Artificial Intelligence Will Have Monumental Impacts on Early Childhood Education and Care in The Near Future
Last week, I wrote an article titled The Good, Bad, and Ugly of an Artificial Intelligence Writing Children’s Progress Reports. This article expands on some of the ideas in there and talks about Artificial Intelligence's impact on Early Childhood Education more generally.
Artificial intelligence (AI) has been gaining popularity in recent years due to its ability to process large amounts of data and perform tasks that were previously thought to be exclusive to humans. Two examples of AI that have gained significant attention are ChatGPT and Dalle 2. While these technologies have the potential to revolutionize various industries, including education, there are both good and bad aspects to consider.
On the positive side, AI can automate repetitive and time-consuming tasks, allowing teachers to focus on providing personalized and meaningful learning experiences to their students. AI-powered tools can also help identify areas where students are struggling and provide targeted interventions to address those challenges. For example, AI can be used to analyze student data and create custom lesson plans tailored to individual learning styles, interests, and abilities. AI is starting to be able to analyze images. Read more about that here: ChatGPT’s makers release GPT-4, a new generative AI that understands images - Vox. It’s ability to understand and analyze video is coming soon as well. In the not too distant future, teachers will be able to take photos and videos of children and then the AI will be able to turn those observations into progress reports and other assessments and or be able to generate individualized lesson plans for groups or individual children.
Moreover, AI can enhance communication between teachers, students, and families. ChatGPT, for instance, can be used to respond to frequently asked questions, provide instant feedback, and engage students in meaningful conversations. This can help foster a sense of community and support within the classroom, leading to better academic outcomes and improved student well-being.
AI-powered monitoring systems can be installed in preschool classrooms to observe and collect data on children's behavior, actions, and interactions with their surroundings. By analyzing this data, AI can provide insights into a child's social, emotional, cognitive, and physical development. For instance, AI can analyze a child's body language and facial expressions to detect their level of engagement or disengagement in a particular activity. AI can also track a child's motor skills development by analyzing their movement patterns, such as crawling, walking, or jumping. Devices simulator to fit hits or Apple Watches can monitor children’s movement, heart rate, and more and send it to an AI to analyze. On some level, this could be a good thing, but it also could lead to Orwellian style Big Brother constantly monitoring children which can have scary and creepy implications. We might be soon living in a world where children who haven’t learned to use the potty yet with literally all aspects of their development and emotions tracked in some AI database that’s used for constant analysis. Parents are already anxious and all this new data can add to that. Imagine if there was a way for you to know how often your child cried relative to every other child. Parents of course share tips with each everything from napping to potty training, but parents also compare their child to others. Usually that just means comparing with other children they encounter but AI might give constant stream of data that allows them to compare to 1000s of other children leading to constant parental anxiety. Schools might even start using AI created info to track and sort children at young ages.
There are other also negative aspects to consider when it comes to AI in education as well. One of the major concerns is that AI, despite all its advancement, can not replace actual humans and if it replaces human observation that could be leading to a lack of human interaction and empathy in the learning process. While AI can provide personalized learning experiences, it may not be able to replicate the emotional support, understanding and encouragement that a human teacher can offer. AI is also built by humans and as we know humans have racial, gender, and other types of biases that can find their way to become AI biases as well.
Additionally, there are concerns about data privacy and security. AI-powered tools gather a significant amount of data, including student information, learning preferences, and behavioral patterns. If this data falls into the wrong hands, it could be used for harmful purposes such as identity theft or targeted advertising and even by humans and or AI to learn how to manipulate or even brainwash children.
Another major concern, is that that corporations and policy makers might turn to AI as a way to save money and further deprofessionalize the profession. If AI is created that creates lesson plans, does observation and assessment then I could see that being used against teachers as an argument to continue to not pay them well or to not invest in teacher professional development. It can also make educators coming into the field less likely to what do learn things that they will think AI will just do for them. On the other hand, AI also has the potential to be used to create customized professional development for teachers and administrators and automate many tasks for Directors and Administrators.
Despite these concerns, AI has the potential to transform education in numerous ways. For instance, AI can be used to take observations of children, write progress reports, and write Individual Education Plans (IEPs). Moreover, AI-powered tools can be used to make customized story books for individual children's interests, which can help improve their reading skills and foster a love of learning. For example, If a child in your class loves dinosaurs and is having trouble learning how to share, you can have Chat GPT come up with a story in a minute about dinosaurs learning how to share and then have Dalle 2 generate images that go along with the story. While that is really cool in some ways, it could also make children believe that they should constantly have things custom made for them. It is like children born the past 15 years who have access to billions of songs and 1000s of TV shows/movies instantly who have no need to develop the skill of patience and waiting to get something that you want.
AI might also impact how we design and create classrooms and playgrounds. One of the key benefits of AI is its ability to process vast amounts of data quickly and accurately. This data can include information about a child's physical abilities, sensory needs, and cognitive functioning. By analyzing this data, AI can make predictions about what types of equipment and materials would be most beneficial for each child.
For example, if a child has limited mobility, AI could recommend the use of ramps or other adaptive equipment to ensure that they can access all areas of the playground or classroom. If a child has sensory processing issues, AI could suggest materials that would be calming or stimulating, depending on the child's individual needs.
AI can also help to create more inclusive environments by taking into account the needs of all children, not just those with disabilities. By analyzing data about the typical abilities and preferences of different age groups, AI can recommend equipment and materials that are appropriate and engaging for all children.
Another benefit of using AI to design custom playgrounds and classrooms is that it can help to reduce costs and increase efficiency. By streamlining the design process, AI can help to minimize waste and ensure that resources are used effectively. Additionally, by creating personalized environments that meet the unique needs of each child, AI can help to reduce the need for costly adaptations and modifications down the line.
AI can impact access to child care as well. AI may perpetuate disparities if it is not implemented in an equitable way. For example, if AI is used to determine which children are accepted into a particular childcare program or school, it may inadvertently perpetuate biases against certain groups of children based on factors such as race or socioeconomic status.
Additionally, if AI is used to evaluate the quality of early childhood education programs, it may perpetuate disparities if the AI algorithms are not designed to take into account the unique challenges and strengths of different communities. For example, if an AI algorithm is trained on data from predominantly white, middle-class neighborhoods, it may not accurately assess the quality of programs in low-income or minority communities.
However, AI also has the potential to solve disparities in early childhood education and childcare access. By analyzing data and making predictions, AI can help identify areas where resources are most needed and target interventions to specific communities.
For example, AI could be used to analyze data on the number of childcare providers in a particular area and identify areas where there is a shortage of providers. This information could then be used to direct resources to those areas and help ensure that all families have access to quality childcare.
Similarly, AI could be used to evaluate the quality of early childhood education programs in a more equitable way. By training algorithms on data from a diverse range of communities and taking into account factors such as cultural competency and language access, AI could help ensure that all programs are evaluated fairly and accurately.
Ultimately, the key to ensuring that AI is used to solve, rather than perpetuate, disparities in early childhood education and childcare access is to ensure that it is implemented in an equitable way. This includes taking steps to mitigate bias in AI algorithms, ensuring that all communities have access to data and technology, and involving families and community members in the design and implementation of AI systems.
By leveraging the power of AI in an equitable way, we can help ensure that all children have access to quality early childhood education and childcare, regardless of their race, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status.
The impact of AI on education is a double-edged sword. While there are many potential benefits, such as automating repetitive tasks and providing personalized learning experiences, there are also concerns about the loss of human interaction and data privacy. It is essential that we continue to monitor and regulate the use of AI in education to ensure that it is used ethically and responsibly, with a focus on enhancing the learning experience for students rather than replacing human teachers. This is not even mentioning the issues of screen time, lack of human interaction with other children, and general over reliance on technology.
What needs to be happening now, is that early childhood educators and administrators need to be preparing right now for all these huge impacts and be the ones driving the changes to the field. If the early education field does not take an active role in understanding how AI will impact the field and shaping those changes, then what will most likely happen is a few tech billionaires are going to be the one who are driving those changes and imposing them on the field. Do we really want Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos and other similar people to be the ones who are going to be making major changes to our field?
