How I Plan to Teach APUSH in the Era of ChatGPT

As described in a recent teacher conference presentation

10 min readMar 7, 2023

Recently, a New York Council of Social Studies (NYCSS) teacher conference organizer invited me to describe, for those in attendance at an April 24 NYCSS teacher conference, how I plan to use ChatGPT to teach APUSH next year, how I plan to have my students use it, and how any of this might prove of value to New York high school social studies teachers who don’t teach AP.

This NYCSS teacher conference organizer recognizes me as an experienced and innovative educator who has been creatively using Large Language Models (LLMs) in my classroom and he’s read some of my ChatGPT-related blog posts.

So before inviting me to speak, this NYCSS teacher conference organizer probably knew that I believe, in the Era of ChatGPT, teachers and school administrators will not, for long, be able to justify the following:

The grading of lecture notes that ChatGPT can be used to complete.
The grading of homework that ChatGPT can be used to complete.
The grading of project work that ChatGPT can be used to complete.
The grading of writing assignments that ChatGPT can be used to complete.
The creation of an endless number of AI Free Class Periods (though I do support the call for the creation of at least a few AI Free Class Periods if only because, to paraphrase the words of Irara Scott in her article, Yes, We Are in a ChatGPT Crisis), training ourselves and our students to work with AI doesn't require inviting AI to every learning opportunity we place before our students. In fact, it’s essential that we don't.)
The wholesale banning of ChatGPT in education.

This NYCSS teacher conference organizer probably also knew, before reaching out to me, that I believe in the Era of ChatGPT, APUSH teachers who make ample use of both ChatGPT and AP Classroom and who give their students ample opportunity to do likewise should have more students than ever receive a score of 3 or better on the end-of-year exam — such is the power of ChatGPT — and this without their students:

Needing the CED-suggested 140, forty-five-minute class periods to get ready for the exam in May.
Feeling more stress and anxiety than they currently do.
Having to spend more time outside of school than they currently do to learn what they need to learn.

One more thing my blog posts and teacher conference presentations have made clear is my belief that in the era of ChatGPT, end-of-year CB-sponsored AP Exams, the APUSH Exam included, should place far less value on assessing students’ abilities to respond to a variety of multiple-choice questions (MCQs), long essay questions (LEQs), document-based questions (DBQs), and short-answer questions (SAQs) AND far greater value on assessing students’ abilities to perform tasks that people in the real world do.

In other words, I believe that it is time for AP teachers to take project-based learning far more seriously, though when we do, it should not be the final product that CB assesses, for I have no doubt that in the near future, AI checkers will be unable to spot the AI-generated text. Instead, CB should assess the ability of students to answer a number of logically anticipable questions about the product that they have produced, as well as the steps they took to produce the products.

Bottom line, I believe that in the Era of ChatGPT, how most teachers teach and assess will change significantly.

In any event, on April 24, I provided the “ChatGPT in Social Studies” NYCSS teacher conference attendees with an overview of how I plan to teach APUSH in the Era of ChatGPT.

This post highlights six of these planned changes.

As you read, please bear in mind that it’s late in the school year; I’m currently preoccupied with preparing my students for various AP social studies exams, and so, like all teachers, I’m exhausted and in need of a vacation.

Then there’s also the fact that ChatGPT only launched five months ago, which means I’m learning something new about the platform every day and expect this to continue for quite some time. Therefore, what I put forward in this post, I just might change this summer.

That said, here are the six specific changes I’m currently planning to make:

Change #1 — Relating to Content Delivery

In the Era of ChatGPT, I plan to begin every unit, APUSH Period 9, for example, by providing my students with several pages of what I’m calling “ChatGPT-Generated Lecture Notes,” with these notes tailored to the unit’s specific “topic sequencing” and pertinent “key concepts,” ensuring a 100% alignment with the APUSH Course and Exam Description. From the outset, my students will therefore have access to a top-tier resource that should provide them with an optimal learning experience.

As an example, please refer to my Period 9 Chat GPT-Produced Notes.

My Period 9 Chat GPT-Produced Notes

For the period from 1980 to 2015

ppaccone.medium.com

Following this, I will proceed with my customary teaching approach. This approach makes much use of what I call “Unit-Comprehensive Slideshows.”

These slideshows incorporate a diverse range of multimedia resources, including charts, images, graphs, primary source excerpts, and content-rich short videos, all of which are easily accessible in the public domain.

The slideshows also align perfectly with each of the nine APUSH unit’s “topic sequencing” and pertinent “key concepts.” They, therefore, also perfectly align with the “ChatGPT-Generated Lecture Notes.”

Though each of these nine slideshows was created in 2018, they were, with the help of ChatGPT, updated and significantly improved in the past three months.

Then, after presenting a “Slideshow Topic,” Topic 9.2, for example, I will direct the students to read over the relevant ChatGPT-Generated Lecture Notes. Then, I will ask the students the following questions:

Did the slideshow mention anything about the topic that wasn’t mentioned in the notes?
Did the notes mention anything about the topic that wasn’t in the slideshow?
Did you notice anything in the slideshow that you think isn’t true?
Did you notice anything in the notes that you think isn’t true?

Then I will move on to the next topic.

Change #2 — Relating to Slideshow Note Taking

Next year, I will not be expecting the students to take their own slideshow (aka lecture) notes.

I believe that note-taking, in the Era of ChatGPT, is no longer a crucial skill.
I believe that by providing pre-generated lecture notes, students will be more likely to engage with the material presented in class, as long as I employ, which I do, an interactive lecture format that doesn’t just involve lecturing to students, but also incorporates periodic questioning and discussion. By having access to accurate and complete notes, students can focus on actively listening and participating in class discussions, rather than feeling overwhelmed by trying to keep up with the pace of the lecture.
I believe, as did my favorite UC Berkeley professors in the 1970s that students learn best when they are provided with the professor’s typed lecture notes on the first day of class. I don’t believe in the research that suggests students learn best by taking notes by hand.

Change #3— Relating to the SAQs and LEQs

Next year, I will continue to teach my students how to respond to both SAQ and LEQ prompts utilizing the easy-to-learn and highly effective writing formula that I have developed over the years. However, in terms of assessing their ability to respond to these prompts, I plan to rely heavily on the recently launched Class Companion AI Assistant. This innovative and very powerful tool will provide an invaluable resource for me to accurately evaluate and analyze my students’ writing abilities, ensuring that they receive the most constructive feedback possible in the least amount of time. Better yet, every indication is that next year Class Companion will also be able to assess my students’ DBQ writing ability.

Class Companion - Social Studies AI Assistant

AI to help high school Social Studies teachers assess written assignments. Immediate feedback for students, time…

classcompanion.com

Change #4 — Relating to Homework

Next year, I will not assign any homework for a grade that ChatGPT can do. To do so defeats the purpose of learning and developing critical thinking skills.

Change #5 — Relating to Projects

In the Era of ChatGPT, I will continue to call on students to produce a variety of products (i.,e, a historical fiction letter or diary entry, a museum exhibit, a newspaper article, speech, poem, short story, and/or script for various scenes in a movie, but I will not grade that work. I don’t want to grade a student/ChatGPT-produced product.

I will, however, grade the student's ability to answer, orally or in writing, (and in all likelihood on a platform with a lockdown browser activated) several logically anticipatable questions that flow from the student/ChatGPT collaboration.

Below are a number of different learning activities that I created since the launch of ChatGPT and that I plan to experiment with next year. The one entitled The Vietnam War should provide readers of this post with the best example of how I envision project work in the Era of ChatGPT.

Native American Use of Natural Resources

This activity relates to Topics 1.2 (Native American Societies Before European Contact) and calls on students to use ChatGPT to produce a two-page research paper.

The Lowell Mill Girls

This activity relates to Topic 4.6 (The Market Revolution: Society and Culture) and calls on students to use ChatGPT to produce a historical fiction letter.

World War II

This activity relates to Topics 7.12 (World War II — Mobilization) and 7.13 (World War II — Miltary) and calls on students to use ChatGPT to create a World War II history-revealing parody of some popular modern-day song.

The Vietnam War

This activity relates to Topics 8.8 (The Vietnam War) and calls on students to use ChatGPT to produce various scenes for a movie entitled The Khe Sahn Kid)

Museum Exhibit

This activity relates to one or more topics of the student’s choosing and calls on students working in small groups to use ChatGPT to create an exhibit for a museum of the student’s choosing.

Change #6 — Relating to Time Scheduled for Review

Next year, in the weeks leading up to the APUSH, I intend to provide my students with a range of valuable review resources that I produced this year, in collaboration with ChatGPT, and that, without the help of ChatGPT, couldn’t have been produced without my investing countless hours.

What Will Stay the Same

There are only four things that I currently envision staying the same:

I will continue to have the students answer the AP Classroom Personal Progress Checks before each unit exam and I will also continue to reassign all Progress Checks in the weeks leading up to the May Exam. Assigning (or reassigning) the Progress Checks from every unit of an AP course gives students the opportunity to practice answering multiple-choice and free-response questions before they take the AP Exam. Enabling the option for students to see their results right away means they’ll have access to rationales that explain why specific multiple-choice responses are correct. And, enabling student-scoring for free-response questions means students can see how their responses will be scored without further action from you.
I will continue to use the AP Classroom Question bank (and the related timer and lockdown browser) to summatively assess the student content knowledge and SAQ, LEQ, and DBQ writing skills.
I will continue to implement a small handful of my favorite and relatively popular in-class activities, though only when assigned during an AI Free Class Period.
I will continue to encourage my students to watch the AP Daily videos and AP Daily Practice Sessions. I view the AP Daily videos as content-rich, well-structured, professionally-looking, and well-presented bite-sized bits of knowledge that allow for all students to learn the needed content and skills in as little time as possible. The same is true for the AP Daily Practice.

Everything else I carry over from 2022–2023 will either be altered or in some way affected by ChatGPT.

Sidenote #1

One additional change I intend to make, but failed to mention above, is far greater use of Formative, with me relying heavily on CHatGPT to help create the formative questions, rather than trying to create them on my own.

I’m as impressed with the power of Formative as I am with the power of ChatGPT and Class Companion.

Sidenote #2

Scott Petri, my good friend and the 2021 California Social Studies Teacher of the Year, has encouraged me to rewrite this post. “Try painting a more inspirational vision without going full, Jerry Macguire,” he has advised.

I so wish I could. Just no gas in the tank. Perhaps later this summer, after a month of vacationing on the Oregon coast.