Yes, that’s correct; your students are cheating. The question becomes, what are you going to do about it? If the essential question to your assigned research paper still reads something like this: “Choose a 20^th-century global leader and discuss their impact on the world,” then you are just begging your students to cheat! It’s time to face the truth: Are your 90s-era projects asking students to cheat?

Welcome to 2026, the age of AI! Unfortunately, in today’s digital world, if you give students a straightforward question, they are likely to copy and paste it into a search engine or AI tool. With AI, students can receive information and use it to answer their homework or write their essay instantly!

Up until the early 2000s, a question like that would be acceptable because students had to spend time going to a physical library, looking for books on shelves, and using encyclopedias for their notes and research. Lastly, they would organize their ideas on note cards to create an organized paper.

How to Transform Your 90s-Era Projects

Today’s students no longer require those specific skills. As a PD specialist, I have seen school libraries’ sizes cut in half, disappearing physical encyclopedias, and missing card catalogs. These relics are hard to find even in my own public library. Technology has made it possible to not require physical items. Therefore, those skills have become obsolete. So why hasn’t the questioning changed with the times? Students are cheating because they are not being challenged. Here are three effective strategies to transform your 90s-era projects and stop your students from cheating!

3 Strategies to Challenge Students to Think Critically

1. Design multi-layered assignments

These assignments will task the students to draw connections between various experiences, concepts, and class discussions.

2. Modernize your writing assignments

Instead of using the AI “summary” style analysis, you can require students to utilize deep insight from specific class content. As an educator, your focus should be on replacing straightforward prep questions with context for heavy quotations. This forces students to do a deeper analysis and pivot in their responses.

3.  Effectively Utilize AI as a Tool

Rather than staying upset with students for using AI, you can teach them how to use it as a tool to process hundreds of pages of content and analyze it, making complex topics easier to understand. Google Gemini can easily help students understand complex topics. It can also act as a tutor, providing steps to explore research topics from different angles. Gemini includes tons of innovative features ranging from built-in fact checking to deep research modes!

As teachers, it should be our mission to inspire students to build critical thinking skills. They will need these skills to prosper in future careers and face the challenges of this ever-changing world. So, for your next project, try popping it into an AI tool. If it can be easily answered, then revisions are needed. Using Gemini is just the first step to combat cheating and start challenging students’ minds. If you’d like to learn more about Using Gemini to Power Student Research, join us on OTIS for educators to learn more.

For more tips, tricks, and tools for teaching in and out of the classroom, check out more content on the Teq Talk blog or our YouTube channels OTIS for educators and Tequipment.

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