Ask HN: Are you teaching your kids to use ChatGPT? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Are you teaching your kids to use ChatGPT?

I ask that because I imagine how much advantage I would have for learning things but at the same time I have no idea what the down side is for my 12 yo kid

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I'm the parent of a 12yo as well. My current focus is not about teaching him how to use these new tools, but about making sure he's aware of exactly what they are: how do they work, what are their strengths, and what are their limits. I don't want him taking all the hype that filters down to middle school students at face value.

My 9th grader uses Anki and ChatGPT for vocabulary building. She works through her deck. When she doesn't remember a word, prompts ChatGPT that she will use it in a sentence and it provides feedback if she is using it correctly.

Teach them how to be good at online search first.

It's a bit too early to say that teaching them how to use ChatGPT is essential.

Ha how do I get good at online search. I can’t find anything technically useful and relevant anymore that’s not super basic

exactly

Teach them Learn Fundamentals -> RTFM -> Search -> Chat.

In RTFM, F = Fantastic of course.

There is a danger the virtual neurones will dumb down our own biological ones.

Chat / copilot etc. when all else has failed.

Similar to working out when cars and mobility scooters exist.

I think it's better not to let them use ChatGPT, for kid they need to learn to think in their own way, but obviously ChatGPT will spoil it, you will always get the answer from ChatGPT, you don't need to think or do some search work, because ChatGPT will give you a answer

Eh, it's usually the kids who are better at new things than adults. My 9 yo has just completely customized her phone. When I was 12, I was making all these sites and joining web rings and stuff.

ChatGPT is ahead of the curve today, but it's probably obsolete in 3 years.

Not kids, but students I mentor for a high school robotics team. Absolutely. I have been pushing for them to know how to use it since a week or two after it came out. A friend of mine with a kid has been asking me on the best ways to use this tech as a teacher.

What do you mean exactly? Isn't the whole point that it responds to natural language queries? Is there an advanced syntax or something you're referring to?

I mean that in the "right direction" the kid would use it to learn. In the wrong direction the kid would use it to do their homework.

Teach them how to write their own.

Don't teach your kid how to use a computer program, teach them how to write one.

You can easily build a toy language model yourself, it will give your kid a massive head start and help structure their mental models for life so they don't view this as 'magic' like so many other people do.

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