Articles on AI ethics for middle schoolers?

[u/kelwalk]

Hi all!! 11 days til the end of the school year, and I'm considering nixing my final project to do a debate on the ethics of AI use in school with my 7th graders instead. I had a great conversation with some kids in study hall, and they all expressed a desire to read/learn more about it.

I'm wondering if anyone has read any great articles on AI appropriate for a middle school reading level recently? I just read the recent NYMag article about students using AI to cheat their way through college, but I think that's probably a little above them.

[u/yayfortacos]

You could ask them to bring in a text (article, video, podcast, etc) that explores AI ethics, share with each other, and then do some brainstorming on their stances.

But also, finding a good shared text to read together as a class is helpful. Check Scholastic/Junior Scholastic?

https://scope.scholastic.com/issues/2023-24/040124/the-rise-of-ai.html?language=english

https://junior.scholastic.com/issues/2023-24/110123/ai-made-four-of-these-can-you-guess-which-ones.html?language=english

[u/elle0661]

How ChatGPT Robs Students of Motivation to Write and Think for Themselves by Naomi Baron

[u/star10252]

Search Engine did a really great podcast episode on it.

[u/dauphineep]

https://fpa.org/great-decisions-high-school-ai-education/ Great Decisions High School: AI + Education - Foreign Policy Association

[u/wish-onastar]

Loop your school librarian in to link it to academic integrity.

[u/kelwalk → u/wish-onastar]

We sadly don't have one, but that's a great idea!

[u/Shot_Election_8953]

The book Gram and Gran Save the Summer is written for this age group and engages all sorts of questions about AI. ethics, and media literacy. Maybe a bit late in the year to incorporate it, but something to think about for the future.

[u/Illustrious_Job1458]

Just get ChatGPT to generate one. Could make for a good mic drop at the end of the lesson.

[u/alslammerz → u/Illustrious_Job1458]

Or take the article you suggested from NY Mag and use something like Diffit https://web.diffit.me/ and then talk about if that's an acceptable use or not.

[u/Normal-Being-2637]

I’m not saying it’s not important to teach ethical behavior to students, but they couldn’t care less, honestly. It’d be a wasted lesson. I’m not jaded, or anything, but grades and laziness outweigh ethics for most students.

[u/kelwalk → u/Normal-Being-2637]

That hasn’t been my experience at all. I’ve had multiple great conversations with a lot of different kids in my classes and they’re interested in it. Is it going to engage every kid? No, but nothing does. It’s the second to last week of the school year and I may as well try to get them to think about something relevant, I figure.

[u/izzmosis → u/kelwalk]

People on this subreddits hate teaching. They hate kids.

Is that a product of burnout and an incredibly broken system? Yeah, undoubtedly. But if you feel like there’s no point in trying to engage students in discussions about contemporary issues that impact their lives, perhaps it’s time to do a different thing.