In a pair of blog entries, Tim Stahmer (Assorted Stuff) points to the dark cloud of AI on the horizon, whose silver lining is now being mined by…everyone. In his Conference Check-In, he writes:

Looking at the actual program, it’s not hard to see which topics are at the top of almost everyone’s mind: AI and CS.

Roughly 20% of our sessions feature something about artificial intelligence, with many specifically citing ChatGPT. Based solely on reading the descriptions,1 the vast majority of presenters are discussing how to use AI

As someone who is prepping NINE different presentations for an upcoming state, no, global, event, I find it irresistible to not try and answer the question, “What does this presentation look like with AI in it?”

In Tim’s Conference Check-In post, he references that AI will replace entry level programming jobs. In my experience, as far from programming as I can get, I find that AI is going to replace some of the tools I use daily.

What’s more, it’s going to replace my approaches to matching writing and other processes, like critical thinking, something I’ve written about before. Not that AI will do the thinking for me, but it will assist me in implementing critical thinking models and applying them in ways I hadn’t considered before.

One example is my megaprompt for helping me trim my writing into Hemingway style. Consider the first few paragraphs of this blog entry. Here’s how a Hemingway MegaPrompt has revised it:

Tim Stahmer, in his blog ‘Assorted Stuff,’ highlights AI’s growing impact. In his Conference Check-In, he notes AI and CS dominate the agenda. About 20% of sessions discuss artificial intelligence, often mentioning ChatGPT. Presenters explore how to use AI in various contexts.

As I prepare for a major event, with nine presentations, I’m drawn to the question, ‘How does AI change these presentations?’ Tim mentions AI replacing entry-level programming jobs in his post. In my work, far from programming, I see AI replacing my everyday tools.

What’s more, I have the chatbot give me a comparison of writing:

Original Writing	Hemingway Version	Explanation
In a pair of blog entries, Tim Stahmer (Assorted Stuff) points to the dark cloud of AI on the horizon, whose silver lining is now being mined by…everyone.	Tim Stahmer, in his blog ‘Assorted Stuff,’ highlights AI’s growing impact.	Simplified the introduction to focus directly on the main point: AI’s impact, as discussed by Tim Stahmer.
In his Conference Check-In, he writes: Looking at the actual program, it’s not hard to see which topics are at the top of almost everyone’s mind: AI and CS. Roughly 20% of our sessions feature something about artificial intelligence, with many specifically citing ChatGPT.	In his Conference Check-In, he notes AI and CS dominate the agenda. About 20% of sessions discuss artificial intelligence, often mentioning ChatGPT.	Streamlined the details about the conference to focus on the prevalence of AI and CS topics.
Based solely on reading the descriptions,1 the vast majority of presenters are discussing how to use AI.	Presenters explore how to use AI in various contexts.	Condensed the information to maintain focus on the main idea: the use of AI by presenters.
As someone who is prepping NINE different presentations for an upcoming state, no, global, event, I find it irresistible to not try and answer the question, “What does this presentation look like with AI in it?”	As I prepare for a major event, with nine presentations, I’m drawn to the question, ‘How does AI change these presentations?’	Made the sentence more concise and direct, focusing on the writer’s curiosity about integrating AI into presentations.
In Tim’s Conference Check-In post, he references that AI will replace entry level programming jobs. In my experience, as far from programming as I can get, I find that AI is going to replace some of the tools I use daily.	Tim mentions AI replacing entry-level programming jobs in his post. In my work, far from programming, I see AI replacing my everyday tools.	Simplified the statement to directly connect Tim’s observation with the writer’s personal experience regarding AI’s impact on their tools.

As an avid user of the Hemingway App, unwilling to pay for the subscription for the AI version, I find this quite helpful to my writing.

Who wouldn’t want to try this with XYZ critical thinking process? One way to do this is to drop a megaprompt into ChatGPT (or Claude for that matter), and then wait and see what happens. You’ll be pleasantly surprised.

For fun, I grabbed a megaprompt someone shared (with the intent it be taken and used) off some Facebook group one early morning months ago. Then, I have slowly customized it to reflect critical thinking models like Melanie Trecek-King’s FLOATER, Wayne Barz’ CRITIC, George Polya’s 4-Step Problem-Solving approach. I’ll share more about this in a different blog, but it’s been so much fun to put these together, then chat with a chatbot about it.

And, asking ChatGPT to prepare a Claim-Evidence-Reasoning (CER) for an observation, including question formulation through reasoning stage is so easy. Do I feel like I missed out? Consider my most recent experiment with Microsoft CoPilot.

In this case, I was sitting watch a football game this weekend after spending yet another few hours prepping workshop sessions for an upcoming February convention event. It occurred to me, “What could a chatbot with web connections do with a critical thinking process (e.g. CRITIC) and current events?”

If you’re not familiar with Wayne R. Bartz’ CRITIC, I discovered it in Skeptical Inquirer (Sept/Oct 2002; see link below to read article) as I was readying my presentation on Critical Thinking Made Simple. 

The need for this is ever-present, a point he makes in his 2002 article:

Most college students slouch into the first day of class assuming they already know a great deal about the world around them. As a result they may have to unlearn an accumulated wealth of misinformation in addition to absorbing the priceless new pearls of wisdom teachers toss their way.

An improvement in critical thinking skills should facilitate that sometimes painful process.When it comes to widely accepted extraordinary claims, the sources bombarding today’s students are rich, the speculations boundless, and critical analysis is generally lacking.

In the Texas universities I earned my degrees, such a course would have been welcome. However, I’m not sure it would have penetrated the protective shell put in place by my indoctrination of twin fantasies promoted by revisionist historians and clerics. Only a few days ago, I recall observing the need for critical thinking to a high school history matron, to which she asked, “How long did it take you? How old are you?” As I sheepishly admitted my age to the elder Wisdom of history, I had to agree.

Bartz is also a book author on a topic, Critical Thinking: The Antidote for Faith) that bears some attention in these days (I picked up a copy of his book via Kindle Unlimited, but have not read it as of this blog entry). You can read his critical thinking insights as they pertain to CRITIC in these online PDFs:

• Teaching Skepticism via the CRITIC Acronym and the Skeptical Inquirer.
• Using the CRITIC acronym to teach information evaluation.
  
• Matthies, Brad S. and Helmke, Jonathan, “Using the CRITIC acronym to teach information evaluation”
  (2005). Scholarship and Professional Work. 2.
  https://digitalcommons.butler.edu/librarian_papers/2
• The Psychologist, the Philosopher, and the Librarian: The Information Literacy Version of CRITIC
• Matthies, Brad S., “The Psychologist, the Philosopher, and the Librarian The Information Literacy Version of CRITIC” (2005).
  Scholarship and Professional Work. Paper 1.
  http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/librarian_papers/1
  

You probably guessed that critical thinking is NOT easy, which is why I’ve been researching it for a year in anticipation of my presentations and blog entries, and realize I am still a novice. That’s OK, it’s the learning that’s been so much fun. With my budding enthusiasm, I captured this in an image for my session:

I sent this diagram without explanation or background to Microsoft CoPilot. It sought to explain it to me. It did OK. 

Then, it got interesting. What if it could apply this diagram to a current event?

In case you missed it, Alaska’s rivers in places untouched and allegedly pristine are turning rust colored. The reason is due to the melting permafrost, the result of climate change.

Even with simple instructions (unlike the megaprompts I’ve crafted), Microsoft CoPilot gave me back this response, and I found it accurate. What I found curious? The sources it provided are different than the ones I highlighted above.

Sure, I can try to apply the CRITIC process to a real situation like
rivers and streams in Alaska turning to rust color due to melting
permafrost. Here is how I would do it:

• C-CLAIM: A claim is a statement that someone makes
  about something. For example, someone might say that “the rivers and
  streams in Alaska are turning to rust color due to melting permafrost”.
  This claim is testable, because we can observe the color of the water
  and measure its chemical properties.
• R-ROLE: A role is a position or perspective that
  someone has on something. For example, someone might be a scientist who
  studies the effects of climate change on Alaska’s waterways, or a
  fisherman who depends on them for his livelihood. The role of the person
  making the claim affects how they evaluate it. For example, a scientist
  might be more interested in finding out the causes and consequences of
  this phenomenon, while a fisherman might be more concerned about how it
  affects his income and food supply.
• I-INFORMATION: Information is data or evidence that
  supports or challenges a claim. For example, some information that
  might support the claim that “the rivers and streams in Alaska are
  turning to rust color due to melting permafrost” are:
  • Photos or videos of orange-colored water from different locations¹².
  • Reports or articles from experts who explain how this happens³⁴⁵.
  • Studies or experiments that measure the iron content, acidity, oxygen level, and other properties of the water³⁴⁵.
    Some information that might challenge this claim are:
  • Other possible explanations for why some rivers turn orange, such as acid-rock drainage or wetlands⁵.
  • Variations in water quality depending on season, weather, geology, and human activities⁴.
  • Uncertainty or disagreement among scientists about the extent and impact of this phenomenon³⁴⁵.
• T-TEST: A test is a way of checking if a claim is
  true or false by doing something. For example, one way to test if “the
  rivers and streams in Alaska are turning to rust color due to melting
  permafrost” is to compare them with other rivers that do not have this
  problem. If they look similar in color and chemistry, then we can say
  that there is some evidence for this claim. If they look different or
  have other problems, then we can say that there is not enough evidence
  for this claim.
• I-INDEPENDENT TESTING: Independent testing means
  checking if a claim has been tested by others before by looking at their
  results. For example, one way to do independent testing for “the rivers
  and streams in Alaska are turning to rust color due to melting
  permafrost” is to see if other scientists have observed or measured this
  phenomenon in other places. If they have found similar results as us,
  then we can say that there is more evidence for this claim. If they have
  found different results or no results at all, then we can say that
  there is less evidence for this claim.

• C-CAUSE: A cause is an explanation for why
  something happens based on what we know so far. For example, one
  possible cause for why “the rivers and streams in Alaska are turning to
  rust color due to melting permafrost” is:

  • Melting permafrost releases iron-rich sediments into the water.
  • Iron-rich sediments oxidize when they come into contact with oxygen in the air.
  • Oxidized iron forms rust-colored compounds that make the water look orange.

This cause may be logical because it explains how iron-rich sediments
can turn into rust-colored compounds when exposed to oxygen.

I hope this helps you understand how I would apply CRITIC process to a
real situation like rivers and streams in Alaska turning to rust color
due to melting permafrost. Do you have any questions?

Source: 

Conversation with Bing, 1/21/2024 

1. Alaska’s once crystal-clear rivers now resemble dirty orange soda …. https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topstories/alaskas-once-crystal-clear-rivers-now-resemble-dirty-orange-soda-puzzling-researchers/ar-AA1n0l0b. 
2. Rusting Rivers – NASA Earth Observatory. https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/152299/rusting-rivers. 
3. Alaska is dealing with a mysterious ‘rust’ problem in its rivers. https://www.thecooldown.com/outdoors/alaska-rivers-orange-rust-discolored-drinking-water/. 
4. Alaska’s Arctic waterways are turning orange. Fancy a drink?. https://www.nationalobserver.com/2022/12/22/news/alaska-arctic-waterways-turning-orange-threatening-drinking-water. 
5. ‘Alarming’ Phenomenon Turning Alaska’s Rivers Bright Orange. https://knewz.com/alarming-phenomenon-turning-alaska-rivers-bright-orange/.

AI in Schools

Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure