Can you still think for yourself in the age of AI? | Guilian Asongtia
I recently gave my students an assignment that made me pause.
We had been working on algorithms, and I asked them to figure out how to swap the values of two variables.
Then I pushed it a little further.
I asked them to do the same thing with three variables.
Finally, I asked them to think about what would need to change if we had "n" variables.
The goal was not simply to produce an algorithm.
I wanted them to work through the problem.
To experiment.
To make mistakes.
To ask themselves, "If this works for two variables, what happens when I add another?"
In other words, I wanted them to THINK.
When they came back, most of them had beautifully polished algorithms written in their books.
But when I asked them to explain what they had done, many couldn't.
They had the answer.
They just didn't have the understanding behind the answer.
And that got me thinking.
This was an assignment, not an evaluation.
There was no pressure to get a perfect answer.
The assignment was actually an opportunity to struggle with a problem, figure something out and leave the exercise knowing a little more than they knew before.
But somewhere along the way, the goal had shifted from:
"Let me figure this out."
to:
"Let me find the answer."
And AI makes that shift incredibly easy.
This is not an argument against using AI in education.
Far from it.
AI can be an incredible learning tool when we use it to ask questions, get explanations, test our thinking, explore alternatives and receive feedback.
But there is a difference between using AI to support your thinking and using AI to do the thinking for you.
If AI gives you an answer and you cannot explain it, question it, modify it or defend it, then what exactly have you learned?
As educators, I think we have to rethink the kinds of assignments we give.
And as students, we have to ask ourselves a harder question:
"Am I using AI to help me learn, or am I using AI to avoid learning?"
Because in a world where AI can produce the answer in seconds, perhaps the ability to think through the problem yourself is more valuable than ever.
The answer is not the whole point.
Sometimes, the thinking that gets you to the answer is the real assignment.
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