Manjusri Secondary School in Singapore is embracing the power of artificial intelligence in the classroom with the implementation of ChatGPT, an advanced language model. With the ability to provide personalized feedback to each student simultaneously, ChatGPT is revolutionizing the way English is taught to Secondary 2 students.
During an English lesson, students were tasked with writing a paragraph using persuasive appeals they had previously learned about. Instead of asking ChatGPT to edit their work, the students chose to seek feedback through questions, allowing them to learn and improve on their own. The questions provided by ChatGPT were carefully designed to encourage critical thinking and enhance the students’ understanding of the topic.
To further tailor their feedback, students provided specific prompts to ChatGPT, such as asking for information to be presented in a table format or highlighting sentences that required revision. The students then selected two questions to address weaknesses in their original paragraphs and justified their choices before rewriting their work.
Enzo Sembiring Kembaren, a 13-year-old student, opted to enhance the emotional appeal of his personal experience by choosing the question, How can you enhance the emotional appeal of your personal experience to make it more relatable and impactful to your readers? Through this exercise, Enzo was able to craft a more dramatic retelling of his story, capturing the attention of his teenage peers.
The teachers in the classroom, Erica Reyes Rodriguez and Faith Ong, facilitated the lesson but allowed the students to work independently, only checking in periodically. This approach empowered the students to take ownership of their learning and use ChatGPT as a valuable tool to guide their revisions.
By harnessing the power of artificial intelligence and leveraging ChatGPT’s capabilities, Manjusri Secondary School is embracing innovative teaching methods that encourage critical thinking, self-improvement, and independent learning. As ChatGPT continues to make its presence felt in classrooms, it is revolutionizing education and transforming the way students engage with their coursework.
