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How are high school students using Generative AI? I analyzed anonymous feedback from my Precalculus and AP Computer Science classes this year. Here’s what I found about how students are integrating AI tools into their learning workflows:

"AI can answer questions quickly and conveniently when doing homework at home and students aren't able to ask their teacher." But they warned about passive learning: "I can see AI being helpful, but it's too much of a temptation to just get the right answer."

In AP Computer Science Principles, AI adoption was much higher: ~85% of students used it. Average helpfulness: 4.13/5. How they used it: • ~85% Explaining concepts • ~70% Studying / test prep • ~50% Debugging code And ~80% said they understood the code the AI helped debug.

"I used it to tell me where the error was and what caused it, then I would fix it myself—no copy & paste ever." Students stressed code ownership: "Using AI for debugging made sense because having it explain errors is easy and helps you learn."