How I Teach the Vietnam War in the Age of AI

Focus on my “AI-Integrated Teaching and Learning Approach”

My “AI-Integrated Teaching and Learning Approach” begins with the teacher teaching a topic of history the way he/she always has. Then, the teacher instructs the students to use AI to create several multiple-choice questions (MCQs) related to the topic taught. These MCQs should include terms from a list that the teacher, in collaboration with AI, has developed.

Then, students are asked to do the following in the order presented:

1. Attempt to answer several free-response questions (FRQs) that the teacher, in collaboration with AI, has created. These FRQs are directly related to the taught topic.
2. Consult AI to see how it would answer these FRQs.
3. Use AI to explore various “stories worth sharing,” the titles of which appear on a list produced by the teacher in collaboration with AI, with the student permitted to choose which stories to explore. Although these stories are relevant to the topic and of high interest, they were not covered in class due to time constraints.
4. Respond to one or more FRQs available on Class Companion. These FRQs, created by the teacher in collaboration with AI, are assigned as homework.

My “AI-Integrated Teaching and Learning Approach” Applied

My “AI-Integrated Teaching and Learning Approach” when recently applied to APUSH Topic 8.8 (the Vietnam War) worked like this:

First, I taught the war as I always have (via a two-period interactive slideshow.) This slideshow seeks to provide the students with what they need to know to “explain the causes and effects of the Vietnam War (aka the Topic 8.8 Learning objective.)

Then I encouraged the students to use ChatGPT to create 20–30 non-stimulus MCQs designed to assess their knowledge of the Topic 8.8 content, with these MCQs to include mention of:

• Gulf of Tonkin Incident
• Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
• Operation Rolling Thunder
• The Tet Offensive
• The Ho Chi Minh Trail
• Vietnamization
• The War Powers Act
• The Kent State Shooting
• The Domino Theory
• The U.S. Containment Policy
• Agent Orange
• The Pentagon Papers
• The Vietnam Veterans Memorial
• The Siege of Khe Sahn
• The Battle of Dien Bien Phu
• The Draft and Draft Dodging
• Hawks and Doves

Then I placed before the students four APUSH style LEQ/DBQ prompts and three non-stimulus SAQ prompts relating to the war (all created in collaboration with ChatGPT.)

1. Evaluate the relative importance of the cause of America’s involvement in the Vietnam War in the period from 1959 to 1965
2. Evaluate the relative importance of the outcomes of America’s involvement in the Vietnam War in the period form1973 to 1980
3. Evaluate the extent to which American military policy in Vietnam changed in the period from 1959 to 1968.
4. Evaluate the extent to which American military policy in Vietnam changed in the period from 1967 to 1973.
5. Briefly describe ONE way in which the Cold War tensions influenced the United States’ decision to become involved in the Vietnam War.
6. Briefly describe ONE cause of the Vietnam War
7. Briefly describe ONE significant impact of the Vietnam War on American society during the 1960s and 1970s.

Then, I directed the students, in small groups, to discuss how best to respond to each of these prompts. Then, I permitted the students, while still in their groups, to ask ChatGPT how it would respond to these prompts.

Then I provided the students with a list of ChatGPT-created Vietnam War stories worth sharing that I didn’t have time to share in my slideshow presentation.

• Operation Babylift and the Crash of the C-5 Galaxy
• Agent Orange and its Lingering Legacy
• The Secret War in Laos and its Hidden Impact
• The My Lai Massacre and the Search for Justice
• The Chu Chi Tunnels and their Strategic Significance
• The Battle of Hue and its Devastating Toll
• Operation Ranch Hand and the Ecological Fallout
• The Columbia University Protests and the Occupation of 1968
• The ‘Fortunate Son’ Song by Creedence Clearwater Revival and its Anti-War Message
• The Last Flight from Da Nang
• The Iconic Fall of Saigon Photograph
• The Iconic Burst of Joy Photograph
• Hanoi Jane
• The East Los Angeles Walkouts
• The Montagnard Involvement in the War and the Aftermath of Conflict
• Mikki Nyguen’s Last Days in Vietnam

Then I invited the students to use ChatGPT, some other AI platform of their choosing, or YouTube to explore one or more of these stories on their own.

For homework, I directed the students to go to Class Companion and respond to an LEQ that I created in collaboration with ChatGPT and titled ‘The Impact of the Vietnam War on American Society.’

Class Companion Overview

Closing Thoughts

Reflecting on everything, here are my key takeaways:

• Students seemed to learn significantly more content in much less time.
• Students seemed to connect more deeply with the content.
• Allowing students to observe ChatGPT’s response to various LEQ/DBQ/SAQ prompts, followed by engaging them in similar formative tasks for homework with immediate feedback, appeared to enhance the learning experience significantly.
• This approach seemed so effective that I plan to employ it again when teaching APUSH Topic 8.10: The African American Civil Rights Movement. The only adjustments I’ll make are to (1) introduce a closing survey to directly gather student feedback, and (2) enhance the quality of the ChatGPT-produced multiple-choice questions (MCQs) by instructing students, once they have produced several MCQs to prompt ChatGPT with: “Now do it again but try creating several MCQs that aim to assess my thinking/reasoning skills in areas such as development and process, claim and evidence, making connections, and argumentation.”

Lastly, if you’re a new teacher or a vet who simply wants to explore the world of AI-produced slideshows, I suggest giving AI a chance to produce the slides, the much-praised ChatGPT-4 plugin called Smart Slides, for example. Then let us all know via the comment section of this post how it turned out. So far, I’ve not had much success.