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<\/p>\nBy Alexis Fitzpatrick<\/p>\n
I recently overheard a parent discussing how\u00a0AI\u00a0<\/a>makes evenings so peaceful by reducing the toil of her child\u2019s evening math homework by providing solutions to difficult core math questions. Although AI can be useful, my heart sank because most educators will tell you that critical thinking is the key to learning. Another study from\u00a0EDSource<\/a>\u00a0shared that only 35.54% of Californian students met or exceeded their math standards on the state\u2019s CAASPP test in 2024.<\/p>\n An increased dependency on AI for math only stands to increase that learning gap. A recent study from\u00a0SpringerOpen<\/a>\u00a0shared that an over-reliance on AI could lead to many issues, including diminished critical thinking, analytical thinking, and decision-making abilities, a lower ability to spot AI-generated errors and an increase in academic plagiarism.<\/p>\n There is a real risk that an uptick in AI use could further erode our already declining math proficiency scores and permanently damage our children\u2019s critical thinking ability.<\/p>\n The evidence may be sobering, but luckily there are districts like the\u00a0Sacramento City Unified School District<\/a>\u00a0that recognize the risk. Students are not permitted to use AI tools in the classroom unless their teacher explicitly permits access. This approach will preserve the academic environment within the school day.<\/p>\n Students do not benefit from receiving instant solutions. Learning with AI will bypass the child\u2019s ability to gain building blocks to carry into higher-level math. A study from\u00a0Cornell University<\/a>\u00a0shows that large language model users experienced a 32% lower cognitive load compared to those who relied on traditional software to complete tasks. There is a great opportunity for AI chatbot models to provide a \u201chomework mode\u201d in parental settings. Companies should offer parents the option of a meaningful learning format, where the digital instructor asks open-ended questions to guide students to explore an idea instead of only providing solutions.<\/p>\n Since the technology is so new, it\u2019s difficult to predict just how harmful long-term large language model use can have on developing brains. It\u2019s the duty of these tech companies to provide clear education on the potential risks before we see math scores continue to decline.
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As a mother and Chief Financial Officer at a credit union, I see the benefits and risks of using advanced AI systems such as large language models. AI<\/a> can help streamline repetitive tasks and expand creative ideas. But on the other hand, even the creators of these AI systems understand there are risks in placing these platforms in the hands of children.
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Last month, Open AI launched\u00a0ChatGPT for teens<\/a>\u00a0with new safety features. These parental guardrails can help moderate what children are exposed to on chatbot platforms, but it doesn\u2019t prevent AI from eroding the user\u2019s foundational numeracy skills.
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Our current education system relies on procedural math, a method that focuses on the \u201chow\u201d of problem-solving through defined steps to arrive at a solution. This method is great in theory, but in practice, we see some students taking shortcuts instead of understanding the root of a concept.
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Since the pandemic, educators have observed a steady decline in student math scores and numeracy rates with little promise of improvement. In California, only 25 percent of eighth-grade students met\u00a0math proficiency standards<\/a>\u00a0within the past school year.<\/p>\n
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AI companies are going to play a major role in the lives of future generations. However, just as food companies provide nutrition labels listing unhealthy ingredients such as sugar and cholesterol, AI tools should provide clear warnings about academic integrity and the cognitive risks of overindulgence.<\/p>\n
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AI is not going away and is poised to become a significant factor in how we learn, communicate, and conduct business. It\u2019s urgent that we take a conscientious approach in how we introduce children to these tools. If we want the next generation to thrive, we cannot allow convenience to supplant critical thinking.
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Alexis Fitzpatrick is Chief Financial Officer at SAFE Credit Union. She can be reached at\u00a0mediainquiry@safecu.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Alexis Fitzpatrick I recently overheard a parent discussing how\u00a0AI\u00a0makes evenings so peaceful by reducing the toil of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":43431,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[28970,121,123,122],"class_list":{"0":"post-43430","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sacramento","8":"tag-a-i","9":"tag-sacramento","10":"tag-sacramento-headlines","11":"tag-sacramento-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43430"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43430\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}