By skyforbes 
Introduction:
“How many of you have used ChatGPT on school assignments?”
Ask this question to a random assortment of high school or college students, and you will likely be met with two kinds of responses: the first, a sea of hands outstretched toward the ceiling, unwavering; the second, appearing in those with hands down, facial expressions characterized by side-eyes and possibly muted laughter (perhaps hinting at shyness at not having had the courage to raise their hands).
As ChatGPT becomes increasingly ubiquitous in the educational space, teachers have expressed growing concern over its use outside the classroom, and rightfully so. ChatGPT and other LLMs (large language models) make it simple to input a problem or prompt, and, within a couple rounds of iteration, receive an answer that looks — for the most part — pretty good. Of course, various means of cutting corners have existed in the educational space for decades (copying a classmate’s homework and using unauthorized sources come to mind), but LLMs make it easier than ever to take the “work” out of “homework”.
ChatGPT and other LLMs can sift through unfathomably large datasets and return an output rather quickly, but they are not “teachers”. They cannot replace traditional forms of learning and instruction. However, they can be great study tools, if used appropriately.
Study Tools: What They Are and Aren’t
What exactly is a study tool? Well, the definition essentially encompasses any resource that facilitates the process of learning a concept. Flash cards are a classic example. So are diagrams, mnemonics, and even songs. While such timeless study tools continue to flourish for the exploration of various topics, developing technology has brought the rise of sophisticated platforms such as Notion, Kahoot!, and now, LLMs.
What study tools are not:
- Teachers, who introduce novel content from scratch and guide students throughout the learning process
- Tutors, who also do the above, albeit oftentimes in more niche contexts or circumstances, such as in preparation for a standardized exam
- Asynchronous learning, which involves the sharing of learning plans and resources for students to complete at their own pace, outside of a traditional classroom setting
Study tools can be personalized to individual needs, but they are limited in their interactive capabilities, and they cannot provide direction the way a teacher can. This is why study tools can never really supplant quality teaching.
With that said, let’s compare two cases in which ChatGPT can be used as a study tool.
Case 1: Memorizing the Amino Acids
Here, I’ve given GPT a simple prompt: “Help me memorize the 20 amino acids.” This arduous task is a rite of passage for anyone enduring the rote-based slogfest known as biochemistry. When I confronted this problem during my junior year of college almost ten years ago, I had one saving grace: flashcards.
Whatever the time of day — whether I was grabbing dinner, walking to class, or even brushing my teeth — I had my flashcards in hand, trying to make sure I had not forgotten how to differentiate between asparagine and glutamine. Had I been taking biochem nowadays, I would simply pull up ChatGPT and input the aforementioned prompt.
The first part of the output from said prompt is presented below:
Immediately, ChatGPT has presented a catchy mnemonic to memorize the various acids, presented by categorization. Following my input of another simple prompt requesting help with memorizing acid structure, GPT provided the following output:
This guidance is quick-to-the-point, visually-oriented, and much easier to wrap one’s head around than examining chemical formulas in isolation. It’s this kind of organization and memorization-based learning where ChatGPT truly excels as a study tool. Imagine sitting down the day before an exam and having to draft up a list of all the acids by structure — let alone organizing them in a chart characterized by punchy, memorable descriptors — so that you can even begin your study process. That can be enough to set off any student’s cortisone levels.
Example 2: Unpacking Calculus
Next, let’s take a look at something less memorization-based and more abstract: a free-response question from the 2024 AP Calculus AB Exam. College Board loves these kinds of multistep conceptual questions:
In essence, we’re trying to answer some questions pertaining to the movement and direction of this particle, using an equation that dictates its velocity.
After inputting the problem into chat and requesting assistance with solving it, ChatGPT presented the following:
Already, we’re looking at a response just as abstract as the question itself. What does it mean to “bracket a root?” Why are we checking f(t) at a couple of points? Why was t=1 chosen? Questions abound regarding GPT’s process of explanation, though expecting a straightforward answer is easier said than done.
Responding with a simple “Why should I do this?” yields the following result:
A visual representation such as a number line– or even an analogy — would really come in handy right about now. Instead, ChatGPT’s guidance appears very textbook-like — mathematically correct in description, but lacking clarity suitable for all audiences. A function crossing zero? That’s not the easiest to imagine in text-based form. At this point, it might be a lot easier to talk with a human.
So, What’s the Point?
When it comes to tasks reliant on memorization, ChatGPT can pull from the best methods out there. While this may set the groundwork for further practice, the user is still fully reliant on themselves to actually drill the material, though the effectiveness of doing so may differ as compared to more interactive study tools, such as Duolingo, which utilize audio-visual immersion and sophisticated spaced repetition algorithms. Not discussed here (but perhaps a topic of another piece) is ChatGPT’s ability to generate practice quizzes based on a syllabus and summarize content in text-heavy excerpts very quickly — another function with use cases in many contexts.
Yet, as we’ve seen, the LLM can’t do everything. It struggles with articulating the more abstract and conceptual because deconstructing such ideas into ways that a human can easily understand tends to be, well, a very human thing. As alluded to earlier, study tools are not great at providing direction. Rather, they rely on the direction provided by the user, which means that their blind spots could (and likely will) carry over to the output. If you’re struggling with where to begin with a problem, ChatGPT might struggle as well. Of course, you can apply prompting to refine the output, but this is often tedious. And sure, prompting can be effective if you have an idea of the standard of output you’re striving for, what if you don’t? How do you know when to stop?
Furthermore, since ChatGPT can easily return answers to questions directly, it’s not great for encouraging students to practice and develop their thinking processes and competencies. As we covered in last week’s piece, ChatGPT tends to lean toward the expedient. And unlike what occurs in quality teaching, this makes it easy for students to build a habit of taking shortcuts.
Ultimately, ChatGPT is built to search through information very quickly, and here it excels. I encourage you to play around with it as a study tool and let me know what you find. What works and what doesn’t? Just remember its limitations before you jump in.
The Grassroot Difference
Seeing the shortcomings of ChatGPT and other LLMs as study tools is what motivates our efforts at Grassroot. Here, we strive to provide both direction and personalization. We prioritize learning effectiveness above expedient output, and we are directed by pedagogical principles, not prompt hacking. We apply multisensory lessons so you can really internalize the content, and we support progress tracking so you can feel a sense of well-earned achievement upon completion of each lesson. And, most important of all, we introduce concepts tailored to your interests and needs, to best accompany you throughout your learning journey.
That’s how teaching should be — and that’s what we’re bringing to learners around the world.