Blog

Introduction

Have you noticed a sudden change in your child’s homework routine and results? Maybe they’ve started finishing their homework in significantly less time, all their homework looks more polished, or they’ve stopped asking you to help them with their homework. While it may seem impressive, it can be concerning!

Such dramatic improvements are never overnight. Changes, like the ones we’ve mentioned at the beginning, are often the result of using AI tools as homework helpers. Since AI tools became more widespread, everyone started using them to boost productivity and work efficiency. While students started using AI tools to improve their learning processes, some began using them as homework helpers. It may appear like a smart move initially, but it has long-term repercussions that will be hard to reverse.

Hence, today, in this blog post, we at Delhi Public School Sushant Lok, positioned among the top 10 CBSE schools in Gurgaon, will discuss the topic and shed light on the serious impact and risks that using AI as a homework helper can pose. So, stay hooked and read till the end.

Widening the understanding gap

One of the biggest risks that children face by using AI tools to finish their homework is widening their understanding gap of any subject or concept. For instance, if your kids start using AI tools to get answers to all homework questions, they lose the opportunity to develop conceptual understanding.

Since AI gives instant solutions without requiring children to work through their cognitive processes, they don’t develop a foundational understanding of a particular concept. It can show up negatively in exam performance when they are required to solve the same problems they seemed to have ‘mastered’ at home. It also makes it challenging for children to maintain pace when teachers move to advanced concepts as they still lack a foundational understanding.

If you don’t want your kids to have similar experiences, encourage them to use AI tools to improve their understanding of a subject through simplified explanations, examples, etc., and not as a homework-finishing tool.

Factual accuracy and bias challenges

If you use any AI tool, you’ll notice they all mention that the tool may make mistakes and that people should double-check the presented information for accuracy. Unfortunately, many children tend to overlook this message and assume every response to be factually correct and relevant.

It may look trivial to some, but doing homework based on incorrect data and information can lead to numerous negative consequences, such as losing credibility in front of teachers, securing lower grades, attracting academic disciplinary action, etc. Beyond factual errors, AI systems also reflect biases in their training data, which may provide biased explanations or understanding of a topic from a tainted perspective.

We at Delhi Public School Sushant Lok believe the risk is significantly concerning for students because they tend to trust technological tools without questioning their accuracy. While you cannot stop your kids from using AI tools, you should encourage them to verify their responses to prevent harmful consequences.

Increased dependency lowering essential life skills

AI tools can be beneficial when used correctly, but they’ll always create damaging results when used as effort-replacement tools. Hence, if you have often seen your kids using AI for doing their homework and you feel pretty much relaxed that at least the homework is being done, beware! You must check if your kids are using AI tools to develop a better understanding of the assigned homework topics or if they’ve shifted to an AI-first approach for doing homework.

When kids start using AI tools before attempting to solve problems independently, they become overly reliant on the technology, gradually lowering their confidence in their own abilities. It eventually snowballs into a bigger challenge, wherein they lose touch with their skills, such as persistence, analytical reasoning, creative thinking, and self-confidence.

The effects soon become noticeable when children are asked to perform any task without AI support, such as in examination halls, interviews, etc.

Missed learning signals

Homework assignments are often used as learning signals by teachers to understand where students lag and need more support. When kids begin using AI to finish all their homework, teachers get the impression that students have fully understood the topic and don’t require further clarification or support, and they thereby proceed with teaching advanced concepts.

It can create challenges for your kids by delaying timely intervention and personalized academic support. We believe it can significantly impact them during sequential learning, affecting their academic performance and making them loose their grip on learning processes. The only way to avoid such situations is by teaching your kids to limit the usage of AI tools as simple assistance tools and finishing homework using the traditional approach.

Conclusion

No denying we’ve entered an era where technology cannot be avoided. However, we at Delhi Public School Sushant Lok, one of the top schools in Gurgaon, are firm believers in thoughtful and meaningful technology integration into our lives instead of mindless ways. Hence, we would like to advise all the parents reading this blog post that if your kids have suddenly started using AI tools to simplify their learning journey, ensure they don’t become overly reliant on this tech, especially while doing their homework.

Using AI tools may appear like a ‘smart move’ initially, but it can significantly hamper your child’s conceptual understanding of a subject, leaving them behind in their learning journey. So, please guide your kids to use AI tools as mere guiding tools, not homework-doing machines for their benefit.