Teachers redesign classrooms as AI changes how students learn

Generative AI is pushing U.S. teachers to rethink a basic classroom question: how can they tell what students actually understand? Across middle and high schools, educators interviewed by Reuters are assigning less take-home work and putting more writing, discussion and assessment in front of them.

Sixth-grade humanities teacher Tristen Chang in San Francisco has replaced take-home essays with short oral exams. She asks students about character, plot, theme and metaphor, an approach intended to make it harder to outsource the work to a chatbot. Other teachers are spending longer periods on in-class writing, reducing homework questions or asking students to show their reasoning live.

More work moves into the classroom

New York math teacher Bobson Wong now uses more supervised practice so he can see how students are solving problems. English teacher Meghan Hyland has made classwork a larger part of grades, requires students to leave phones behind when they leave class and uses handwritten assignments and live demonstrations to test comprehension. Some teachers are also limiting laptop use and choosing prompts that demand unusual interpretations rather than predictable answers.

The changes reflect uncertainty as well as concern. Reuters cited research pointing in different directions: a 2025 Harvard randomized trial found benefits from a custom AI tutor, while a small 2025 MIT Media Lab study found that ChatGPT helped people write essays faster but appeared to reduce the amount of thinking they did. A 2025 RAND survey found that most U.S. students and English, math and science teachers reported using AI for schoolwork.

Some educators use AI as a teaching aid

Teachers are not rejecting the technology outright. Some use AI to adapt historical documents for different reading levels, condense articles or help students begin research. Social studies teacher Michael Zagari told Reuters that students can build critical-thinking skills by learning how to prompt AI effectively. The broader challenge, educators said, is teaching responsible use while preserving opportunities for students to demonstrate their own judgment.

Reuters reported from interviews with teachers and education experts across the United States.

File photo: Northeast High School teacher Adrienne Staten works with students in a classroom using AI in lessons. Photo from March 2025 coverage; it does not depict the Reuters feature’s named teachers or reporting date. Carly Sitrin / Chalkbeat.

Source: Reuters.