A NZ Council for Education Research survey of teachers and students found that there was "a dire need" for guidance on best practice for AI in schools. Photo: UnSplash/ Taylor Flowe
Primary school children say using AI sometimes feels like cheating and teachers warn their "Luddite" colleagues are "freaking out" about the technology.
The insights come from an NZ Council for Education Research survey that warns primary and intermediate schools need urgent support for using Artificial Intelligence in the classroom.
The council said its survey of 266 teachers and 147 pupils showed "a dire need" for guidance on best practice.
It found teachers were experimenting with generative AI tools such as ChatGPT for tasks like lesson planning and personalising learning materials to match children's interests and skills, and many of their students were using it too though generally at home rather than in the classroom.
But the survey of teachers and also found most primary schools did not have AI policies.
"Teachers often don't have the appropriate training, they are often using the free models that are more prone to error and bias, and there is a dire need for guidance on best practice for using AI in the primary classroom," report author David Coblentz said.
Coblentz said schools needed national guidance and students needed lessons in critical literacy so they understood the tools they were using and their in-built biases.
He said in the meantime schools could immediately improve the quality of AI use and teacher and student privacy by avoiding free AI tools and using more reliable AI.
The report said most of the teachers who responded to the survey said they had noted mistakes in AI-generated information.
Most believed less than a third of their pupils, or none at all, were using AI for learning but 66 percent were worried their students might become too reliant on the technology.
Most of the mostly Year 7-8 students surveyed in four schools had heard of AI, and less than half said they had never used it.
Those who did use AI mostly did so outside of school.
"Between one-eighth and one-half of users at each school said they asked AI to answer questions "for school or fun" (12%-50%). Checking or fixing writing attracted moderate proportions everywhere (29%-45%). Smaller proportions used AI for idea generation on projects or homework (6%-32%) and for gaming assistance (12%-41%). Talking to AI "like a friend" showed wide variation, from one in eight (12%) at Case A to nearly half (47%) at the all-girls' Case D," the survey report said.
Across the four schools, between 55 and 72 percent agreed "Using AI sometimes feels like cheating" and between 38 and 74 percent agreed "Using AI too much can make it hard for kids to learn on their own".
Roughly a quarter said they were better at using AI tools than the grown-ups they knew.
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