The use of Generative AI has profoundly transformed the journey of learning within my history classroom since the beginning of the 2023 school year. Emergent digital technology – including GAI – is embedded within the subject-specific historical pedagogy that I apply in my classroom. Best practice historical pedagogy has always demanded more of teachers than just textbooks readings full of names and dates. It’s demanded more than the mindless drudgery of teacher centered lectures.
Proponents of the teaching of History have challenged teachers to embrace a distinctive social melioristic pedagogy in which a students’ process in the studying of history is the primary focus. In a contest where students are called upon to “work like historians”, “think like historians”, and “read like historians”, the use of digital technology is a powerful part of the learning process. For those teachers who have embraced the challenge, technology has the potential to allow for truly student-centered approaches to be taken. It allows teachers to de-center themselves in the learning process and to become “meddlers in the middle” in their classes – guides at the side of the learner rather than falsely centering themselves as “sages on stages”. A challenge, however, for teachers employing the pedagogy of historical inquiry is how to be fully present in a timely way for – and often literally at the side of – each student as historical problems emerge. Often history teachers can feel as though their classes are a form of intellectual HIIT workout as they rush from one student to another responding to their diverse questions and individual interests. My experience is that well-constructed Generative AI chat buddies can solve this problem. They are a wonderful support of historical learning in my classroom.
AI as a digital companion…
In my secondary History and Modern History classes, we’ve embarked on seems to be a unique experiment, one that’s changing the way students interact in the history classroom. Study of History in my classes routinely involves students consulting a personal guide-on-the-side, a digital companion named #HistoryBuddy, a GPT-powered Generative AI chatbot. To be clear, the chatbot does not replace me as teacher within the classroom – it supports me. The use of a Generative AI chatbot in the classroom gives students an accessible assistant as they engage with sources and new content. After numerous conversations with students, it’s clear that purposeful and thoughtful use the AI chatbot is having a positive impact on their learning journey. This impact is not confined to our classroom walls; it extends its influence to their homes. Students in a variety of learning contexts are using this Generative AI chatbot as a non-judgmental sounding board, and a critical friend.
In a sign of the willingness to adopt the usage of the chatbot, many students have voluntarily often placed a link to HistoryBuddy on their browser’s favorites bar. No longer is the response to an online research query limited to a “one-size-fits-all” webpage. Students use the Generative AI chatbot within their engagement with other sources in an organic exchange. Students rely less on any one single source and are less likely to accept blindly any source they wish to engage with. This has new way of working has contributed, I suspect, to a profound impact in part of their historical learning.
… as 1:1 tutor
Year 9 History students particularly emphasized the value they found in using #HistoryBuddy as a personalized, 1:1 tutor during study time prior to their assessment. As they prepared for an exam, they’ve found support in the guidance offered by this AI-powered companion. It’s like having an expert tutor available whenever they need it. They engaged with their digital tutor to explain concepts, clarify ideas, to formulate examination questions, and to unpack text heavy historical sources. As they do with human tutors, the students did not assume that the chatbot was all knowing and always correct. In a problematically anthropomorphic way, one student articulately described how they saw the chatbot as a possibly flawed yet knowledgeable digital companion to their studies.
This approach to using Generative AI brings to mind Bloom’s 2 sigma problem (1984). Could Generative AI be the missing piece in the puzzle, helping bridge the gap in learning outcomes?
Beyond History: A Transdisciplinary Impact
The impact isn’t confined to this one year level or subject.
Students across years 9, 10, and 12 studying History and Modern History all report experiencing the transformative power of using Generative AI – including using the specifically history related chatbot #HistoryBuddy – for subjects other than History. Year 12 students in my classes report that they have extended their AI adventures to subjects as diverse as Literature, Drama, Physics, and Biology. They’re realizing that Generative AI isn’t just a tool for history; it’s a tool for the future of education. In one affirming piece of feedback, one student urges teachers to teach all their students how to use AI effectively.
Generative AI has become a research companion and guide through independent study, a navigator in a complex sea of texts. It’s been their translator, unraveling cryptic archaic idioms and clarifying intricate concepts found within their studies. It’s helped them traverse what sometimes feels like a labyrinthine world of academic studies.
Making Meaning
The reflections of my Year 10 History students provide an additional insight into how the use of Generative AI, and digital technology more generally, has transformed the journey of learning within my history classroom. With Generative AI by their side, they’ve plunged into the depths of historical sources related to Australia’s involvement in the Pacific War at an unprecedented pace. While interrogating those doing so, they have more fully factchecked and reflected on the information they are engaging with than I have seen before. Students have a richer and more personal view of the Pacific War than they had previously. Using a historical pedagogy that has embraced student inquiry into family experiences and the use of archives has increased the students’ sense of connection to their learning. Generative AI has allowed them to drill deeply into sources and archives. As a result of this combination, students have made greater meaning from their studies. The process of meaning making, and reflection have intertwined. The process has become the product. The richness of every student’s contribution to our culminating yarning circle is testament to the depth of connection and learning which took place in this unit.
The integration of Generative AI purposefully within the pedagogy of teaching these students History seems to have amplified meaning making and enhanced their learning of both content and skills. When using AI, students have been able to make their studies more personalized and connected to their experiences.
What we’re witnessing here is more than just a technological revolution; it’s a transformation of the very relationships between Human Intelligence (HI) and Artificial Intelligence (AI). Within the realm of history education, this shift has elevated us, the teachers, into mentors who have an opportunity to more fully nurture student agency, student voice and critical skills.
The experiences within my history classes indicate that use of Generative AI has the potential to enhance engagement with the Australian Curriculum’s General Capabilities. It’s become clear to me that incorporating Generative AI into the subject-specific pedagogy for historical inquiry is a powerful means by which the ACARA general capabilities might be comprehensively addressed. By immersing students in historical studies in ways assisted by AI, we nurture their critical thinking, digital literacy, and ethical understanding while deepening their historical knowledge. This synergy of technology and pedagogy ensures that students not only master the intricacies of history but also develop vital life skills, from responsible AI engagement to empathetic exploration of the past. Such a holistic approach to education resonates strongly with the ACARA’s vision of shaping well-rounded, capable learners who can excel in an ever-evolving world.
A Paradigm Shift in Assessment
Speaking of transformation, let’s not forget the essential aspect of assessment. Historically, our assessments were focused on outcomes, on the production of artifacts. However, the advent of AI, with its ability to replicate these artifacts, has nudged us toward a paradigm shift. Looking to the future, educators must confront the reality that the process has indeed become the product. This change presents an opportunity which empowers our students to become better self-regulated learners.
As AI increasingly works alongside students’ HI to offer support and feedback on their learning strategies, we must shift our focus as educators from merely assessing the final destination to seeing students more holistically and to recognize that the entire journey through a course presents for them opportunities to demonstrate learning.
What I’m witnessing in my history classes is nothing short of revolutionary. It’s a synthesis of technology and pedagogy, a harmony between AI and HI. Within a short time, AI will transform the education process in secondary schools everywhere. As educators, we’re obligated to embrace this technological evolution with care and ethics, ensuring that AI enhances education while preserving the essence of human learning.
Disrupted History 