Educators are exploring ways to leverage AI to support social-emotional learning, according to an article in Education Week.
“AI should reduce the barriers to human connection and really make a point to allow students to practice” social-emotional skills, says Amanda Brown, a technology implementation specialist for the Montgomery County schools in Maryland.
AI chatbots allow students to practice empathy, perspective-taking, self-awareness, social awareness, and relationship skills in low-pressure ways. Students are honing these so-called “soft skills” before they begin their careers.
Some educators believe can AI boost SEL — with the right safeguards in place – but many are concerned that AI will undermine students’ abilities to develop relationships and critical thinking skills.
Some popular AI platforms allow educators to customize chatbots to prioritize social-emotional learning.
Chris Cromwell, an instructional technology coordinator for the West Chester Area school district in West Chester, Pa., created chatbots using School AI’s “spaces” feature that can be integrated into different middle school classrooms. The goal: use chatbots to help develop students’ empathy and perspective-taking skills.
One chatbot Cromwell created answers students’ questions as though it is a person with a physical disability. Students ask respectful questions to grasp the difficulties the chatbot character faces. They follow up by designing a prototype for a tool or product to help the character as part of their unified arts and technical education class.
A Civil War soldier is another chatbot character he created. This chatbot prompts students in an 8th grade U.S. history course to interact with and ask questions of a simulated person whose perspective and experiences are different from their own, says Cromwell. For this chatbot, students have a worksheet to guide them to ask more open-ended questions.
The third chatbot he built allows students in the 8th grade gifted education program to converse with a character of their choosing, ranging from “firefighter” to “AI ethicist,” Cromwell says.
Cromwell has focused on empathy and perspective-taking because they’re important skills students need to succeed in school and life.
Character chatbots allow teachers to talk to students about how AI characters do not have real human feelings or understanding, even if they sound convincing. Students learn not to develop relationships with the bots. This is a key AI literacy lesson as more kids and adults turn to chatbots for advice and companionship, Cromwell says. The para-social relationships some young people develop with general-purpose chatbots alarm parents.
Brown, the technology specialist, has customized a chatbot she calls CalmBot, which walks students through restorative conversations (via text or speech). This helps resolve conflicts with classmates. A student may say they were pushed by a friend, and the chatbot will ask questions such as “how did that make you feel?” and “what did you need in that moment?”
This prompts awareness of emotions and needs, a key to social-emotional learning. It also helps develop social awareness, self-management, responsible decision-making, and relationship skills, she says.
Customized chatbots can help students practice tough conversations before having them, too, Brown says.
For another AI-generated SEL exercise, Brown uses Google’s Gemini Gems and the program Book Creator to coach students as they write stories about themselves. This allows students to practice self-awareness, agency, and communication, Brown says.
Teachers can also use AI to view schools through their students’ eyes. Teachers can give a chatbot an assignment they plan to give to students and ask for a detailed breakdown of the work required to complete it. This helps them understand how many steps and hours students will need to finish the task. Conversations about whether an assignment teaches what educators intend, or if it creates too much busy work for students, can come from prompting a chatbot.
Education Week
