I think the best use of GAs is sort of rapid prototyping. Throw them at the problem to get a better feel for the search space then think about it deeper and find the best algorithm you can come up with.
With the appropriate disclaimers that there's usually better algorithms I think they are pretty valuable from a pedagogical point of view (actually I'm thinking more of nature inspired algorithms in general not just GAs). It helps if you can relate an algorithm to something in nature because most algorithms are very abstract and hard to grasp.
I also think nature inspired algorithms can help people think about problem solving in creative ways (just wander through your garden and see if you can replicate some of the stuff in algorithmic form etc.)
With the appropriate disclaimers that there's usually better algorithms I think they are pretty valuable from a pedagogical point of view (actually I'm thinking more of nature inspired algorithms in general not just GAs). It helps if you can relate an algorithm to something in nature because most algorithms are very abstract and hard to grasp. I also think nature inspired algorithms can help people think about problem solving in creative ways (just wander through your garden and see if you can replicate some of the stuff in algorithmic form etc.)