learns through asking questions and seeking answers, i.e., learning from data in a human-like way. In this sense, QBLC and AI are intrinsically related, based on asking questions to acquire knowledge.
Implementing Question-Based Learning for Comprehension with AI Tools in the Classroom
A question-based pedagogical approach can apply regardless of the student’s grade level. It is essential to know what students associate with artificial intelligence in their daily lives and to shape a context for the questions. As a technology teacher in general education, I have implemented this approach in my Technology, Philosophy, and Language classes. Here is my experience:
a. Integration of questions about AI in daily class discussions
In my daily classes, I integrate questions that pique my students’ curiosity about artificial intelligence. Some questions could include:
- How do virtual assistants like Alexa or Siri learn to understand and answer your questions?
- Can these artificial intelligence agents learn without data provided by humans?
These everyday questions allow students to reflect on the learning process of AI and its reliance on human data.
b. Use various technologies and strategies
To enrich the learning experience, I have employed various technologies and strategies, such as online learning platforms and project-based activities. Specific examples include:
- Integration of interactive simulations that allow students to experiment with artificial intelligence algorithms, like PhET: Free online simulations. It is a portal offering multiple resources for interactive science and math simulations. You can perform physics, chemistry, biology, earth sciences, and mathematics simulations, where students learn playfully and experientially.
- Project development, where students design their own AI models to solve specific problems. ChatGPT provides this experience with its latest update. It allows the user to set up a GPT-based bot and instruct it to behave in a certain way. Students learn basic artificial intelligence concepts and natural language processing in this context (for example, what is a model? How is it trained? What is a corpus? How is it evaluated?). Likewise, students develop communication and creativity skills to define a purpose, know the audience, and set the bot’s tone to generate intriguing and coherent dialogues.
These strategies provide a hands-on approach for students to understand the fundamentals of artificial intelligence.
c. Positive Results and Increased Understanding
The results obtained in my classes have been highly positive. Not only did students demonstrate more interest in AI, but they also exhibited a deeper understanding. Examples of increased understanding were:
- They could explain how virtual assistants use data to improve their responses.
- They could identify everyday situations where AI plays a crucial role. For example, why do social networks offer increasingly specific recommendations aligned with my interests and tastes? How can they recognize and tag people? Why do NETFLIX or SPOTIFY know so many of my tastes? How is it that the photographs taken with specific mobile devices automatically take several photographs, make merged, and deliver a better one? Will self-driving cars be more common and reliable soon? How do apps like Google Maps and Waze analyze traffic in real-time and give recommendations?
These indicators showed that the question-based approach achieved its goal of improving the understanding of artificial intelligence.
d. Significant Benefits for Learning
Students reported significant benefits from the question-based approach. Some relevant comments were:
- “I better understand how AI affects our daily lives.”
- “Now I see that AI goes beyond what I thought; it is part of everything.”
These testimonials reflect how the approach positively influenced students’ perception and understanding of AI.
e. Areas of Opportunity to Improve Implementation
There is always room for improving implementation, and I identified the following areas of opportunity:
- Provide additional resources, such as educational material and tools, to support teaching with AI tools.
- Offer ongoing support to teachers to address specific challenges and ensure more effective implementation.
Reflection
Artificial intelligence has great potential to transform education. However, we must find effective ways to teach AI in classrooms to harness this potential. Therefore, I invite other educators to implement this approach in their classrooms. By doing so, they will be able to help their students better understand AI and see its relevance in everyday life.
About the Author
Luis Andrés Villalón Vega (luisvillalon@uchile.cl) is a researcher and science communicator. Has a Master’s in Evaluation, a bachelor’s in education, and a diploma in Web Design and Programming. He is a Fellow at Aspire Institute at Harvard University. Currently, he is a communications coordinator at the Center of New Drugs for Hypertension at the University of Chile.
References
UNESCO. (2022). Artificial intelligence in education. https://www.unesco.org/en/digital-education/artificial-intelligence
Duck Learning Opportunities in Education. (2022). 50 Cool AI and Machine Learning Projects for Students [For 2022]. https://ducklearning.com/blogs/parent-and-educator-resources/50-cool-ai-and-machine-learning-projects-for-students-for-2022
IPCHILE, Instituto Profesional de Chile (2023). Ficha Para Implementar Y Evaluar Metodología Aprendizaje Basado En Preguntas Para La Comprensión (ABPC). https://www.ipchile.cl/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/FICHA-IMPLEMENTAR-Y-EVALUAR-METODOLOG%C3%8DA-ABPC.pdf
Sánchez Soto, I. (2017). APRENDIZAJE BASADO EN PREGUNTAS Y SU IMPACTO EN LAS ESTRATEGIAS DE APRENDIZAJE EN FISICA. Enseñanza de las ciencias: revista de investigación y experiencias didácticas, 2017, n.º Extra, pp. 1903-1908. https://raco.cat/index.php/Ensenanza/article/view/336741/427526
TeachThought. (2021). What Is Question-Based Learning? What Is Question-Based Learning? (teachthought.com)
TechEdu (2023). Aprendizaje basado en preguntas. https://techlib.net/techedu/aprendizaje-basado-en-preguntas/
Turing, A. M. (1936). On Computable Numbers, with an Application to the Entscheidungsproblem. Proceedings of the London Mathematical Society, s2-42(1), 230–265.
Turing, A. M. (1950). Computing Machinery and Intelligence. Mind, LIX (236), 433–460
Editing
Edited by Rubí Román (rubi.roman@tec.mx) – Editor of the Edu bits articles and producer of The Observatory webinars- “Learning that inspires” – Observatory of the Institute for the Future of Education at Tec de Monterrey.
Translation
Daniel Wetta
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