By: Ben Sexton
Cheating (and learning) as we know it has completely changed. Long gone are the days of peeking over at a neighboring student’s paper. Technology, at this point, can do most basic and intermediate aspects of a student’s homework.
I’m just learning about it – aged as I am – but students have been using the app PhotoMath for years. Using this app, a student can take a picture of a Math problem, and AI can solve the problem for the student and provide an explanation. PhotoMath is not alone. With Mathway, a student can type an equation into an onscreen calculator, and the calculator can provide you not only with an answer, but also with every piece of information about that equation. ChatGPT4 can solve almost any Math problem you enter into it. Taking a derivative in Calculus has never been easier.
Similar sites exist for every high school subject. These sites can be used to successfully supplement student understanding. But, they can also become a crutch; or, they can be used to outright complete homework. In the latter case, the student is not learning the material. In education, this is a result that we agree we all seek to avoid. Students need to achieve authentic learning. Maybe the days are memorizing obscure dates and formulas are gone, but understanding processes and relationships remains as important as ever.
Tutoring ensures that authentic learning is taking place, as the tutor can watch the student complete their work live, ask questions, adjust explanations, and verbalize for the student what the student cannot verbalize yet for themselves. AI isn’t going to make tutoring obsolete just yet.
But PhotoMath is pretty cool. Just make sure you do the bulk of the work yourself!
Enjoy this beginning of Spring.
