When AI Makes Thinking Visible: How Schools Must Respond

Artificial intelligence is now a familiar presence in classrooms. Students use it to explore ideas, test arguments, and express their understanding. Yet the most meaningful shift is not technological. AI has introduced a new possibility: it can reveal the quality of student thinking. When a model can produce a fluent answer faster than a learner can reason, the purpose of schooling must evolve from delivering information to cultivating the judgment that guides it.

The real opportunity is not keeping pace with changing tools. It is helping young people develop the clarity of mind needed to think beside systems that can offer polished responses without genuine comprehension. AI exposes gaps in a student’s reasoning the moment they occur, creating the space where skilled teaching can turn uncertainty into insight. Teachers recognize this moment instantly: the quiet pause before a breakthrough, the spark of recognition, the “AHA moment” that sits at the center of learning. Schools must be prepared to support thinking at this cognitive level.

Across classrooms in the Arab region, this shift is unfolding in real time. A student compares two AI-generated explanations and wonders which is accurate. Another receives a well-phrased paragraph and must decide whether it reflects their own understanding. A third uses AI to simulate a concept and must judge whether the model’s version aligns with what they learned. These are no longer technical questions. They ask students to reason, interpret, and take ownership of their learning. AI is prompting thinking, not replacing it.

This is where teachers become even more essential. Their role is no longer centered on delivering content. They are building thinking environments and shaping the cognitive habits students rely on when they encounter technology. When a teacher asks why a learner trusted or questioned an AI answer, they are developing discernment. When they encourage students to refine a model’s output, they are strengthening ownership. When they guide learners to compare their reasoning with the machine’s, they are building confidence and identity as thinkers. These practices make cognition visible and intentional.

To support this work, education systems must invest differently. Professional development should prioritize cognitive pedagogy: modelling reasoning, guiding metacognition, and helping students build internal habits that allow AI to become a partner in learning. Teachers need the confidence to lead thinking, not simply manage tools.

Clear learning outcomes are critical. If AI is part of daily learning, skills such as contextual reasoning, ethical awareness, discernment, and the ability to articulate original insight become foundational. These competencies shape how young people navigate a world where information is abundant, uneven, and often inaccurate. When schools emphasize these abilities, students gain agency. They learn to pause, question, and shape their own understanding, shifting from accepting fluent output to cultivating their own thinking.

This shift also sharpens the importance of equity. Students begin with different levels of digital fluency, language proficiency, and confidence. For AI to expand opportunity, systems must ensure access to intuitive and inclusive tools, including strong Arabic-language options, alongside the cognitive support needed to use them well. Equity is advanced when every learner has the structures to make technology meaningful, not just devices.

At the policy and system level, AI encourages a reconsideration of learning architecture. Curriculum should support depth over coverage. Assessment should recognize how students think, not only what they recall. Teacher preparation should emphasize cognitive development, building on the strengths educators already bring. Ministries and school networks should integrate AI with purpose, aligning tools with pedagogy rather than adapting pedagogy to tools. Effective systems will focus on designing learning that uses AI to strengthen human insight.

The future of education will be shaped by how well we guide students through this transition. AI can spark curiosity, deepen understanding, and open new pathways for expression when learners have the grounding to use it with intention. When they learn to question, interpret, and decide, they become active thinkers who engage with technology thoughtfully and confidently.

Thinking has always been the core of education. AI has made this responsibility unmistakable. Schools that embrace the task of nurturing judgment and insight will prepare young people not only for an AI-enabled world, but for lives shaped by agency, discernment, and meaningful understanding.

By Dr. Sonia Ben Jaafar, CEO of the Abdulla Al Ghurair Foundation