ChatGPT and what it means for students

MIT RAISE adds ChatGPT curriculum for all ages to Day of AI

All of a sudden, ChatGPT is everywhere. The AI chatbot from OpenAI launched just a few months ago and immediately became the subject of countless news stories about the impact this technology will have — on our children, on education, on our work now and in the future. But what is ChatGPT? What can (and can’t) it actually do? Should we allow our students to use ChatGPT in their schoolwork or should we try to stop them? Most importantly, how do we discuss this new technology with students to help them navigate this complex conversation?

This week, the MIT RAISE team published a new Day of AI curriculum to help educators introduce their students to the basics of ChatGPT. Designed to be accessible to teachers and students of all backgrounds from grade 3 and up, ChatGPT in School provides the resources to help teachers lead students through activities to understand what ChatGPT is and how it works, the process ChatGPT uses to generate stories and human-like dialogue, and the social and ethical implications of the large language models upon which ChatGPT is built. Considering how ChatGPT’s creative process is similar and different to their own, students will then deliberate on recommendations for how and when ChatGPT should or should not be used in their school.

“It is very important for kids to know what is going on under the hood,” Safinah Ali, a PhD student at the MIT Media Lab and one of the ChatGPT curriculum’s developers, told The New York Times last week. “AI will transform the nature of our jobs and children’s future careers.”

If you haven’t yet, register for Day of AI today to get full access to the ChatGPT in Schools and all the rest of the free curriculum resources from MIT RAISE:

Grades K-2:
What can AI do?

Grades 3–5:
Teachable Machines
AI Blueprint Bill of Rights

Grades 6–8:
Can Machines Be Creative?
Game AI

Grades 9–12:
AI in Social Media
Data Science and Me

Grades 9–12 (Computer Science):
Personal Image Classifier
Data Science and Decision Making
Data Science and Me (coding version)

Explore at your own pace and teach the Day of AI curriculum in your class when and how you choose. And don’t forget to join our Day of AI celebration on May 18!

ChatGPT and what it means for students was originally published in MIT Open Learning on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.