{"id":721290,"date":"2026-06-07T16:22:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-07T16:22:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/721290\/"},"modified":"2026-06-07T16:22:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-07T16:22:11","slug":"b-c-schools-are-bringing-ai-into-classrooms-but-some-parents-worry-it-will-harm-critical-thinking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/721290\/","title":{"rendered":"B.C. schools are bringing AI into classrooms, but some parents worry it will harm critical thinking"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Text<\/p>\n

Listen to this article<\/p>\n

Estimated 4 minutes<\/p>\n

The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.<\/p>\n

AI has entered the chat \u2026 in schools.\u00a0<\/p>\n

School districts across the province have started implementing AI policies and approving AI platforms for students and teachers alike. Last week, the Vancouver School Board (VSB) rolled out AI chatbot accounts for students aged 13 and up, specifically, Microsoft Copilot.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to support [students] in their learning. We also want to be able to give them multiple pathways to post secondary and we want to prepare them for work,\u201d VSB associate superintendent Pedro Da Silva told CBC\u2019s The Early Edition. \u201cWe anticipate that AI is going to be an incredibly important part of all three of those things moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

But some parents are raising concerns about how AI will impact their children\u2019s ability to truly learn and think critically.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When Ben Humphreys of Vancouver learned his six-year-old daughter could eventually be using AI in classrooms, he started researching its effects on young brains. The technology is relatively new, so information about it is fairly limited, but he found early studies suggesting AI might reduce students\u2019 problem-solving abilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you’re trying to learn how to do a new technique in mathematics, it’s hard, it sucks,\u201d he said. \u201cThat difficulty is what makes it stick.\u201d<\/p>\n

LISTEN | Why Ben Humphreys is against AI in schools:<\/p>\n

The Early Edition7:41Vancouver parent responds to AI chatbot integration in schools<\/p>\n

Ben Humphreys is the co-founder of Parents for AI Caution in Educational Spaces, an advocacy group in Vancouver.<\/p>\n

AI chatbots helping along the way could make it more difficult for students to learn, he said. And while workplaces may be adopting AI technology, he said, school is supposed to give children the skills to learn.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Surrey Schools superintendent Mark Pearmain said AI is out there, and it\u2019s important kids know how to navigate it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOur students are using ChatGPT or Claude or other platforms outside of the school district time,\u201d he said. \u201cWe just want to ensure that they know how to safely use that and how to safely use the platform in a morally positive way and ethically.\u201d<\/p>\n

WATCH | B.C. schools launch AI chatbots despite parent concerns:\"\"<\/p>\n

Some B.C. high schools introducing AI tools amid parental concerns<\/p>\n

B.C. schools are starting to introduce AI tools in classrooms, including in Vancouver and Surrey. For more on how it’s being used in schools and potential concerns, CBC’s Michelle Eliot spoke with Pedro da Silva, associate superintendent with the Vancouver School Board, Mark Pearmain, the superintendent of Surrey Schools, and Ben Humphreys with the group Parents for AI Caution in Educational Spaces.<\/p>\n

He said students will learn the difference between using AI to do the work for them and using it as a \u201cthought partner,\u201d that is, using it to find information but cross-referencing with trusted sources to make sure that info is factual.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThought partners also, though, is a way of checking work,\u201d Pearmain added. \u201cSo for example, if a student is going to computer science class and they’re coding, they can actually use an AI bot, for example, to check their coding to see if it’s actually appropriate or correct.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tanja Hasler, a mother of two teens in Kamloops, B.C., doesn’t believe kids shouldn\u2019t be relying on AI chatbots at school for any reason.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSchool is the place where you’re supposed to wake up the motivation for learning, for inquiring, for asking questions,\u201d she said. \u201cBut we now have machines that regurgitate global human intelligence back to us \u2026 you are taking that critical thinking away. You’re not encouraging the kids to learn any critical thinking.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not to mention, Hasler added, the environmental concerns associated with schools full of people using AI. <\/p>\n

WATCH | Environmental impacts of AI:\"\"<\/p>\n

The environmental cost of AI<\/p>\n

How much energy does AI actually consume? Is it bad for the environment?<\/p>\n

Humphries is part of a group called Parents for AI Caution in Education Spaces, or PACES Vancouver, which has launched a petition to pause the use of AI in Vancouver schools for at least two years, until more is known about how it works and its effects on students.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis technology has only been around for two or three years and for some reason it needs to be in schools right now,\u201d he said. \u201cI think a lot of parents are uncomfortable with their children being the Guinea pigs or the beta testers for this new technology.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Pearmain maintains that AI is out there, so it\u2019s important to teach kids how to use it now.<\/p>\n

\u201cAI is here. The genie is not going to be put back into the bottle and in fact, it’s only going to expand and grow into the future.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 4 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":721291,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[62,276,277,49,48,61],"class_list":["post-721290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/721290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=721290"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/721290\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/721291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=721290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=721290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=721290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}