8-Lesson Program Outline

 You're only about 1-hour away from equipping your children to think critically in the AI age.

Science-based ideas made simple for ensuring that your children develop the most important skill of all: critical thinking.  As AI degrades the critical thinking of everyone around them, your children will stand out as exceptional, independent critical thinkers.

Program recommended for parents of children 8-college!

Lesson 1. The AI Problem

When does AI support learning and development vs. replace a child's effort? Understand the research that's causing parents and educators so much concern about AI. The lesson introduces research on AI-assisted writing, concerns about engagement, and problems with AI undermining student ownership. 

Lesson 2. Cognitive Offloading

What happens to a child's brain not by how they use AI but that they use AI at all? Learn the consequences of offloading thinking to an AI: handing a mental task to a tool rather than working through it themselves. The lesson distinguishes simple aids, such as an AI-assisted shopping list, from asking AI to develop an argument or write an assignment, and emphasizes the importance of practicing challenging cognitivie skills.

Lesson 3. What Shapes Your Child’s AI Use

Did you know that there are four major influences to your child's use of AI: (1) The habits of their peers, (2) academic integrity, (3) their self-confidence vs. anxiety about schoolwork, and (4) the conversations that you have with them about AI? Learn to have better conversations about AI: Ask what peers use AI for, discuss school rules and honesty, and reassure your child that struggling with a difficult task is a normal part of learning. 

Lesson 4. Understanding AI’s Responses

Do you know how AIs generate responses and their narrowing effect on thought? Get a parent-friendly introduction to AI Large Language Models (LLMs), which generate responses by predicting language patterns. Learn to teach your kids to ask what an answer leaves out and to recognize the value of developing their own ideas rather than accepting a generic response as the final word.  Build practical concerns into productive conversation.

Lesson 5. Build Confidence by Checking Accuracy

Do you know how, in just a short time each week, to improve your child's experience with AI? Learn to explore a topic your child enjoys and examine an AI answer together. Model for them how to check the sources it cites, investigate the perspectives and possible bias of those sources, and look independently for facts or context the answer missed. Learn easy ways to teach them might be wrong, incomplete, or open to another interpretation.

Lesson 6. Build Confidence Through Writing

Did you know that regardless of AI, writing is one of the best tools for developing critical thinking?  But you don't need to be an expert writer yourself.  This lesson will teach you easy ways to help your child see writing as a way to organize, express, and reflect on their own thinking. Fo rexample, you could invite them to write a paragraph about something meaningful to them, then compare it with an AI-generated paragraph on the same subject. Discuss which ideas capture their own experience and where the AI’s wording misses the mark. 

Lesson 7. Build Confidence by Debating AI

Do you know the power of showing your children that they can challenge AI rather than accept it? This lesson challenges "automation bias"--the tendency to accept AI's ideas as good ones. You'll learn to help your child debate AI with their own reasons and questions. The lesson offers simplex examples for how to challenge an assertion, consider a counterargument, and make a concession without losing sight of one’s own position. 

Lesson 8. The AI Use Journal

Build awareness by reflecting on real interactions with AI. Your child might write about when it helped, where it fell short, how peers use it, or how they maintained their integrity on an assignment. The course suggests 15 minutes two or three times a week; handwriting is encouraged, though typing is fine.