Teachers and students use artificial intelligence every day. Pennsylvania lawmakers explored if policy is needed to guide this use in a hearing today.
Philosophers, college staff, and national policy experts spoke to House Education Committee members in Pittsburgh. Researchers educated lawmakers about AI tools that integrate with physical tools– like a physics program that lets students build blocks on a table, or glasses that alert teachers which students in a classroom need help on work.
Conversations about screen time, workforce preparation, and equity continued throughout the two hour hearing.
Rep. Paul Takac asked if education was switching from teaching content to teaching how to ask questions or use tools. Educators grappled with how some processes might be unnecessary to teach when machines can provide the answer; testifiers also said students should be taught to question answers from artificial intelligence (a skill which requires some content knowledge).
There was conversation on how and if students should interact with open models like ChatGPT or Gemini. Researchers leaned towards developing specific AI tools, like a chatbot that won’t give answers but will tell a student if an answer is wrong.
Experts spoke on how artificial intelligence can help personalize education for students.
“If we could do an IEP (individual education plan) for every student, we would. We would follow that particular student’s learning needs and we would fill the gaps for that particular student. We haven’t had the resources to do that. That’s the reality. It’s too expensive. I think AI is the resources that’s going to fill that gap,” said Dr. Lori Bailey, assistant dean of enrollment, tech, assessment at Temple University.
Researchers encouraged lawmakers that broad, consistent policy can be helpful to get the education industry unified and not duplicating services.