I’m finding this “debate” is coming up a lot in the discussions about the use of LLMs in education. A lot of people who are coming to my school to talk about these things, or books/articles I am reading referencing how they are going to change education (they will) seem to suggest that students will be able to access, format and essentially download knowledge so instantaneously via LLMs and such like, that our teaching will shift dramatically to more “skills based” tasks. I have found this borderline impossible to reason with as the skills that are being suggested we pivot to in the face of LLMs aren’t really possible without the students having at the very least a foundational knowledge level in the first place.
How can a student pick apart a piece of writing about a historical event that they haven’t produced themselves, without knowing about the events first, or having a strong enough level of vocabulary to examine it? The better they know the topic, the better their examination of it will be. These things take time to embed and there are few shortcuts to this, and I’m not sure that outsourcing the knowledge gain is especially possible or conducive to developing the skills we want our students to develop. LLMs will doubtlessly have a place in our education system - we’d be foolish not to use them - but I can’t help but think if we expect them to learn knowledge on behalf of the students that we will only serve to flatten the intellect of our students to society’s detriment.
LLMs can not create a complex world model in your mind, which is necessary for any deep thought. Reading what is essentially a Wikipedia on command will not create that model, and will likely only give the student an inflated sense of mastery over the subject.
Can anyone point me towards recent research into the efficacy (or lack thereof) of 4Cs pedagogy? The 4Cs (so-called Communication, Collaboration, Creative and Critical Thinking skills) are also referred to as 'future-focused' or '21st century' skills.
Daisy, I love your use of the metaphor, baking a cake. As a learning professional in the US, I have worked across many verticals (i.e., corporate learning, professional development for educators, etc.) and can confirm what you've said. The other challenge related to job skills is there is an assumption that learning is like a bank -- make a deposit and then just withdraw it when needed. How would you suggest we overcome this illusion? Particularly for all these job training and apprentice programs. My only response, can't think of it like a bank...it is actually like a balloon. Fill it up with lots of "air" and eventually over time it leaks out. Thoughts?
I’m finding this “debate” is coming up a lot in the discussions about the use of LLMs in education. A lot of people who are coming to my school to talk about these things, or books/articles I am reading referencing how they are going to change education (they will) seem to suggest that students will be able to access, format and essentially download knowledge so instantaneously via LLMs and such like, that our teaching will shift dramatically to more “skills based” tasks. I have found this borderline impossible to reason with as the skills that are being suggested we pivot to in the face of LLMs aren’t really possible without the students having at the very least a foundational knowledge level in the first place.
How can a student pick apart a piece of writing about a historical event that they haven’t produced themselves, without knowing about the events first, or having a strong enough level of vocabulary to examine it? The better they know the topic, the better their examination of it will be. These things take time to embed and there are few shortcuts to this, and I’m not sure that outsourcing the knowledge gain is especially possible or conducive to developing the skills we want our students to develop. LLMs will doubtlessly have a place in our education system - we’d be foolish not to use them - but I can’t help but think if we expect them to learn knowledge on behalf of the students that we will only serve to flatten the intellect of our students to society’s detriment.
LLMs can not create a complex world model in your mind, which is necessary for any deep thought. Reading what is essentially a Wikipedia on command will not create that model, and will likely only give the student an inflated sense of mastery over the subject.
Can anyone point me towards recent research into the efficacy (or lack thereof) of 4Cs pedagogy? The 4Cs (so-called Communication, Collaboration, Creative and Critical Thinking skills) are also referred to as 'future-focused' or '21st century' skills.
Daisy, I love your use of the metaphor, baking a cake. As a learning professional in the US, I have worked across many verticals (i.e., corporate learning, professional development for educators, etc.) and can confirm what you've said. The other challenge related to job skills is there is an assumption that learning is like a bank -- make a deposit and then just withdraw it when needed. How would you suggest we overcome this illusion? Particularly for all these job training and apprentice programs. My only response, can't think of it like a bank...it is actually like a balloon. Fill it up with lots of "air" and eventually over time it leaks out. Thoughts?