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WHAT IS TECHNOSKEPTICALLY INQUIRING INTO AI?
WHAT IS TECHNOSKEPTICALLY INQUIRING INTO AI?
In this interactive and inquiry-based session, we will introduce the concept of technoskepticism and how to apply it in the classroom around GenAI. Technoskepticism encourages a reflective pause before adopting technologies into our individual and collective lives. It examines the potential collateral, unintended, and disproportionate effects of technologies - in this case, GenAI. We make AI a point of inquiry and investigate what AI can and cannot do.
Facilitators of Technoskeptically
Inquiring into AI
Facilitators of Technoskeptically
Inquiring into AI
Dr Dan Krutka
Dr Dan Krutka
Dr Dan Krutka (he/him) is Associate Professor of Social Studies Education and co-founder and co-executive director of the Civics of Technology project, which supports educators in advancing critical perspectives on technology.
A former high school teacher, he has authored nearly 100 scholarly publications exploring the intersections of media/technology, democracy, and education.
His co-authored article in Harvard Educational Review, “What Relationships Do We Want with Technology?” introduces a Technoskepticism Iceberg framework that is a cross-disciplinary model for helping students think deeply about the human and societal impacts of technologies. Dr. Krutka has received numerous national awards and currently serves as co-editor of Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education—Social Studies.
Dr Marie K. Heath
Dr Marie K. Heath
Dr. Marie K. Heath (she/her) currently works as an Associate Professor of Learning Design & Technology at Loyola University Maryland and formerly taught high school social studies for Baltimore County Public Schools.
She is co-author of the book, Critical AI in K-12 Classrooms: A Practical Guide for Justice and Joy published by Harvard Education Press and has authored over 50 papers on topics of AI, technology, education, and justice.
Marie is co-editor of the CITE Social Studies Journal, co-founder of the Civics of Technology project, faculty fellow at the Center for Leadership and Social Justice Education at Loyola University Maryland, and Loyola University’s Distinguished Scholar of the Year.
How is EEAI incorporatingthis practice?
How is EEAI incorporatingthis practice?
We will model several learning activities which teachers can immediately take back to their classroom including 1) an AI Quote activity, 2) using AI for media literacy and research, 3) technoskeptical audits of AI, 4) Uncovering Bias in AI and 5) Decoding Algorithms and Human Decision Making.
The “AI Quote Activity” is specifically designed to orient student attention to the potential harms and downsides of AI. It fosters curiosity and generates questions from students about what AI is, who it impacts, and how long it has existed in our lives.
The “AI and Information Literacy Activity” explores how AI can support and diminish students’ ability to do research and gain credible understandings of important issues.
The “Uncovering Bias in AI” allows teachers to investigate and compare how different AI models grade student papers based upon randomized identity markers of students.
“Technoskeptical Audits of AI” technoskeptically inquiries into GenAI, modeling how to identify the trade-offs, downsides, and harms of GenAI in our individual and collective lives.
“Decoding Algorithms and Human Decision Making” highlights the increasing ubiquity of algorithms in our lives and explores the ethical dimensions of offloading decision making to a machine.
Resources
Resources
Civics of Technology Project
Resources to help answer the question: As technology continues encroaching in our lives, how can we advance technology education for just futures?
Technoskepticism Curriculum
Educators can encourage students to critically inquire into technologies by asking the these five technoskeptical questions that were adapted by Dan Krutka and Scott Metzger from the a talk by Neil Postman. https://www.civicsoftechnology.org/curriculum
(Postman, N. (1998, March 28). Five things we need to know about technological change. Denver, Colorado.)
SIFT Toolbox for ChatGPT and Claude
Mike Caulfield’s code to modify an LLM to “come to better conclusions, hallucinate (much) less, and source conflicting perspectives more systematically. It also models an approach that is less chatbot, and more research assistant in a way that is appropriate for student researchers, who can use it to aid research while coming to their own conclusions” (Caufield, 2025, n.p.) https://checkplease.neocities.org/
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