geralt / Pixabay

 

I’ve previously posted Here’s A Draft Week-Long Unit On Artificial Intelligence I’m Using To Finish The Year – Help Me Make It Better that I’m using in my IB Theory of Knowledge classes (by the way, if you go there you’ll notice a link to an introductory activity I have added to it, but it won’t be “live” until after Tuesday – I want to keep it under wraps until after students actually do it.  I’m concerned if our district’s tech department learns about it, they’ll block some of the links).

Now, I’m starting to think of if I should try an AI activity with my Intermediate ELL U.S. History students.

They will be doing a project identifying their choices for key figures and events in U.S. History.

Ordinarily, I’d then have them write a short historical biography of one of the people they chose.

Instead, though, I wonder if they should ask AI this prompt:

Write a four paragraph historical biography of _____________ featuring his/her family life, his/her main accomplishments, his/her challenges and his/her legacy.

Then, after AI generates it, students have to do two things with it:

One, they have to put each paragraph in their own “voice.”

Secondly, they have to fact check everything in the paragraph to confirm if it’s accurate or not and document their research.  If it isn’t, they have to correct it.

Here’s a model of the first paragraph of an AI-generated bio of Abraham Lincoln, followed by how I put it in a student’s voice and then documented my research:

Abraham Lincoln, born on February 12, 1809, in Hodgenville, Kentucky, had a profound impact on American history as the 16th President of the United States. Family played an essential role in Lincoln’s life. He married Mary Todd in 1842, and together they had four sons. Tragically, only one of their children, Robert Todd Lincoln, survived into adulthood. Lincoln was known for his deep love and devotion to his family, providing them with support and care throughout his life.

My version:

Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809, in Hodgenville, Kentucky. He had a big impact on American history as the 16th President of the United States. Family was important to Lincoln. He married Mary Todd in 1842 and had four sons. Only one lived to become an adult. Family was very important to Lincoln.

I confirmed his date and place of birth at https://www.ilsos.gov/departments/archives/teaching_packages/abraham_lincoln/home.html#:~:text=Back%20to%20Top-,Historical%20Background,Lincoln%20and%20Nancy%20Hanks%20Lincoln.

I confirmed information about his family at https://www.britannica.com/biography/Abraham-Lincoln/Lincolns-family

 

What do you think?  Any ideas on how I make it more rigorous?

I’m thinking that this lesson might be a first step in them recognizing that they want to use AI to enhance their voice.

 

ADDENDUM:

I shared this on social media, and here’s one good suggestion that I’ll incorporate:

This was caution:

I think that is possible, though unlikely at this point since I’m pretty confident that this will be the first time most of my ELL students will be using this kind of AI.

However, this second tweet did remind me that I should ask students, as I often do when writing is involved, that if they are going to use Google Translate (which is likely), “use it for words, not for sentences.”

 

I’m adding this post to THE “BEST” IDEAS FOR USING CHATGPT, BARD, & OTHER FORMS OF AI WITH STUDENTS.