When students use AI for “school-related purposes,” they mean explaining assignments, brainstorming, looking up facts, editing essays or, in extreme cases, getting homework answers.
Nearly two-thirds (62%) of students in middle school and up use AI for schoolwork, a 14% increase in less than a year, according to a RAND Corporation survey. Most students don’t think they’re cheating unless they’re using AI to get answers.
Most students said that using AI to brainstorm and explain assignments more clearly is legitimate. Meanwhile, half of the students say it’s not OK to draft or revise writing with AI.
“Students are clearly embracing AI as a learning tool, but they’re also conflicted about what it means for their own learning,” said Heather Schwartz, vice president of RAND’s Education, Employment and Infrastructure division.
Schwartz notes that two-thirds of students believe AI is dampening their critical thinking.
Still, ChatGPT remains the most popular AI tool, with more than half of students using it. Other popular tools include:
- Google Gemini (28%)
- Google Translate (20%)
- Photomath (10%)
- Grammarly AI Writer (10%)
- Brainly (8%)
- Microsoft Copilot (7%)
- Quillbot (4%)
- Claude (3%)
- Wolfram Alpha (2%)
- Khanmigo (1%)
More than one-third of high schools have developed AI homework policies. Twenty-seven percent of schools prohibit AI use, while 7% allow it, a trend similar in middle schools.
Here’s some advice for leaders from the research:
- Administrators should distinguish between “cognitive offloading” (AI does the heavy mental lifting) and “cognitive augmentation” (AI motivates students to dig deeper).
- Cognitive augmentation flourishes in flipped classrooms where students learn new content at home, and teachers lead independent and group study in class.
- Educators must tell students when and for which purposes they may use AI.
Read the report here.
More from DA: Community colleges are succeeding—just not in the way we’ve been measuring them
