ChatGPT took the world by storm in late 2022. My editor at Science News Explores reached out to me on New Year’s Day 2023 and asked if I could write a story about its impact on education. She wanted it quickly. Of course I said yes. I’ve been following AI news and learning as much as I can about the technology since I was in high school — and all of a sudden it was more popular than ever. I was in the right place at the right time.
I put a lot of work into the story over two weeks, interviewing ten people total. (I usually talk to 4 to 6 people for a feature).
Before I’d even finished, my editor told me that Science News (SN) was interested in the story! Science News Explores (SNE) is aimed at students in middle school and high school. Its parent company, Science News, is one of the longest-running and most popular news sources for grown-ups interested in science. Often, SNE will rewrite SN content for young readers. It’s very rare for SN to take an SNE story and rewrite it for adults. But that’s exactly what we did.
The version of the story for grown-ups came out as a feature in the print edition of Science News on April 8, 2023 – which just happens to be my birthday! That’s definitely the most visibility a story of mine has every gotten.
They also made this really cool educator’s guide: https://www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/040823_FullGuide.pdf
Here’s the version of the story for young people:
Think twice before using ChatGPT for help with homework
This new AI tool talks a lot like a person — but still makes mistakes
Science News Explores, February 16, 2023
And here’s the grown-up version (published online a few days after the print edition):
How ChatGPT and similar AI will disrupt education
Teachers are concerned about cheating and inaccurate information
Science News, April 12, 2023
