What if curiosity was your guide and AI was your thought partner?
For the past two years, talk of AI has dominated educational conversations. Many valid concerns about the rapid growth of AI tools and their ubiquitous presence in our lives have been raised. No matter where you personally fall on the AI continuum, no one can deny that artificial intelligence has changed the conversation in education.
Too often in my local network, concerns about cheating and a loss of critical thinking have shadowed the possibilities that AI has to stretch what is possible and support deeper, long-term learning. While these concerns should be addressed, I find that when our conversations about AI immediately focus on negatives, we are asking the wrong questions first. Instead of asking, “How can we do this for my students or for me?” we should be asking, “How can AI help students expand their thinking?”
This past year, I had the privilege of speaking at ISTE with a dear friend from my district about leveraging AI to narrow learning gaps in our classrooms. Using the literacy classic KWL (What do I KNOW?, What do I WANT to know?, and What have I LEARNED?), we wanted to reflect on how AI tools can be used to promote critical thinking and creativity while also supporting the needs of all learners. By expanding the framework to use AI as a thought partner before completing the learning process, we hoped to encourage curiosity and spark thoughtful, collaborative conversations in our classrooms. Our wonderings led to reframing AI as an additive tool that helped students ask better questions and create meaningful artifacts to demonstrate understanding.
Step 1: It starts with what we know.
Every learner has knowledge to share. Sometimes articulating what they know does not come naturally, but we must leverage our students’ prior knowledge and empower them to practice retrieving that information. This step is often done without the use of devices and can take the form of a quick write, brain dump, or pair-share in the classroom. Students should be at the center. By activating their prior knowledge, students and teachers alike can have a strong picture of what still needs to be learned. Taking that information and celebrating the learning gaps creates opportunities for inquiry and further exploration of ideas.
A brain dump is my favorite tool that makes learning visible. I often use this strategy before students write a speech or paper. Using pen and paper, students write down everything they know for a set period of time (usually two to three minutes). With time as a motivating factor, students fervently stretch their thinking and pour out their knowledge onto the page. At the end of the exercise, students can look at what they know and use it to tackle the next step in the learning process.
Step 2: We don’t know what we don’t know.
While we might not always know where the learning gaps are, we can use knowledge gaps to foster curiosity and inquiry. Curiosity and creativity are not innate traits; they are skills that can be learned and cultivated in our learners. The biggest obstacle I see to student learning right now is that they don’t know what to ask when they do not understand a concept, but once their understanding has been sparked, they are able to engage in deeper learning. AI can serve as a spark, providing multiple perspectives, illuminating misconceptions, and generating real-world connections.
Step 3: Leverage the learning gaps to expand student knowledge.
When it comes to learning new vocabulary and concepts, confusion can lead to a lack of confidence in students. The productive struggle level can become too high for students to want to engage with learning. Where learning stalls, teachers have an opportunity to use AI to help reframe and provide different examples to students so that they can better access the learning.
I've used MagicSchool's Multiple Explainer tool to take a complex concept like mitosis and generate multiple explanations or analogies that might resonate more with a 14-year-old than a traditional textbook definition. Google Gemini has also been a valuable thought partner for reframing concepts from different perspectives. For example, asking Gemini to explain mitosis from Charles Darwin's perspective and then from the perspective of a teenager helps students see how restating an idea for a specific audience can shape understanding. In both cases, the AI tools aren’t replacing students' thinking; they are making learning more accessible.
Step 4-5: AI can be used to explore, expand, and encourage reflection.
One of my favorite ways to use AI is to model how to effectively use it by completing a full class activity. At the end of a lesson, I might ask students to share what we learned or discovered that day. Asking students to recall key ideas can lead us to what we still need to learn or accomplish in future lessons. By recording their takeaways, I can show them how to use AI to question and wonder what we might be missing or what else we can explore together tomorrow. Showing how AI can be a thought partner reminds us that our learning is never done. We can use it to expand thinking - not end it with a quick answer.
This process shows students how to wonder, question, and reflect throughout the learning process. Learning becomes lasting when students engage in reflection. AI is not doing the learning; students are. Technology can be used to help explore this process.
Step 6: Recognize what has been learned.
Again, AI is an additive tool that helps differentiate, personalize, support, and create more opportunities for feedback and learning. Using AI tools thoughtfully can create more space for the parts of teaching that matter most: relationships, curiosity, creativity, and meaningful conversations. What I’ve discovered and am excited to explore is just how helpful AI can be in supporting both teachers and students in asking better questions and wondering more. When we shift our mindset from AI being a productivity tool to one that promotes inquiry, students have more time to wonder, and teachers can better design learning experiences that amplify student voice and thinking. Teachers become better designers of learning.
Technology should never replace thinking; it should amplify it. How are you helping students identify their learning gaps? How might we utilize AI to expand our thinking? I'd love to hear how you're using this tool to empower learning in your classroom.
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