Finding Focus or Chasing Flies: 5 Ways to Use AI to Boost Kids' Learning
Guest post from Dr. Laura Wilde of BOLDschoolers
This article in is a guest post by education expert Dr. Laura Wilde. Over to you, Laura! — Karen :)
BOLD Idea:Â Our kids can leverage AI to get into flow and perform at their best.Â
Why It Matters: AI can help democratize classrooms to meet all children’s needs.Â
My daughter sat straight and tall, feet planted, as she drew her eyes to her math book. She wasn't there for a handful of seconds before her eyes darted around the room, following a fly on the wall. Pretty soon, she was out of her chair trying to catch the fly in her hands, which she did, to take it outside. Focus and concentration are a precious commodity.
In my perfect world, learning is about getting into flow. When in the flow state of deep immersion, children learn better. They can take in more information and process it faster than usual while enjoying the experience. My work with kids starts with a deep concentration, what I call superpower time, for a reason. The ability to intensely focus in flow supercharges our children's intelligence in ways similar to AI. I hear all the time that AI will radically transform learning. We'll see how that plays out1, but AI won't reduce the need to learn. We need to be able to learn better as technology advances.
We'll use AI collaboratively as AI is better at some things and human brains better at others. AI is good at pattern recognition and processing speed, but humans are better at using their emotions and thinking creatively. We are still determining which jobs will be heavily impacted, making it all the more important to have flexibility in the future.
How might we leverage AI and our children's strengths to create more engagement and flow?
When things are tricky, our brains have to think a lot about how to solve problems. That thinking (cognitive load) gets in the way of flow. If AI is clunky and hard to use, kids using it won't learn as well, and they won't find flow. Speed bumps inhibit flow, whereas a smooth performance of AI helps us use the technology without thinking about it. Partnering with AI in that way is flow-friendly. Smooth AI needs to be accessible to children of all ages.2
AI can help kids find the sweet spot between challenge and skill level. Motivation kicks in when children work just slightly above their current ability level. The same goes for flow. The challenge/skill balance is the most critical flow trigger, yet most teachers teach to the middle in typical classrooms, leaving some kids bored and others overwhelmed. AI has the potential to remedy this disconnect and perfectly align the instruction kids receive with the input needed to reach mastery. A cookie-cutter approach to instruction is only randomly successful. Students are different, yet teachers often take few opportunities to differentiate instruction.3Â AI offers individualization.
Similarly, one of the downfalls of a typical classroom environment is the need for individualized feedback. We learn best when we receive consistent, just-in-time feedback that helps us move closer to our goals. When feedback is given to kids right when needed, they stay focused without employing trial-and-error methods that waste time and energy. AI has great potential to offer this kind of feedback as it can see where errors are made and slowly take kids along the path toward understanding.
Working in tandem with AI can also help kids learn in ways they prefer. Research does not support that better learning happens when learning in a preferred style, such as auditory, visual, kinesthetic, etc.,4Â but when we learn in preferred ways, we encounter fewer speed bumps and have an easier time accessing flow.5
Maybe your kids aren't chasing flies around, but you might have noticed that kids are more distracted these days. You're not wrong.6 AI can help kids eliminate distractions and tune in to focus. AI can lead kids down a streamlined path toward goals without unnecessary detours. AI helps foster the three C's: choice, connection, and competence. Kids can work with AI on their own (choice) towards clear goals (connection) at just the right level of difficulty (competence). The three C's plunge kids into flow and are the foundation of our intrinsic motivation.
AI can democratize education as teachers learn to use AI to create dynamic, interactive learning environments7Â without relying solely on personal creativity. Teachers might save heads-down, AI-assisted learning for outside-of-school time while employing more active forms of learning inside the classroom. Interactive learning is essential to ignite brain chemistry and help learning stick, but overworked and time-deficient teachers are challenged to embrace it.Â
We are in the early stages of using AI to gamify educational experiences. Still, the potential for powering VR (virtual reality) and AR (augmented reality) might allow AI to, for example, engage students with virtual field trips or interactive 3D models. These types of experiences make abstract ideas come to life.
Early in my teaching career, I imagined using what we understood about intrinsic motivation to create fantasy environments in which kids could immerse themselves. At the time, I used physical props, costumes, storytelling, and visualizations to ignite children's imaginations, dreaming of the day VR might fully immerse them. That time has come. The question is whether significant resources will be allocated to creating that reality. In the meantime, we can use AI to encourage deep concentration rather than chasing flies.
Imagine your childhood experience of school. How might AI have made a difference in your learning?
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End Notes
Learning takes place in the brain and brains haven’t changed all that much. The tactics may change, but the foundations of how we learn probably won’t.
I've found that my AI experience often depends on the quality of the question posed, and I usually need to massage AI into submission to get what I'm after. If kids are to be successful, they need to know how to use AI seamlessly and have some expertise in forming questions that will quickly get them to the answers they seek.
Varied ways to learn (process) and different ways to show what has been learned (product)
Seligman, M. E. P. (2002). Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment. Free Press.
Including things like group work (sparking group flow), problem-solving, simulations, dynamic discussions, hands-on activities, and other real-life applications of ideas learned.
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