Generative AI has crashed its way into almost every aspect of our digital lives, especially for students of almost every level. The question most commonly asked as a result of this is its place in leaning environments and if students should be using it, and if so, how best they should leverage it.

It’ an obvious truth that it is not going away, students will continue to use it for school purposes, so how should we instruct them to use it best?

Keeping aside obvious misuses of it (cheating, plagiarism), one of the best uses students can leverage is using these large language models for research and studying methods to help further their education.

Starting with Research, at the most rudimentary level, students can ask LLMs to give and overview of a concept or topic of which they want to know. Here’s an example based around natural selection:

Following this, should they wish to know more on a given topic, they can then follow up with more in depth questions, even relating to what the teacher has assigned:

Finally, if they are say to want to review for particular test, quiz or other form of assessment, they can ask LLMs such as ChatGPT to create worksheets, quizzes and review sheets to solidify their knowledge and understanding of the topic, the following text was generated using the input: “Make a quick review sheet for me concerning this topic”:

Quick Review Sheet: Natural Selection and Inheritance

Natural Selection

  • Definition: The process where organisms with traits better suited to their environment survive and reproduce more successfully.
  • Key Steps:
    1. Variation: Differences in traits among individuals in a population.
    2. Survival & Reproduction: Traits that improve survival chances lead to more offspring.
    3. Inheritance: Advantageous traits are passed to the next generation.
    4. Adaptation: Over generations, populations become better adapted to their environment.

Inheritance

  • Definition: The passing of genetic information (genes) from parents to offspring.
  • Key Concepts:
    • Genes: Units of inheritance made of DNA, found on chromosomes.
    • Chromosomes: Structures that organize DNA; humans have 23 pairs.
    • Dominant Traits: Only one copy of the gene is needed to show the trait (e.g., brown eyes).
    • Recessive Traits: Two copies of the gene are needed to show the trait (e.g., blue eyes).
    • Genotype: Genetic makeup of an organism (e.g., BB, Bb, bb).
    • Phenotype: Physical expression of the genotype (e.g., brown eyes, blue eyes).

Examples of Natural Selection

  • Peppered Moths: Dark-colored moths became more common during the Industrial Revolution because they blended better with soot-covered trees, avoiding predators.
  • Antibiotic Resistance: Bacteria with resistance genes survive antibiotics and reproduce, leading to resistant populations.

Key Vocabulary

  1. Adaptation: A trait that helps an organism survive and reproduce.
  2. Selection Pressure: Environmental factors that influence which traits are advantageous.
  3. Mutation: Random changes in DNA that create variation.
  4. Fitness: An organism’s ability to survive and reproduce.

Quick Tip

Remember the phrase “VSRIA”:

  • Variation
  • Survival
  • Reproduction
  • Inheritance
  • Adaptation

(End of ChatGPT generated response)

It is important to note that teaching students the best ways to use these is critical. Without the proper knowledge, it is all too easy for them to become over reliant on these models or not be able to cross reference their information, potentially leading to misunderstandings on a topic. The final note of “VSRIA” is potentially an example of this, as it appears to be entirely fabricated for this response and lacks any sort of grounding to real terms which would make it an easy acronym for students to recall.

All prompts and responses shown were input into ChatGPT: https://chatgpt.com/