To AI or Not To AI? That is Not the Question.

AI isn’t the enemy of learning – it’s a catalyst for better learning design.
The real challenge isn’t whether students should use AI, but how.
If students rely on AI as a shortcut, we sacrifice learning.
If students use AI as a thinking partner, we unlock deeper discovery, stronger communication, and greater student agency.

The role of the teacher is evolving – from content deliverer to learning designer.
And when AI enters the classroom, teachers have a powerful opportunity to shift toward student-centered learning that values process, reflection, creativity, and human connection.

Below, in companion to our ‘6 Simple Strategies’ guide, is a practical arc for how teachers can structure learning with AI – without compromising critical thinking or authentic learning. In fact, when designed well, AI-enhanced learning can push students to think more deeply than ever before.

How to Use AI in the Classroom…

***Without Losing Critical Thinking

1. Start with Purpose – Assess Thinking, Not Just Product

Shift assessment toward how students think, not merely what they submit. 

If we only grade final answers, AI will truly replace thinking. But if we grade process, planning, and reasoning – AI becomes a tool for exploration, not a shortcut. Be purposeful to use AI in ways that stretch what students can comprehend.

Ask students to document their thinking process:

• Ideation and early attempts
• AI prompts used (and why)
• Decisions, iterations, and revisions
• Reflections on their progress and adjusted next steps

A rubric that rewards critical thinking, strategy, and iteration invites students to use AI responsibly — without outsourcing the learning.

2. Build Critical Literacy – Fact-Check and Challenge AI

The enactment effect is clear: when students actively evaluate and correct information, learning sticks.

Give students a purposefully flawed AI-generated essay and ask them to:

• Fact-check claims
• Compare against credible sources
• Revise the essay using their own reasoning
• Justify every change

Whether the topic is mitosis, climate change, or Macbeth, students quickly learn that AI outputs are not sources of truth – they are sources of inquiry. In this way, AI becomes a catalyst for media literacy, critical reading, and intellectual skepticism – all vital skills in the age of AI. Encourage them to apply these same skills to their own AI searches going forward. 

3. Make It Personal – Assign Work AI Can’t Do

Assignments rooted in personal identity, experience, or emotion inherently require real thinking and feeling. Whether you’re teaching social studies, english or physics, look for ways to ground the material in students’ own lives.

Example:
“In The Outsiders, Ponyboy feels caught between two worlds. When in your life have you felt like an outsider? And how did you grow from it?”

AI can write that essay, but it will be 100% fabrication. Only students can tell their own truths.
When learning becomes personal, intrinsic motivation returns — and students engage far more deeply. They’ll retain more too, since personal meaning is now attached to the learning.

4. Elevate Expectations – Multi-Step & Multi-Modal Work

AI can speed up individual tasks –  research, drafting, brainstorming – but students should still be the designers,  orchestrators, and problem-solvers.

That’s why multi-modal and open-ended projects are so powerful:

• Posters, 3D models, podcasts, or documentaries
• Collaborative research with real-world stakeholders
• Projects with no obvious solution – only possibilities

This approach naturally supports mixed-ability teams, peer mentoring, and authentic collaboration with a shared sense of purpose.

AI enables students to accomplish more, and of a higher quality, so why not raise our expectations of them. Often, students don’t realize they’re “learning” when they’re so absorbed in the challenge.

5. Bring It to Life – Present, Defend, and Discuss

Once work is done — students should stand up and own it. 

Everything changes when they do. They become accountable to peers. They must think on their feet. They develop communication skills, confidence in speaking, and social-emotional literacy.

Ask students to:

• Present their thinking
• Field questions from peers and teachers
• Justify choices – have and defend a point of view
• Debate classmates

This moment ensures accountability, and develops SEL skills that AI will never replace: confidence, communication, poise, and empathy.

6. Close the Loop – Reflect, Feedback, Grow

Incorporating lessons learned that can be applied to future efforts is a critical element of growth. A project shouldn’t end at submission. It should end after reflection.

Students should ask:

• What worked? What didn’t?
• How did I approach the problem?
• What feedback did I give (and receive)?
• What questions did I miss?
• What would I do differently next time?

Reflection turns learning into growth.
Peer feedback turns a classroom into a learning community.

When the grade becomes only a checkpoint – not the goal – agency rises.
And when agency rises, learning becomes lifelong.

Final Thought

AI should not be seen as competition for human intelligence, but as a complementary technology and force multiplier. It calls us to raise the bar on what students are capable of. 

AI invites us to stop teaching answers, and to start teaching learning itself.
And when students think, create, collaborate, and reflect – when they learn to learn – AI doesn’t replace their critical thinking. It empowers them.