Seven out of every ten Brazilian high school students who use the internet employ generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools, such as ChatGPT and Gemini, to conduct school research. Despite this, few of them (only 32% of the total) have received any guidance at school on how to use this technology safely and responsibly.
The information is part of the 15th edition of the TIC Educação survey, which was released this morning (16) by the Regional Center for Studies for the Development of the Information Society (Cetic.br), from the Information and Coordination Center of Point BR (NIC.br). The center was created to implement projects from the Internet Steering Committee in Brazil (CGI.br), which is responsible for coordinating and integrating internet initiatives and services in the country.
In this first data collection, 37% of elementary and high school students said they use this type of tool to search for information. Among students in the final years of elementary school, the proportion rises to 39% and among high school students it reaches 70%.
“The data evidences new learning practices adopted by teenagers,” explained Daniela Costa, the study’s coordinator.
“Such resources require new ways of dealing with language, of thinking about content curation, and of understanding information and knowledge,” she emphasized.
According to her, schools are already adapting to this new use and beginning to discuss with parents the use of Generative AI by students.
According to the survey data, rules on the use of generative AI by students and teachers in school activities are already on the agenda of meetings between managers, teachers, parents, mothers, and guardians.
“68% of school managers say they held meetings with teachers and other staff, and 60% with parents, mothers, and guardians about the use of digital technologies in schools. Rules on cell phone use in institutions were one of the main topics of these meetings, but rules on the use of AI tools by students or teachers are cited by 40% of managers,” she explained.
Despite most Brazilian high school students already using Generative AI tools in their school work, few of them (only 32% of the total) received any guidance at schools on how to use this technology, which would be extremely important, defended the study coordinator.
“The main point is that these AI-based information search practices bring new demands to schools regarding guiding students on information integrity, authorship, and how to evaluate information sources,” highlighted the coordinator.
“In addition, it is also important for students to know how to leverage these resources to build their own knowledge and expand their learning strategies, beyond receiving a ready-made answer and considering it the only possible, most appropriate, or true one,” she said in an interview with Agência Brasil.
This was the first time the TIC Educação investigated the resources adopted by students for conducting school research. The survey was carried out between August last year and March this year through interviews with 945 managers and 864 coordinators in 1,023 public and private schools. The research also interviewed 1,462 teachers and 7,476 students from both rural and urban schools across the country. The results are available on the survey’s website.
Cell Phones
The TIC Educação survey was conducted while Law 15.100, from January this year, was being enacted, which began restricting the use of mobile devices, such as cell phones, in schools.
Despite this, the survey is already showing changes in cell phone use rules within schools. In 2023, for example, 28% of institutions prohibited cell phone use by students and 64% allowed it only in certain spaces and times. In 2024, the proportion of schools that do not allow the device’s use increased to 39%, while permission in some spaces and times fell to 56%.
“The indicators confirm the trend of reducing cell phone use by students, especially among students in schools located in rural areas (from 47% to 30%), municipal schools (from 32% to 20%), and private schools (from 64% to 46%),” explained the TIC Educação survey coordinator.
According to her, this same trend is observed in private schools, which have been reducing the use of digital technologies, including in school spaces. “The proportion of private schools with internet access available in the classroom went from 70% in 2020 to 52% in 2024,” Daniela told Agência Brasil.
Connectivity in Schools
The survey also indicated that nearly all Brazilian schools (96% of the total) have internet access. This access grew mainly in municipal institutions (from 71% in 2020 to 94% in 2024) and rural schools (from 52% to 89% in the same period).
However, although connectivity has increased, inequalities in access persist. In state schools, 67% of students use the internet for teacher-assigned activities, whereas in the municipal network, the proportion is only 27%.
In the case of municipal basic education institutions, for example, 75% have at least one space with internet connection for student use, but only 51% have computers for educational activities and 47% provide internet access and devices for students.
“Internet access has spread among elementary and high schools,” says the study coordinator.
In 2020, 52% of rural schools had network access, a proportion that rose to 89% in the 2024 edition.
“However, the availability of digital devices like computers remains a major challenge for institutions, especially small rural and municipal schools. Between 2022 and 2024, the presence of at least one computer for student use in rural schools decreased from 46% to 33%,” she explained.
For her, these inequalities can only be reduced through a “better understanding of the role of digital technologies in teaching and learning processes” and also with “initiatives that equalize opportunities among students from different contexts.”
Teacher Training
Additionally, the survey revealed that in recent years, the number of teachers who participated in training focused on using digital technology in teaching and learning processes has fallen. In 2021, about 65% of teachers reported having taken some digital technology training course; in 2024, this dropped to 54%. The decline was even steeper among public municipal network teachers, from 62% in 2021 to just 43% last year.
For the study coordinator, teachers’ access to training courses, support, and updates is essential, “especially in a context of changes in learning approaches, such as the integration of emerging technologies—including AI—into pedagogical practices.”
This training is also important because it would enable teachers to better guide their students in the safe, critical, responsible, and creative use of digital technologies. According to Daniela, this was confirmed by the survey: most teachers who underwent professional development (67% of the total) said the activity helped them better guide students on using these technologies.
Source: Agência Brasil