How to Use ChatGPT to Learn Deeper
As a child, my parents forbade me from using a calculator until I took high school calculus. They believed that reliance on it would stifle my ability to do mental arithmetic.
Now that I’m older, I completely understand and agree with them.
Today, with the rise of AI such as ChatGPT, we have a calculator that does more than just solve math problems. It can also write essays and computer programs.
As a teacher, I’m supposed to embrace the use of technology to enhance student learning. But with the growing issues of students’ overreliance on it, I found myself avoiding computers altogether.
China has a highly competitive academic environment where grades determine one’s future.
As a result, many students are pushed to succeed by any means necessary. This includes cheating. With the proliferation of AI such as ChatGPT and Deepseek, it has become much more difficult to monitor and evaluate student performance.
I believe that AI is making us stupider and lazier.
With our culture’s obsession with instant gratification, efficiency, and the fear of failure, we are willingly giving up our ability to think critically and avoiding the pain of training ourselves to learn hard skills.
However, I admit that AI can still be a powerful tool that enhances our learning if we use it properly.
My Revelation
I recently finished a university-level physics course on Coursera.
It was tough, but it was also one of the most rewarding classes I’ve taken in a while.
I took physics in college years ago, and it was just as difficult to understand this time as it was then.
But this time was different because I had a new tool at my disposal, ChatGPT.
Now, I sound hypocritical when I say that I used ChatGPT to help me with this course. But I’ll discuss exactly how I used it to enhance my learning, rather than simply providing me with solutions.
Physics is not the easiest subject to understand. While we are familiar with concepts such as gravity and force, understanding them in terms of equations can be difficult.
For me specifically, physics was difficult because it forces me to think about details I would never have thought about, such as resultant force, Newton’s second law of opposing forces, and the velocity of circular motion.
Since I was taking an online course, it was difficult to share ideas, ask someone questions, and get immediate feedback. In university, we usually had office hours or study groups for this, but in online courses, this was much more difficult.
This is where ChatGPT comes in.
The Learning is in the Struggle
Much like exercise, progress comes from appropriate struggle and hardship. That means just enough to make you sweat but not feel completely overwhelmed.
Learning is the same way.
When I’m dealing with a problem, I first do my best to solve the problem myself. During this process, I’m seeing how far I can go myself and figure out what I know and what I don’t.
If I get stuck, I would go online to research concepts I’m confused about. If I’m still confused after exhausting all ideas, I would resort to ChatGPT.
Asking the Right Questions
Here’s how the interaction would go:
Me: “Suppose I have two blocks next to each other on a frictionless surface. One block (m1) is larger than the second block (m_2).
Can you explain why, when I apply a force, F_p, on m_1, both blocks experience the same acceleration but different forces?
I know mass plays a role, but I struggle to understand how m_2 feels a different force when it is pushed by m_1, which is pushed by F_p. Shouldn't m_2 also be pushed by F_p?”
A snippet of ChatGPT’s response:
ChatGPT: … Why Same Acceleration? Since both blocks are in contact and sitting on a frictionless surface, when you push m_1, it pushes m_2, and they move together. So: They must have the same acceleration, a, otherwise they would separate (or crush into each other).
In this prompt, I’m asking ChatGPT precisely what I’m confused about. The goal is to figure out the holes in my knowledge and fill them. Ultimately, I don’t want to rely on ChatGPT as I better understand the material.
The most effective questions to ask are:
- Am I understanding this concept correctly? Here’s my thinking: …
- Is my solution correct? If not, can you tell me where I went wrong?
- Can you explain to me in layman’s terms [concept]?
For example, can you explain in layman’s terms Newton’s Second Law? I don’t exactly understand how both objects exert the same but opposite forces, but have different accelerations.
These meta-questions are effective because they help ChatGPT pinpoint your confusion and answer that question specifically.
These questions helped me a lot because they helped me double-check my understanding and clear up some confusion.
For example, when I believed I found a solution but I was unsure, I would ask ChatGPT to double-check if my calculations were correct.
Prompt: “[Insert question]. My answer came out as 3.99 m/s. Is this correct?”
ChatGPT will go through the calculations and confirm whether it is correct or not. If it’s incorrect, I can follow its logic and steps to see where I went wrong.
Oftentimes, it’s because I misunderstood the directions of some vectors, such as mistaking positive direction for negative.
Here are some more examples of questions I have asked it:
Me: “Suppose there’s a loop standing vertically, a mass rolls through the loop. Please correct my thinking if it’s incorrect: the mass at the top of the loop experiences both radial acceleration going towards the center and the pull of gravity in the same direction?”
“Why is the normal force the same as the centripetal force?”
“Why is the force of gravity + the normal force the same as the centripetal force?”
“I’m confused as to why the net force isn’t: force of gravity + normal + centripetal”
“So my understanding is that it is gravity and the normal force of the track that causes the mass to loop and generate a centripetal force?”
In a way, I treat ChatGPT as someone I can bounce ideas and learn from, rather than someone who simply gives me answers. Think of it as a free tutor.
Use AI as an Aid, Not a Crutch
While I still believe ChatGPT has negatively impacted education and our ability to think, I see its potential, if used correctly, to enhance our learning.
It’s important that you don’t blindly accept its solutions. While ChatGPT may be “knowledgeable”, it’s not perfect. It can, and often, make mistakes.
It has limitations and can provide incorrect information, but if we don’t contribute to the conversation and think critically about its responses, we’re at fault, not the AI.
