AI in K-12: Curse or Blessing?
Since the emergence of ChatGPT in 2022, no one has stopped talking about AI. Some dismiss large language models as mere hype, parroting words without true understanding. Others see them as the start of a new era, marked by exponential growth towards artificial superintelligence.
Having spent most of my working life in K-12 education — First as a math teacher and later working with educational publishers worldwide through my company Algebrakit — I’ve observed a striking division between EdTech enthusiasts and educators. A clear example of the enthusiasts’ perspective is the EdTech conference ASU+GSV in San Diego. At this event, there was even a separate conference, “AIR” (for “AI Revolution”), which featured presentation after presentation promising AI would finally “fix” education. Then, amid all the glitter and glamour, Dan Meyer put everyone’s feet back on the ground in his powerful presentation.
What can we realistically expect from AI in education? Nobody knows for sure. After reading from and listening to leading thinkers in the global education space, I do see the contours of what the future should hold.
Changing skills for workforce and higher education
There is little doubt that AI will have a big impact on how we work in the future. AI may make some jobs obsolete. More often it will be a side-kick that enhances our productivity and helps us make better decisions. A great analogy, for those old enough to know, is Captain Jean-Luc Picard in the science fiction series Star Trek Next Generation, who relies on the superb mental capabilities of his android Data to lead his crew through numerous challenges.
This shift, where machines take on more analysis and routine tasks, will change the skill sets needed for future jobs. According to the World Economic Forum, the top ten skills essential for the future include higher-order abilities like creative thinking, resilience, flexibility, motivation, and self-awareness. Renowned educational researcher Chris Dede argues in his book, “The 60-year curriculum”, that higher education must undergo significant changes to foster these skills.
However, these high-level skills cannot be learned independently across all domains. Being a creative thinker as an engineer doesn’t automatically make you an effective writer. Mastery requires a solid foundation, which is laid down by primary and secondary education.
K-12 education provides the foundation
Unlike higher education, primary and secondary schools are not geared towards a profession. Instead, they set students up for life as informed, capable, and responsible citizens. These foundational stages are crucial because they provide the skills and knowledge that everybody needs, no matter what path they eventually choose.
In today’s world, every child must learn to read and write proficiently, interpret data, and develop strong numeracy skills. These abilities are essential for functioning in a modern society, where we’re constantly bombarded with information. Whether it’s understanding a news article, making sense of numbers in a budget, or using data to make informed decisions, these skills are critical.
Moreover, many careers depend heavily on mathematical knowledge. Fields like engineering, science, medicine, and accounting all require a solid grounding in mathematics. Yes, AI can perform these skills as well, and soon probably even better than humans. But, that doesn’t mean we can skip learning them ourselves. We all still learn arithmetic and hand-held calculators have been around for decades. And nobody would claim learning to read is redundant because you can use modern text-to-speech capabilities. Similarly, you cannot be an engineer if you don’t master calculus, even with the availability of powerful AI tools that do. These skills form the backbone of understanding, and mastering them remains crucial for personal and professional development.
The importance of teachers in K-12
In April 2024, a striking piece was published in Education Next. The article reviewed the efficacy studies of four of the most widely used EdTech platforms in the United States, being Khan Academy, i-Ready, Dreambox, and IXL. Those studies showed impressive learning gains, equivalent to several months of additional schooling.
There was a catch, however. Those learning gains applied to only 5% of the students, who used the tools “as recommended”. These kids were already high-performing and therefore didn’t need those tools in the first place. What’s wrong here? Why are not all students benefiting equally from modern technology? The article discusses many possible reasons, such as varying student motivation and school or teacher commitment. The important thing is that these are reasons beyond technology.
Middle and high school students are at puberty age and concerned with many things, but not necessarily learning math at school. Getting them all to learn effectively is what constitutes the art of teaching. It’s the teachers that put all students to work, through motivation, reminding, support, pressure or whatever the child needs at that specific moment. While AI tools can offer support, the personalized element that teachers bring to the classroom can’t be replaced. Anyone who thinks AI is about to take over the role of the teacher, is either out of touch or pushing an agenda.
AI as an impact multiplier
That doesn’t mean there are no use cases for AI in education, however. Our current educational system faces many challenges. Demands on teachers continue to rise from large class sizes, additional administrative tasks, chronic absenteeism post-pandemic, and learning gaps. Teachers get negative backlash from the media and communities and make less per year than many other careers requiring a college degree. It’s no wonder many countries suffer from teacher shortages.
One opportunity where AI can offer relief is formative assessment. Unlike summative assessment, which assigns a grade at the end of learning, formative assessments focus on providing feedback while students learn. Summative tests are a necessary evil with some negative side effects, such as high anxiety and students feeling reduced to a grade. Formative assessments, however, encourage continuous learning to help students grow—something we can’t have enough of in schools.
With AI, we can apply formative assessments more frequently by generating questions and offering direct and meaningful feedback. The benefit of AI is not only the reduced workload for teachers to create, evaluate and provide feedback for all their students. Immediate feedback, provided when the student is learning, is much more effective than feedback provided days later. Students can correct any misconceptions while their thoughts are still in working memory.
Formative assessments for mathematics
This is especially true for mathematics, where problem-solving is an important mechanism to develop conceptual understanding, procedural fluency, and application. Care must be taken to keep AI from taking over the problem-solving process altogether or explaining problems too quickly. Large language models are eager to solve the problem for you, but that’s exactly the opposite of what constitutes learning. Great teachers don’t provide answers. They keep students challenged, providing nuggets or scaffolds only when needed to keep students in their zone of proximal development.
At Algebrakit, we are very aware of this. We don’t just generate solutions, although we certainly can. Instead, we present multi-step problems for the students to solve. The goal is to keep the challenge alive while keeping students engaged to keep working, thinking and learning.
Conclusion
I have no doubt that AI will have a tremendous impact on our effectiveness during our professional lives. However, these use cases for work can be detrimental when applied thoughtlessly in K12. In the working world, we focus on outcomes—getting things done and achieving results. However, K-12 education is about the process, the challenge, and the learning journey.
If we use AI to take away those challenges, we rob students of the opportunity to master foundational skills and ultimately develop resilience, creative thinking and the other top skills they will need in the future.
