The emergence of this book coincided with the launch of ChatGPT and discussions about what such an open-access artificial intelligence system means for humanity and society as a whole. What this means for teachers and education is impossible to predict with certainty, but it is clear that education must change. The author believes that the success of educational systems, schools, and teachers will greatly depend on how much they focus on the uniqueness of the human mind, that is, on everything that makes a human being human: emotion, self-awareness, creativity, learning through continuous interaction with other people, and learning through the immense dynamism and variability of the social context.
The disruption of the established described in this book represents a peaceful disruption that involves educational shifts aimed at empowering the student’s experience on one hand and cognitive processes on the other. When it comes to language, that is, its learning and teaching, we are addressing the inseparable triad of language, cognition, and experience. Although this may seem trivial and/or well-known, contemporary education largely neglects experiential learning, as well as the student’s meaningful comprehension of new concepts and the construction of knowledge. Facts are presented to students in a “packaged” and ready-to-use manner, along with lists of rules, organized content, and ready-made and exclusive solutions. The author offers a different approach to learning and teaching and draws the reader’s attention to the significance of meaning, its meaningful construction, and cognitive motivation in complex linguistic structures. The author provides an overview of cognitive processes that are in constant interaction with language, illustrates linguistic motivation through grammar, which is incorrectly considered an uninteresting list of structures and rules, and emphasizes questioning as a key component in knowledge construction.
Ultimately, the author poses a critical question: What constitutes the greatest educational challenge? She believes that it lies in developing teaching approaches that encourage students to break away from established modes of thinking and acting. However, this does not entail solely relying on the shortcuts offered by modern technology. Rather, technology should create a space of extended cognition within which ideas are realized faster and more accurately, and the student becomes a creator capable of assessing the usefulness of tech-provided information.The student’s departure from conventional thinking patterns could soon become crucial given the development of artificial intelligence and open systems such as ChatGPT. This pertains to artificial intelligence that not only provides precise answers to factual questions and solves mathematical problems but also devises culinary recipes, writes essays, and summarizes scientific papers. The fundamental question is how to utilize the availability of information and the speed of idea generation offered by artificial intelligence. The response to this challenge will shape the trajectory of education. It will determine the nature of the questions posed to students, the problems they tackle, and the emphasis placed on experiential learning that engages all senses and cultivates a profound understanding of the world.
(source: FF Open Press )
