How does ChatGPT affect your ability to learn, recall, and share information?
In this episode, Therese Markow and Natalie Wexler discuss the impact of generative AI (like ChatGPT) on education. They discuss the change in writing skills, how AI can undermine the learning process that comes with writing, and the incorrect information often provided by generative AI. Natalie explains how AI can function as cognitive outsourcing, which can reduce the cognitive benefits of learning and memory retention. She emphasizes the importance of explicit writing instruction in education and background fundamental knowledge stored in long-term memory for critical thinking and effective learning - including the importance of memorization (even if you don't use that word). Finally, Natalie warns of a potential downward spiral where AI dependence weakens cognitive abilities and advocates for systematic changes to combat this trend.
Key Takeaways:
Generally speaking, reading and writing are connected. But writing is harder, so you can be a good reader and still not be a good writer. However, if you learn to write well, you're almost certainly going to be a good reader as well.
The problem is over-reliance on AI, and when students use it as a crutch, they don't develop the understanding or the cognitive abilities that they would develop if they did the cognitive work themselves.
Writing helps with the cognitive processes of long-term memory, retrieval, elaboration, and more. When we offload that cognitive work, it can hamper our ability to retrieve the information from our long-term memory bank.
Unconsciously, we use background knowledge to understand pretty much anything that we try to read.
Democracy depends on a citizenry that is educated enough to understand the issues and to be able to distinguish misleading information from reliable information.
"Writing is, itself, a way of thinking, of deepening understanding, maybe of realizing that you didn't understand something as well as you thought you did, and you need to go and do some more research. If we skip that step of doing the writing, then we're missing out on developing those cognitive abilities, retaining knowledge, and deepening our understanding of things." — Natalie Wexler
Connect with Natalie Wexler:
Professional Bio: https://nataliewexler.com/about/
Show: https://nataliewexler.com/podcast/
Substack: https://nataliewexler.substack.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natalie-wexler-0b89979/
Books:
Beyond the Science of Reading: https://nataliewexler.com/beyond-the-science-of-reading/
The Knowledge Gap: https://nataliewexler.com/the-knowledge-gap/
The Writing Revolution: https://nataliewexler.com/the-writing-revolution/twr-2-0-cover-amazon/
Connect with Therese:
Website: www.criticallyspeaking.net
Bluesky: @CriticallySpeaking.bsky.social
Instagram: @criticallyspeakingpodcast
Email: theresemarkow@criticallyspeaking.net
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