Over the winter holiday break I had the opportunity to visit the NASA Space Center in Houston and naturally, I looked up the user reviews to see if it was really worth the trip. One review gave the centre a single star, largely arguing that most of the information could be found on the internet or in a Youtube video.
The review made me pause and wonder: why go and learn anything anywhere then, when you could just “Google it” or turn to artificial intelligence? What is the point of having an “in person” experience when you can learn from the privacy and comfort of your own home?
In the end, we did go to the Space Center and while there was certainly information that could easily be found online, there were experiences that were absolutely meant to be had in person. Walking beside impossibly huge rockets and engines made me realize the level of innovation and ambition it took to engage in space travel; touching one of the eight pieces of moon rock on display in the world was awe-inducing. In one exhibit, a volunteer was explaining how rockets work. A large crowd had formed around the speaker, who grew increasingly animated as he talked, using a model and a globe to support his explanation. Kids and adults listened with rapt attention, and though I had read much of what he explained in the exhibit, I think I learned so much more from listening to the speaker’s storytelling.
It occurred to me in that moment how special it was to learn in a human-centred way. School provides children (really people of all ages) with those critical moments of interaction and lived experience where curriculum content is not just received, but put into context through discussions, realia, and materials across the senses. And while it would be impossible to make every day of teaching a trip to the museum, it doesn’t take a whole lot of creativity and planning to make learning more real and visceral.
It’s hard to ignore the proliferation of artificial intelligence and digital technology in today’s world, and school is no exception. As technology compels us to re-think the way we teach and prepare students for an unpredictable world and economy, it is more important to remember that teaching is a human endeavour. Educators and schools bring so much more to learning than the delivery of curriculum content: they bring information and knowledge to life, and create spaces where authentic relationships and trust are built. one. When teachers build connections with students, they create conditions for risk-taking, curiosity, and persistence. Students are more willing to ask questions, attempt challenging tasks, and recover from mistakes when they trust that their teacher is invested in their success.
There has never been a more important time to recognize the human element of education – it is what we bring to the table as teachers in schools.
I really struggle to imagine a world in which knowledge and information is reduced to a Chat GPT prompt, or where teaching is rooted in artificial intelligence. It is painful, for me, to watch entire AI-driven dialogues occur on professional learning discussion boards, and to hear from other educators the extent to which students use AI to write their work. Losing sight of the power and impact of individual voices, complete with spelling errors, mistakes, and misconceptions, is something I hope we never devalue.
