Students across one chain of private schools spend just two hours a day in a classroom. There are no teachers or homework. It’s a new model of schooling powered by artificial intelligenceand it’s growing.
T姻AIlblazing is a monthly column capturing the latest trends and innovations surrounding artificial intelligence and its impact on K12 based on research and conversations with district leaders.
At Alpha School, the founded in Austin, Texas, students receive tailored instruction and are “done by lunch,” according to its website. It’s an emerging alternative in the growing school choice movement, contributing to enrollment woes for public school districts.
Last fall, Alpha School opened a campus in downtown Manhattan’s Financial District, according to the , where tuition is roughly $65,000 a year.
In two hours, students are taught language, math, science and history through guided lessons on tablets and laptops. The only adults in the room serve as “guides,” not teachers.
The rest of the day is spent completing “life skill workshops,” according to the news outlet. This includes solving a Rubik’s Cube, assembling furniture and other real-world tasks.
This model can help students learn twice as fast as traditional schools, Alpha Schools cofounder MacKenzie Price told theNew York Post.
“Teachers aren’t going to be replaced, they’re going to be transformed, and it’s such an exciting time for them,” she said.
Meanwhile, Texas’ Houston Independent School District is integrating a similar model by turning nine of its campuses into schools, a PreK-8 program designed to combine core academics, human-centered skills and AI training.
The program aims to prepare students for a future driven by artificial intelligence while teaching the skills less likely to be disrupted by AI.
“This is the last generation of children that will go through public education before the skills gap is locked in for the next 30 years,” said Superintendent F. Mike Miles in a statement. “Schools must shift focus from ‘what to know’ to ‘how to think.'”
Similar to Alpha School, students are taught core subjects while completing hands-on tasks and workshops to develop critical thinking and problem-solving skillsbut at no cost.
The pushback
AI use in schools has grown steadily since the release of ChatGPT in November 2022. Last school year, roughly the same share of students (54%) and teachers (53%) used AI for school, a more than 15% increase over the past two school years, according to a RAND Corporation .
Researchers acknowledge that AI can improve student learning, but warn that it can hinder critical thinking.
A published last year in the journal Frontiers in Psychology examining how AI tools impact college students’ academic experiences and well-being revealed that AI provides significant benefits, including personalization, tutoring support, organization and efficiency.
However, it cited growing concerns about students’ overreliance on the technology as students increasingly outsource cognitive tasks to AI rather than developing individual mastery.
It’s a concern many parents share in their feedback on district-level decisions to implement AI. Last week, more than 100 New Yorkers testified at a Panel for Educational Policy meeting, claiming that the Education Department is launching AI tools without clear rules and sufficient knowledge of the technology, 遺鞄温鉛一恢艶温岳油.
Teachers also say that tech use in schools conflicts with the city’s , released in March.
One parent scolded the rollout of edtech in her children’s schools, saying, “The city is telling us that AI is inevitable, but won’t tell me what devices and applications my children are using,” she said, according to Chalkbeat.
Like with any edtech tool, students must first be taught foundational literacy skills that help them navigate AI, Jamie Nunez, senior manager of outreach and training at Common Sense Media, recently told District 91心頭istration.
“There needs to be an understanding about how kids are accessing information and evaluating that information,” Nunez said. “Media literacy, information literacy and AI literacythe ability to understand a tool like AI and what its outputs areare just as important.”
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