Thinking students, not copying machines: the new rules of learning with AI

Thinking Students, Not Copying Machines: What’s Left in Our Students’ Minds?

At the end of each school year, we all – teachers, trainers, university professors and mentors – ask ourselves one key question:

“What’s really left in the minds and hearts of our students?”

We’re not just interested in whether they’ve memorized facts, terms and dates. The real question is whether they’ve built skills and competencies that will stay with them and help them be active decision-makers in real life.

Can they think critically, analyze, collaborate, create new ideas. Can they be thinking people, not just copying machines?

Thinking Students with an AI Assistant

In recent years, working with students in various educational formats, we have increasingly used artificial intelligence (AI) tools. These tools allow us to create personalized content, adapt tasks to different levels and needs, and offer richer learning resources.

AI has changed the speed and diversity of our teaching. It has helped us reach students with different learning paces and styles. But over time, we have also begun to notice a serious weakness – that AI invisibly reproduces outdated pedagogical models that often creep into generated lessons and assignments, setting a trap for both teachers and students.

Outdated pedagogical models reproduced by AI

Many AI systems are trained on vast databases of traditional lessons, curricula, and teaching practices. This leads to the reproduction of models that no longer meet the modern needs of students.

The most common among them include:

• The teacher as the only source of knowledge – students listen and take notes, without the opportunity to ask questions, argue, or create something of their own.
• Single-answer tasks – tests and exercises with fixed solutions that limit personal choice and creative thinking.
• False collaboration – formal group tasks without the opportunity for initiative and real choice of approach or role.
• Focus on the final product, not the process – finished results are assessed, without attention to the thought process and argumentation.

The most worrying thing is that students sense these models and often respond to them in the same way – using AI to create quick, formulaic answers without engagement and personal participation.

Outdated teaching models replicated by AI

Teacher as sole source of knowledge – students remain passive listeners.

• Fixed-answer tasks – lack of choice and creative thinking.
• False collaboration – students follow ready-made instructions without initiative.
• Focus on the end product – neglect of the process of thinking and creation.
• Students sense these models and often respond in kind – using AI for quick, formulaic answers, without personal engagement.

The Need for Change: How to Use AI to Develop Thinking

If we want to prepare thinking students, not copying machines, we need to change the way we use AI in education.
New models and templates for working with AI are needed that:

• Place the student at the center of the learning process.
• Encourage dialogue, critical thinking, and collaboration.
• Enable choice and personal meaning-making.
• Support learning as a process of inquiry, not just achieving a final product.

In AI Pedagogy training and Creativity programs, we develop and implement precisely such approaches. They help AI create:

• Student-centered lessons aimed at developing independent thinking.
• Discussions and reasoned solutions instead of fixed answers.
• Choice of formats and approaches according to student interests.
• Projects and collaboration based on genuine participation and meaning-making.

AI is changing the way we think about time and progress

One of the biggest transformations that AI is offering is changing the way we think about time and progress in learning. With AI, learning becomes personalized and adaptive, according to the pace and interests of each student.

Adaptive Learning Systems with Artificial Intelligence

One of the biggest transformations that AI is offering is changing the way we think about time and progress in learning. We already know that the hours in the school schedule do not determine what each student learns. With AI, learning becomes personalized and adaptive, according to the pace, interests and needs of each student.

That is why our program is dedicated to adaptive learning systems with artificial intelligence, which create individualized learning paths that change in real time according to:

• The student’s pace of progress,
• His personal interests,
• His strengths and weaknesses.

With a focus on practical application, program participants learn how to use AI tools and adaptive platforms to make learning more vibrant, meaningful, and student-centered.

Conclusion: What do we want to achieve?

• To prepare thinking students who ask questions and offer solutions.
• To create lessons with personal stance and choice.
• To use AI as a partner in developing thinking, not as a replacement.

AI is not magic in itself. The magic begins when we use it with thought, vision, and care for real learning.