The Webinar: “Teaching AP Social Studies in the Era of ChatGPT”
Hosted by LAUSD social studies teacher Scott Petri; organized by SMUSD social studies teacher Peter Paccone
This webinar took place on May 21, 2023, and commenced with the host, LAUSD social studies teacher Scott Petri, introducing the concept of ChatGPT to the attendees.
From there, various educators, including Petri and webinar organizer Peter Paccone, presented their insights, strategies, and experiences related to ChatGPT and several other relevant AI programs.
Despite the webinar’s billing, what appears below should also prove of much value to all non-AP social studies teachers, high school and middle school.
Peter Paccone (Presenter #1)
Peter Paccone has been teaching high school social studies for more than 30 years. During that time, he’s taught all of the AP social studies courses (with the exception of AP Micro Economics and AP Comparative Government). In 2013, he was recognized by The Henry Ford and Litton Entertainment as one of twenty educators in America who “use the classroom to inspire innovation, creativity, problem-solving and critical thinking among their students.” In 2015, he received the California Social Studies Outstanding Teacher of the Year Award.
Paccone started off his webinar presentation by saying that no matter what AP social studies course he’s assigned to teach next year, he plans to utilize ChatGPT to create various:
- ChatGPT-Produced End-of-Unit Study Compendiums
- ChatGPT-Produced Multiple Choice Tests
- ChatGPT Produced Free Response (SAQ and LEQ) Questions
- ChatGPT-Produced FRQ Scoring Activities
- ChatGPT-Produced End-of-Year Review Materials
- ChatGPT-Using Project-Based Learning Opportunities
“These resources were all designed with two goals in mind,” said Paccone. Above all also, he hopes that these resources will help to bend the stubborn student success curve (meaning that the primary goal of these resources is to try to help more students than ever excel academically without causing them to feel any more stress and anxiety than they currently do.)
He’s also designed these resources in an attempt to streamline and simplify his responsibilities as an educator, thereby making his job more manageable.
Paccone then acknowledged that the most controversial of these resources are his ChatGPT-Produced End-of-Unit Study Compendiums.
These compendiums contain meticulous ChatGPT-produced lecture notes, important “fill-in-the-gaps” information from the textbook, concise 3–5 sentence definitions of key terms, well-crafted responses to critical assessment prompts (such as SAQs, LEQs, or DBQs), and helpful visual aids like charts, graphs, images, or excerpts.
Teachers, said Paccone, appear divided on the question of the effectiveness of these ChatGPT-produced end-of-unit study compendiums in facilitating student learning.
On one side, there are those who believe that these compendiums can be beneficial for students, as they provide condensed and comprehensive materials that cover important content. These teachers perceive the ready-made resources as valuable tools that can aid students in understanding and retaining the subject matter more effectively.
On the other side, there are teachers who hold the belief that these compendiums may not be helpful for student learning. They express concerns about the quality and accuracy of the content generated by ChatGPT, arguing that it may contain errors or fail to capture the nuances and complexities of the subject matter adequately. These teachers may prefer alternative approaches, such as more traditional teaching methods or encouraging students to actively engage in the process of creating their own study materials.
In any event, Paccone plans to provide his students with a ChatGPT-produced end-of-unit study compendium at the beginning of every unit in every AP social studies course he’s assigned to teach next year. “Nothing ventured, nothing gained,” he says. To learn more about Paccone’s end-of-unit study compendium and the rest of his ChatGPT resources, click here.
Avery Pan (Presenter #2)
Avery Pan is the Class Companion CEO with a mission to help teachers do their job better and make AI work for them. Inspired by the teachers from her family and high school, she and her friends built Class Companion, a tool that provides instant feedback on written assignments. Avery is from Chicago and now lives in San Francisco.
Pan demonstrated Class Companion, with the video clip appearing above showing her presentation in its entirety.
Bruno Morlan (Presenter #3)
Bruno Morlan is a Social Studies teacher with 11 years of experience who teaches at Acalanes High School in Lafayette, California. He created APUSHslides.com during distance learning to make APUSH content more accessible.
Morlan began his presentation by speaking favorably about Avery Pan’s recently launched Class Companion. Then he showcased two other recently launched programs that harness the power of artificial intelligence (AI): Midjourney and DALL-E. Midjourney is an AI ART Generator app that enables users to effortlessly create beautiful and unique artwork with just a few clicks. This application empowers individuals to explore their creativity and produce visually stunning pieces through the assistance of AI technology. DALL-E is another AI-powered program that offers users the ability to generate artistic outputs using advanced algorithms and machine learning.
Scott Petri (Presenter #4)
Scott Petri was the 2021 Outstanding California Social Studies Teacher of the Year and has twice been a finalist for the CUE Leroy’s Big Idea classroom innovation contest. He holds a Doctorate in Educational Leadership and a Masters in Educational Administration from California State University Northridge.
One of the more fascinating parts of Scott Petri’s presentation was his highlighting of the features and benefits of TeachFX, an app that utilizes AI technology “to measure student engagement, equity of voice, and discourse patterns in virtual or in-person classrooms.” With just a single button press on their smartphone, laptop, or tablet, teachers, according to Petri, are provided with the opportunity to visualize which portions of their class are engaging in teacher talk, student talk, group talk, and wait time. By analyzing the amount of student talk and participation in class discussions, teachers can gain a better understanding of how engaged their students are and make adjustments to their teaching accordingly.
Petri’s presentation also highlighted the features and benefits of StoryFile, an app that utilizes AI technology “to give students the opportunity to virtually meet and engage with remarkable individuals through a question-and-answer format.” Specifically, Petri mentioned that StoryFile provides history students with the unique chance to “talk to” significant figures such as those involved in the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, one of the original Freedom Riders, a Civil Rights Movement executive director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), a close confidant of Martin Luther King Jr., and the son of a former slave.
StoryFile aims to bring history to life by allowing students to interact with these individuals and gain firsthand perspectives on historical events and experiences. Through the app’s AI-driven capabilities, students can ask questions and receive answers that help deepen their understanding of these pivotal moments in history. By offering this immersive and interactive learning experience, StoryFile contributes to a more engaging and dynamic approach to teaching history.
Jeff Swisher (Presenter #5)
Jeff Swisher is an accomplished educator, technology expert, and historian with a passion for American history and Computer Science. With degrees in Social Studies Education and American History, as well as Computer Science and Mathematics. Jeff has taught a diverse range of subjects, including U.S. History, Robotics, and Computer Science.
Swisher’s presentation demonstrated how ChatGPT could be a valuable tool for teachers when writing letters of recommendation for their students. He showcased the power of the language model by discussing its ability to generate personalized and detailed recommendations based on the student’s achievements, skills, and character. Jeff emphasized how ChatGPT can assist teachers in saving time and providing valuable insights, ensuring that their letters of recommendation are effective and impactful.
Tom Richey (Presenter #6)
Tom Richey is an AP social studies teacher and video-lecture pioneer from South Carolina who began posting his lectures to YouTube over a decade ago. Since then, his channel has accumulated over 200,000 subscribers and 30 million views — with a significant portion coming from outside the United States.
In his presentation, Richey highlighted how the Class Companion platform provided fast feedback to students, particularly in regard to APGov and APUSH SAQ and LEQ responses. While acknowledging that the platform may not offer the same level of feedback as a highly experienced teacher, Tom emphasized the value of its quick turnaround time. He also pointed out that the feedback provided by Class Companion was of good quality, further enhancing the learning experience for his students. In closing, Tom mentioned that though he believed ChatGPT would bring benefits to his classroom, he did not expect it to revolutionize education as a whole.
Team-Webinar Close-Out Aspirations
The webinar team hopes that the presentations effectively revealed the following:
- The different ways for AP social studies teachers to use generative AI tools to create engaging learning experiences.
- The limitations of some of these AI tools.
- The presenters’ conviction that when educators and AI tools (such as ChatGPT) collaborate, such collaborations can significantly enhance student learning outcomes, fostering an innovative and responsible future in education.
Sidenote #1
Ed Finney was also scheduled to present at the May 21 webinar but was unable to do so due to a family matter that required his immediate attention.
Finney was the 2020 New York History Teacher of the Year and the 2020 NYSCSS Outstanding Middle School Teacher of the Year. Currently, he serves in the role of Schodack Central School District Integration Specialist.
Had Finney been able to present, he would have shared the following insights:
I have been a teacher for 26 years and have never seen anything like the rapid emergence of AI and ChatGPT in education. One Facebook group dedicated to teaching about ChatGPT now has over 170,000 members. That number is even higher than Nearpod and nearly as much as Google for education. The sheer amount of plugins, apps, extensions, and websites available is mind-boggling.
ChatGPT has become an indispensable tool for supporting teachers in various aspects of their work, ranging from writing emails and recommendations to creating engaging lesson plans and differentiating instruction. One area where ChatGPT has been particularly effective is in enhancing students' writing skills, and I have had the privilege of teaching seniors how to utilize this tool to improve their writing.
One notable success story involved a student who struggled with writing and was tasked with producing weekly two-page papers for a college-level high school course. With the help of ChatGPT, this student was able to leverage the prompt feature to proofread, correct, and critique their writing. By utilizing the feedback provided by ChatGPT, the student made valuable additions and corrections to their papers, resulting in significant improvements in both structure and content. This experience not only boosted the student's confidence but also served as a powerful learning tool, allowing them to refine their writing skills with each assignment.
In addition to supporting individual students, ChatGPT has proven to be an invaluable resource for teachers as well. By generating ideas and providing suggestions, ChatGPT assists in the development of effective lesson plans that cater to diverse learning needs. The ability to differentiate instruction is a key aspect of effective teaching, and ChatGPT aids teachers in tailoring their lessons to accommodate varying levels of understanding and engagement. Furthermore, ChatGPT can help teachers draft clear and concise emails, ensuring effective communication with students, parents, and colleagues.
Moreover, ChatGPT can be utilized to create exciting historical simulations that bring history to life in the classroom. By leveraging the capabilities of ChatGPT, teachers can design immersive and interactive experiences that actively engage students in historical events. These simulations foster critical thinking, problem-solving skills, and a deeper understanding of the subject matter, making history more captivating and relevant to students.
ChatGPT has emerged as a valuable tool for supporting teachers in various aspects of their work. Whether it is writing emails, recommendations, or lesson plans, or creating engaging historical simulations, ChatGPT proves to be an asset in the educational setting. By teaching seniors how to utilize ChatGPT to enhance their writing skills, students who were initially not strong writers have been able to make significant progress, thanks to the prompt's proofreading, correction, and critique capabilities. The integration of ChatGPT into the classroom has undoubtedly enriched both teaching and learning experiences, making it an indispensable resource for educators.
Sidenote #2
While working to organize this webinar, I created a survey, which I distributed on May 14 to members of various AP social studies teacher Facebook groups and to members of various CB-sponsored AP social studies teacher online communities. I also forwarded a copy of this survey to several distinguished education leaders I know personally and to the more than 200 educators who signed up to attend this webinar. On May 19, I concluded the survey, having gathered an impressive 89 thoughtful responses. Click here to find out what AP social studies teachers think about ChatGPT.
Sidenote #3
To view the webinar in its entirety, click on the below image.
Any comments/questions regarding the webinar can be shared here
Sidenote #4
In case you’re wondering, yes, Scott Petri and I are planning a follow-up webinar for the fall, perfectly timed to coincide with the beginning of the new school year. This webinar will be entitled “Assessment, PBL, and AI Detection Tools in the Era of ChatGPT.”
We’re also scheduled to present on the topic of “Using AI to Improve Classroom Conversations and Writing Skills” at the National Council of Social Studies Teacher Conference on Saturday, December 2.
