Early Career Teachers Session - Building Mental Muscle: Strengthening Higher Order Thinking Skills in an AI Age

One of the ironies of generative AI (GenAI) is that while it makes it easier for students to offload thinking, it makes the development of higher order thinking skills more essential than ever. Recent research shows that when misused, GenAI can hinder cognitive development, atrophy existing cognitive skills, and harm mental health.

In this workshop, we’ll explore these impacts and discuss why building students’ AI literacy is critical. AI literacy involves not only learning to use AI tools effectively, but understanding the impacts and implications of AI use, as well as how to use them ethically and safely. We’ll wrap up by spending some time brainstorming practical ways that we might embed AI literacy activities into our courses.