Can we show students the detriment of relying on artificial intelligence (AI) in critical thinking exercises and help them identify and strengthen their own rational agency while doing so? Yes, we can. Critical thinking, as a professor in Philosophy, is in my estimation perhaps the most important skill we can cultivate in our students. With the rise of chatbots doing so has, alas, become increasingly difficult. I propose to explain and walk through an assignment that exposes a weakness of AI in learning while helping students to better appreciate the potential and power of their own rational agency.
I start by assigning a moderately challenging short philosophical reading. Students are asked to find an AI generated summary, read the summary, then ask the same AI service to generate two seemingly personal and critical reflections on the reading which they then revise or submit as-is as their own. Students then grade their assignment against the rubric I provide in the course.
In stage two students review the AI-generated summary before reading the assignment itself, during which they are asked to underline or highlight two to four sentences per page. They then select the two most (for any reason) provocative sentences and, for each, write a 4-6 sentence reflection that interprets and critically reflects on the sentence before explaining why they chose to write about it.
In stage three students contrast their comments with the AI-generated comments and write a reflection that identifies one to two benefits of the AI approach and one to two benefits of the non-AI approach. I then introduce a conversational question about intellectual growth wherein, as things unfold, I help students to consider the enduring gains of active reading and relying on their own rational agency for critical reflection.
Knowing that all assignments are graded by the same rubric, each student is then given a choice. They can complete future readings and assignments with as much AI assistance as they like or they can pledge that while they may use AI for quick summaries, they will also read each assignment itself and their reflection comments will be entirely their own work. Each student takes the same exams. The aim of this activity is to help students identify specific though narrower benefits of AI in learning while demonstrating, for those who take the pledge, the power and potential of their own rational and critical agency.
The THInC Forum would be decidedly interactive. Participants will be introduced to the basic idea and aim of the activity before being prompted to walk through a shortened version, after which we will have an exploratory conversation about implementing it in a variety of grades and courses. With the activity and concluding exploration, participants will be well-equipped to create similar assignments for their students if they choose to do so.