AI Use, Time Constraints Doom Cold War Paper

The Cold War research paper, a quintessential part of the 10th grade US History curriculum for decades, is gone. The paper was created by April Smock, a current US History teacher, and David Smock, who has since left the school. Since its creation, it has been removed and reinstated into the curriculum a few times. The US History department made the decision to eliminate the paper again after the 2022-23 school year.

“Our curriculum has gone through a lot of different iterations. It’s not a big deal to change the curriculum, but it is a big deal to get rid of a research paper,” said US History teacher Stephanie McGraw.

Even before Stephanie’s arrival in 2002, the paper was a fundamental part of the curriculum. It was viewed as an effective and concise way to teach various parts of the US History curriculum.

“The Cold War Paper was the focus of the third quarter. The purpose was not only to teach about US foreign policy during the Cold War, but also research skills: how to navigate different kinds of sources from primary sources, to newspapers, to books, to answer a research question,” said US History teacher Lea Hartog.

Considering that it was the first major research paper that students wrote during their time at Athenian, the responsibility and time required to teach skills along with content about US foreign policy was difficult for teachers to manage. Teachers found themselves struggling to balance content lessons and lessons on skills like citations and how to find credible sources, in addition to time for students to draft and get technical help on their papers.

“We eliminated [the Cold War paper] for a variety of reasons. We reflected as a team upon how much class time was being devoted to the writing process. A lot of content instruction was sacrificed. In class, work time is incredibly important, but there is also the need to learn content,” said Lea. “The introduction of AI also complicated what we thought our role of being writing instructors was.”

ChatGPT launched in November of 2022, and became a more commonly used platform nearing January of 2023 – the time that the class of 2025 was beginning their papers.

“This time we’ve eliminated it because of AI, absolutely,” said Stephanie. “When ChatGPT came out, it took teachers by storm. We immediately saw a difference on the Cold War papers. It was so obvious and we don’t want to police AI. AI is sourcing the entire web -- all the biases, racism, sexism. But kids are still going to use it. My job as a historian and a teacher is to teach five things: media literacy, evaluating sources from multiple perspectives, how to speak and present publicly, how to talk to people and be open minded to different views, and how to recognize patterns in history. I hope to be able to teach those skills in high school, because you need [them]. Personally, I’m torn. Research papers are not going to go away in academia and higher education, and we are still trying to figure out what tools are out there for us to ensure that students’ work is their own.”

ChatGPT remains a constant factor of lesson planning for history teachers, in the US History and Seminar curriculums alike. “I swing back on a pendulum from cynical to naive,” said Lea. “I’m seeing more authentic student learning in in-class writing. I don’t want to be naive and say students never use ChatGPT on assignments, but I’m less concerned with the actual mechanics versus the critical thinking skills that could be lost.”

Since the elimination of the paper, the US History department has developed other methods and curricular activities to ensure that students are still learning the skills and content provided through the paper. In the spring, sophomores do a project in which they focus on one country that was affected by the US during the Cold War. They research the country and have an in-class discussion on it, allowing for the skills taught by the Cold War paper to be practiced. Additionally, all major writing assessments are done in class.

“We’re doing in-class, on-demand writing a lot more than during the Cold War paper. We’re doing more writing consistently through the year as students come in and write every day,” said Lea. “There is more consistent emphasis on expressing ideas and argumentation through writing as a daily practice.”

Among current and former students, the Cold War paper had a certain infamy. “I think it had two narratives. It was, on the one hand, this infamous drudgery – difficult, long – that was almost a rite of passage for sophomores to progress into seminars,” said Lea. “At the same time, people would come back and be like, ‘that wasn’t very hard.’ We had so much support and time it was a productive learning experience.”

The return of the Cold War paper is unlikely until the US History team can determine a way to ensure that academic integrity is being practiced by all students.

“Now, I do have some tools, like a Chrome extension, that basically creates a video of the editing history of a document. It's very clear to see large copies and pastes that are AI. But, I can’t watch a video replaying every student’s paper,” said Stephanie. “Until there is a way for us to confirm that kids aren’t using AI, we just don’t feel like we can do an out-of-class research paper.”