As a private high school, we’re always exploring ways we can help our students thrive. As a STEM-focused school, we embrace technology that enhances learning. We use everything from flight simulators to digital learning platforms.
Now, with AI becoming a larger and larger part of our everyday lives, we know it needs to also be a part of our education. Students in this day and age need to have a foundational understanding of AI because it is changing the world around us.
AI is a Tool, Not a Teacher
Nothing replaces a great teacher. The personal relationships students build with educators help guide, challenge, and inspire teens at a critical time in their development.
Teachers do more than deliver content. Educational leaders can help guide students as they learn. They show them new ways to think about complex problems, encourage teamwork, and often help students discover new passions and careers they never considered.
We know great educators make all the difference in a student’s educational journey.
We also realize that technology can enhance student learning.
At Rising Aviation, we already utilize a number of technological tools to help students learn including Edgenuity to deliver coursework, flight simulators to help students learn to fly airplanes, and hands-on shop equipment to construct airplanes.
So we consider AI to be a tool that can help accelerate student learning when used correctly.
AI can offer alternative explanations for challenging topics. It can deliver instant feedback as students think through problems. And it can create practice problems over and over while coaching students on how to get to the correct answer.
AI is an incredible tool for learning but it won’t replace the mentorship, encouragement, and accountability found in a great educator.
Helping Students Learn to Use AI, Not Lean on It
AI is incredibly powerful, and incredibly easy to misuse. So students need to learn how to treat AI like a co-pilot.
It isn’t there to do all the work for them but instead there to assist as they work to accomplish whatever task they are working on.
Our goal is to help our students gain the essential critical thinking skills they need to operate throughout their lives. We want students who can think their way through a problem without relying on an AI tool to give them the answer.
We also want to teach our students to be ethically aware. They need to know that we are pushing them to learn because it will benefit them in the long run. And while the AI shortcut is tempting, relying completely on it will only hurt themselves and their future prospects.
Finally, we need to teach our teens how to actually use AI effectively. How to create prompts, how to stay up to date with the latest models, and how to use it to help them learn faster and think more deeply.
Preparing Students for an AI-Filled Future
AI will continue to advance at a rapid rate and transform industries in ways we can’t imagine. So how can we help prepare our students for such an unknown and uncertain future?
The two points mentioned above will certainly help. Individuals who learn how to utilize AI tools in an effective and appropriate way while also developing essential critical thinking skills will be able to stay ahead of their peers who lack those abilities.
The reality is, there isn’t any single tool we can teach our students that will prepare them for this unknown AI-filled future.
However, what we can do is focus on adaptability. By teaching our students how to ask thoughtful questions and become lifelong learners who are capable of mastering new skills throughout their lives as technology continues to advance.
By helping students build the right habits, values, and thinking skills today, we will equip them to meet the challenges and opportunities of tomorrow.
