Ethics

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10th, 11th, 12th

Debate the ethics of AI uses in medicine

Let students debate against AI about the ethics of using AI in various aspects of the medical field (e.g. decision-making, patient diagnosis, hospital management).

Example student session with robot emoji versus doctor emoji.
Example student session with robot emoji versus doctor emoji.
Example student session with robot emoji versus doctor emoji.

Teaching goals

In an ethics or philosophy course, engaging in a debate can be a great way for students to apply theory in a practical way. That said, class-wide debates might not always be the right fit due to time constraints that may not allow for every student to make their unique arguments. Additionally, for in-class debates to be productive, students may already require an in-depth understanding of the content.

With Flint, teachers can have students debate 1-1 with the AI on any given topic. Not only can these debates be done at home (which can save valuable class time), the AI can help students develop their understanding of the topic in a way that peer-to-peer debates may not be able to.

Teachers have used Flint to supplement, not replace, in-class discussions. Having students debate their perspective with AI ahead of an in-class discussion can lead to richer conversations.

Here, we’ll explore the use case of a teacher designing an AI tutor to debate the ethical uses of AI in medicine:

Learning objective:

Have students pick a stance on the use of AI for patient diagnosis and hospital management. Students should be able to debate their side, refute arguments, and provide counterarguments. Bonus points for using effectively using ethos, pathos, and logos.

NIH | Drawbacks and Potential of AI in Healthcare

Extra customization

Flint uses AI to automatically generate a role as well as a set of rules for the AI to follow as it engages in the debate with students.

Tutor role and rules that show how the AI will engage in a debate with the students.

From here, we can revise the format of the debate to make it even more engaging for students. By using the “revise” feature, the teacher can easily customize the behavior of the AI without any prompt engineering skills.

Using the revise feature to make the AI "be snarky, like Dr. House.

Student experience

When students start the session with the AI tutor, they’ll first be asked to pick a stance on the use of AI — first as it relates to patient diagnosis and then as it relates to hospital management.

Throughout the course of the debate, the AI will challenge the student’s position and will present counterarguments that the student will have to refute.

Example student chat conversation where the student is presenting their stance and backing it up using rhetorical strategies.

If the teacher enables speech-to-text and text-to-speech, students can engage in a verbal debate with the AI, which can make the experience even more engaging.

Extra customization

Flint uses AI to automatically generate a role as well as a set of rules for the AI to follow as it engages in the debate with students.

Tutor role and rules that show how the AI will engage in a debate with the students.

From here, we can revise the format of the debate to make it even more engaging for students. By using the “revise” feature, the teacher can easily customize the behavior of the AI without any prompt engineering skills.

Using the revise feature to make the AI "be snarky, like Dr. House.

Ethics

|

10th, 11th, 12th

Debate the ethics of AI uses in medicine

Example student session with robot emoji versus doctor emoji.

Teaching goals

In an ethics or philosophy course, engaging in a debate can be a great way for students to apply theory in a practical way. That said, class-wide debates might not always be the right fit due to time constraints that may not allow for every student to make their unique arguments. Additionally, for in-class debates to be productive, students may already require an in-depth understanding of the content.

With Flint, teachers can have students debate 1-1 with the AI on any given topic. Not only can these debates be done at home (which can save valuable class time), the AI can help students develop their understanding of the topic in a way that peer-to-peer debates may not be able to.

Teachers have used Flint to supplement, not replace, in-class discussions. Having students debate their perspective with AI ahead of an in-class discussion can lead to richer conversations.

Here, we’ll explore the use case of a teacher designing an AI tutor to debate the ethical uses of AI in medicine:

Learning objective:

Have students pick a stance on the use of AI for patient diagnosis and hospital management. Students should be able to debate their side, refute arguments, and provide counterarguments. Bonus points for using effectively using ethos, pathos, and logos.

NIH | Drawbacks and Potential of AI in Healthcare

Extra customization

Flint uses AI to automatically generate a role as well as a set of rules for the AI to follow as it engages in the debate with students.

Tutor role and rules that show how the AI will engage in a debate with the students.

From here, we can revise the format of the debate to make it even more engaging for students. By using the “revise” feature, the teacher can easily customize the behavior of the AI without any prompt engineering skills.

Using the revise feature to make the AI "be snarky, like Dr. House.

Student experience

When students start the session with the AI tutor, they’ll first be asked to pick a stance on the use of AI — first as it relates to patient diagnosis and then as it relates to hospital management.

Throughout the course of the debate, the AI will challenge the student’s position and will present counterarguments that the student will have to refute.

Example student chat conversation where the student is presenting their stance and backing it up using rhetorical strategies.

If the teacher enables speech-to-text and text-to-speech, students can engage in a verbal debate with the AI, which can make the experience even more engaging.

Other Ethics teacher testimonials:

With the AI chat history, I can see what the kids are thinking through their writing. The kids also thoroughly enjoyed the Flint assignment. At back-to-school night last week, I had several parents mention that their kids went home and talked about the ‘cool assignment’. It's not often kids openly share with their parents about their classroom experiences, so that was great to hear.”

Zach Richards headshot

Zach Richards

Ethics teacher at Episcopal

Spark AI-powered learning at your school.

Sign up to start using Flint, free for up to 80 users.

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Spark AI-powered learning at your school.

Sign up to start using Flint, free for up to 80 users.

Watch the video

Spark AI-powered learning at your school.

Sign up to start using Flint, free for up to 80 users.

Watch the video