What can I do about students using maths solving apps and AI services to complete their homework?

Some students may use AI services and maths solving apps to help them to complete their homework

The increasing availability, capability and accuracy of maths solving apps and AI services like ChatGPT and Google Gemini, mean that it’s becoming more common for students to use them when completing their homework. This challenge is broad-reaching - it potentially affects any work that we ask students to complete at home, be that via worksheets, text books or online services like Sparx Maths.

We’ve been carefully considering the feedback that we’ve been receiving about the impact of this challenge on Sparx Maths homework. Given the pace at which these services are evolving, we don't believe the right answer is to try to "block" them from being used. It would be impractical for us to do so and ultimately, we don’t believe it would work. We are however committed to finding effective solutions and we’re working with members of the Sparx Maths community to do so. For the latest information, see the related discussion thread on the Sparx Maths feedback board (you’ll need to be logged in to your Sparx Maths site to access the board).

Responsible use of maths solving apps and AI services

It may be beneficial to remind your students that their Sparx Maths homework is adaptive, so although using these apps and services may allow them to complete their homework more quickly, it will very likely result in their future homeworks becoming longer and more difficult - potentially to the point that the student is unable to complete their homework independently.

Whilst these apps and services can be useful as a tool for students to use if they are really stuck on a question - similar to getting help from family members - it is important that they first attempt the questions themselves to ensure that they continue to see questions at the correct difficulty level. They should also be encouraged to use the support video that accompanies the question, as it’s designed to guide them through the process of working out the answer to the question without explicitly giving them the answer.

Monitoring for the use of maths solving apps and AI services

Whilst we establish longer-term solutions to this challenge, there are some approaches that you can take to monitor for the potential use of maths solving apps and AI services.

1. Check written workings

Ask to see the students written workings regularly to see if they are writing things down. They are far less likely to be doing so if they used an app to get the answer.

2. Monitor students' difficulty levels

Keep an eye on students' difficulty levels. If you see that their level is above that which you would expect, then this may indicate that they are using an app to answer questions. Both time taken and the accuracy of answers power the algorithm to find the optimum working level for a student. Therefore, regularly using an app to answer questions in Sparx will see a student quickly advance to a level of work that would ordinarily be inaccessible.

Find out more about difficulty levels in this article: What are difficulty levels?

3. Monitor working times

Using the Student Summary tab on a student’s profile, you can see approximate working times for each week’s homework. If you notice a student starting to complete their homework significantly faster than they used to; or if the student repeatedly completes their homework significantly faster than students that you know to be of a similar capability,  it may be the case that the student isn’t completing their homework independently.

Use the hand in summary to view a student's working time and accuracy. If students aren’t completing their homework independently, you may notice them spending far less time than you would expect on questions, and taking fewer attempts than you would expect. 

 

Find out more about how we calculate working time in this article: How does Sparx calculate the times shown in my Sparx site?

4. Use data on the Insights page

The Insights Page could be useful to test the class on what they do and don't know after the homework has been completed. For example, Challenge the Class contains questions we deemed them to have answered confidently, so if they have used maths apps to do their homework, being asked to answer these could highlight gaps in their knowledge.