This study serves as a starting point for exploring social studies education in the context of generative AI, using ChatGPT as a case study. It highlights six major questions to examine the issues and challenges surrounding social studies education. T...
This study serves as a starting point for exploring social studies education in the context of generative AI, using ChatGPT as a case study. It highlights six major questions to examine the issues and challenges surrounding social studies education. The study results are as follows: First, the problem of plagiarism with the use of generative AI is becoming prominent, which demands a philosophical and educational reconceptualization of what constitutes production and creative activities. In the educational aspect, the threat to educational activities aimed at enhancing students' capabilities is a more fundamental issue than plagiarism. Second, to counteract AI hallucinations and biases, critical thinking, one of the higher-order thinking skills in social studies, and critical literacy, a key element of digital citizenship, are important. Third, due to differences in already internalized competencies among students, there is a potential for an educational gap in the level of generative AI utilization. Additionally, the monetization policies of generative AI companies could undermine educational equity. Fourth, the traditional teacher-centered method of delivering educational services is no longer effective in the digital age. The advent of generative AI is expected to promote the emergence of 'learners and instructors as prosumers', disrupting the traditional relationship between teachers as providers and students as consumers of educational services. Fifth, if generative AI accelerates the transformation of learners into digital prosumers, metacognitive skills will gain more attention in social studies classes. This will require social studies teachers to look beyond students' metacognition and guide the learning process. Finally, to develop the ability to ask quality questions, social studies teaching and learning strategies may need to pursue a dual approach. One strategy involves actively utilizing prompts to cultivate metacognitive skills, while the other strategy involves isolating the classroom from the external world to develop basic thinking skills.