About this episode
346: AI and Critical Thinking
In this episode, Meryl is joined once again by Critical Thinking in the Digital Age instructor Stephanie Simoes to explore how AI is impacting students’ ability to think deeply and critically. The two discuss an MIT study that sparked widespread concern, the concept of cognitive offloading, and how parents can teach their teens to use AI responsibly without losing their own reasoning skills.
Listen to get insights on:
What the “Your Brain on ChatGPT” study actually found—and why it’s been misunderstood
What cognitive offloading means and when it’s useful vs. harmful
The critical thinking and fact-checking skills students need before using AI tools
How expertise and intellectual humility affect our ability to evaluate AI responses
Recognizing bias—both in AI training data and in our own prompts
Strategies to overcome confirmation bias when using ChatGPT
How to use AI to strengthen critical thinking through debate and challenge-based prompts
Mentioned Resources:
