How Good is AI at A Level Geography?

'Discuss the merits of AI-written essays, in 300 words.'

Type exactly that into the new chat bot launched by OpenAI, known as ChatGPT, and you’ll be impressed with the results. While many teachers are concerned about the use and abuse of AI by their students to author extended answers at A level, there are some real benefits to its judicious use by the adult at the front of the classroom.

Discussions on Twitter have noted AI’s ability to help with planning a scheme of lessons, providing tired teachers with a good starting point for a more detailed examination of the syllabus. AI is pretty good at writing closed questions (and providing the answers) about generic topics, like urban growth or designing earthquake-proof buildings. It can make glossaries, and even create 'gap fill' activities faster than you can; though it may need a tweak as Science teacher Joel Kenyon explains below.

But what about an essay? One of the hardest skills for students at A Level can be thinking through how to turn their detailed notes and ideas into a synoptic discussion of a topic. Watching the ‘bot write up a ‘600-word discussion of the merits of globalisation’ I was, firstly, struck by its adherence to American English (e.g. Globalization refers to…). But beyond the SPaG, I had a small revelation about the learning bonus associated with unpicking its approach to structuring its answers.

The ‘bot types faster than you can read but there’s something about it appearing before you, onscreen, that mimics ‘modelling’ the art of writing to your students. By asking the ‘bot to write a word-limited answer to the same question multiple times, using slightly different requirements, you can see the ways in which it improves. With the addition of a qualifying phrases like ‘With real world examples’, ‘With located examples’ or ‘Include statistics to back up arguments’ you can watch an ordinary answer morph into something better, yet retain its initial structure of: introductory remarks, two or three different arguments and a summative, balanced conclusion. Sure, some answers are still pretty generic and wouldn’t look out of place in a high school debate - but try asking your AI assistant to write the answer again including key terms you specify. Ninety per cent of the time it can deliver.

Here are a couple of answers outlining the differences between near and far places; the second with suggested key terms to include:

So, just like AI (in my experience of playing with chat.openai.com) I haven’t quite managed to stick to my word limit. (I found the ‘bot particularly verbose on the Changing places topic, but maybe that is something else we have in common!) It likes to repeat the question – so that’s one thing to flag to students preparing for exams – along with the fact it always provides some sort of summary at the end, which is often pretty superfluous. Clearly, an evaluative conclusion upon which many marks depend, in the case of AQA’s 20-mark questions, isn't something to leave to an algorithm. Also, remember the chat bot I was using has limited knowledge of the world after 2021, as I write in 2023. However, it's not all bad news for teachers.

I hope I’ve got you thinking about what AI can do for you and your students to develop their written skills. Oh, and here’s the chat bot’s version of this essay, below. How did we both do?

To follow the ongoing discussion amongst teachers about what AI can do for you use #ChatGPT on Twitter.