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AI works best when it supports thinking, not when it replaces student learning.

Educational psychology helps students use AI to build motivation and engagement.

AI prompts can strengthen planning, persistence, confidence, and learning focus.

AI should coach students toward learning, not complete their work.

Post by Andrew J. Martin, PhD

How Is Generative AI Being Used?

Used well, AI has significant potential to support learners’ academic development. Yet despite its promise, students often use AI inefficiently. Many rely on AI primarily to complete tasks rather than deepen their learning, often outsourcing too much of their thinking in the process. In classrooms, the use of generative AI is frequently ad hoc, with students experimenting through trial and error, with teachers providing inconsistent guidance. At the same time, schools and universities lack coherent frameworks for what productive AI-supported learning should actually look like.

The upshot is that the most advanced educational technology in history is too frequently being used with very little psychological guidance.

Teaching Students How to Learn with Generative AI

Generative AI works best when students approach it as an active learning partner rather than a passive answer machine. For example, a student overwhelmed by an upcoming exam might use AI not to generate answers, but to break revision into manageable steps, reduce anxiety about falling behind, or build confidence through small achievable goals.

This requires a significant shift in educational thinking. Poor approach: “How can AI do this task for the student?” Better........

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