You’ve probably heard of tools like ChatGPT, Google Gemini, or Microsoft Copilot. These are what’s known as generative AI tools — artificial intelligence systems that can create new content. These tools can write essays, answer questions, summarize complex topics, and even generate images and videos. In essence, generative AI works by recognizing patterns in vast amounts of data to predict and produce original text, visuals, or ideas that resemble human-
created work.

Thinking about AI as a learning tool is complicated.  On one hand, generative AI helps students find information more efficiently and explore topics that can spark their curiosity. Some initial research suggests that AI can enhance student creativity and academic performance (Wang, Sun, & Chen, 2023), and that AI can improve learning experiences through personalized tutoring (McKendrick, 2025).  On the other hand, these tools can fully complete academic work providing answers, writing essays and solving complex problems. This means that AI tools allow students to bypass the labor necessary for real learning.  Research shows that an over-reliance on AI can lead to a decline in critical thinking and problem-solving skills (Vieriu & Petrea, 2025).   In addition, Vilcarino & Langreo (2024) report in Education Week that students feel less connected to their teachers when they are using AI tools.

As parents, you may find yourself pulled in two directions: you want your child to use technology that may enhance learning, but you also want to prevent your child from taking shortcuts that impede skill development and weaken their motivation to work hard. Educating yourself on how AI tools work and how they can enhance or impede learning can help you make decisions that will support your child’s development.

1. Brainstorming Topics

AI tools like ChatGPT or Google Gemini are strong brainstorming partners. Students can describe the kind of paper or project they’re thinking about and receive creative topic ideas and possible outlines. This can promote new thinking and push students beyond their comfort zones. The risk? Students let the AI do the creative heavy lifting. The point of brainstorming is to invite students to think through many ideas and then decipher which ones they like. The process
itself develops creativity and evaluation skills. AI can easily bypass this process, providing students a list from which they passively choose.

2. Writing and Revising

AI’s strength in recognizing patterns makes it a valuable tool for writing and revising. It can identify unclear sentences, suggest better organization, and offer ideas for improvement—acting like a tireless writing coach. For motivated students, this support can strengthen both confidence and skill by helping them organize their thoughts and refine their drafts. However, if students rely on AI to produce full outlines or complete essays, they lose the opportunity to think
critically and develop their own voice.

3. Clarifying Concepts

AI can simplify complex topics (“Explain photosynthesis like I’m 10”) and help students build clearer understanding of challenging ideas. When used well, it can guide students through difficult processes or clarify dense reading materials. The risk, however, is that students may rely on AI summaries instead of reading the full text. While AI can make learning feel easy, research in cognitive science shows that real learning happens when students engage actively
by questioning, researching, and persisting through challenges.

4. Providing Alternate Perspectives

In subjects like history, English, and philosophy, students are often asked to consider multiple perspectives. This is something that can be difficult for young learners unfamiliar with opposing views. AI can help by offering valid alternative arguments or viewpoints; for example, a student writing that euthanasia is unethical might ask, “What are some arguments in favor of euthanasia?” Used this way, AI can broaden understanding and foster empathy. However, if students accept AI answers uncritically, they miss the chance to think independently and develop their own reasoning.

5. Studying Help

AI can be a powerful study aid when used interactively. Students can ask it to create practice questions, flashcards, or short quizzes to test their understanding, or to generate study plans that break large tasks into smaller, manageable steps. It can also provide feedback on written responses, helping students refine  their thinking and identify gaps in knowledge. When used this way, AI encourages active learning and self-assessment. The key is that students stay engaged—asking questions, reflecting, and thinking critically—rather than letting the tool do the work for them.

Choice One: Encourage your Child to Avoid AI 

Students often feel pressure to do well in school, and they can conflate high grades with learning.  One thing parents can do to promote their child’s learning is to talk about why school exists.  It’s not just a place to complete assignments, it’s a place to grow intellectually.

• Model curiosity: Ask open-ended questions about your child’s school topics.  Show them your own interest, try to get them to discuss what they find interesting about what they are learning.
• Set expectations for effort: Explain that when something feels challenging, that’s when real learning happens. Share your own experiences of struggling with academic or intellectual work and how you persevered. As Ted Chiang (2024) notes, “Using ChatGPT to complete assignments is like bringing a forklift into the weight room; you’ll never build cognitive fitness that way.” Help your child see that the purpose of schoolwork isn’t simply to turn in assignments, it’s to strengthen the mind and grow intellectually.
• Encourage metacognition: Ask your child to reflect not just on what they learn from assignments, but how they learn.  Help them begin to notice what activities (reading; writing; taking notes, etc.) help them understand and retain information.  Ask them what they think the assignments are designed for.  What skills is the teacher helping them develop through the assignments?
• Discuss academic integrity: Overuse of AI can impede learning; it’s also cheating.

Help your child see that passing off assignments that were mostly done by AI as their own work is a form of dishonesty and has the potential to damage their relationship with their teachers and to degrade their own ethical development.

Choice 2: Help Your Child Learn With AI, Not From AI

The key to using AI as a learning tool lies in the prompts. AI does have the potential to push student thinking and learning, but that is dependent on what users ask it to do.  Encourage your child to use AI for exploration and reflection, not for shortcuts.  The following are prompts with the potential to support active learning. 

Productive prompts for brainstorming

• “Ask me three questions that could help me narrow my topic.”
• “Give me five possible angles on this issue — and explain why each one matters.”
• “What’s a question I could research about X theme?”

Productive prompts for writing and revising

• “Point out sentences that seem unclear and tell me why.”
• “Suggest ways to strengthen my argument, but don’t rewrite it.”
• “How can I make my introduction more engaging?”

Productive prompts for understanding

• “Explain this idea as if I were in middle school.”
• “What are two different perspectives on this topic?”
• “Ask me questions to check if I really understand.”

Productive prompts for reflection

• “Which parts of my essay seem most original or thoughtful?”
• “What should I explore next to improve my argument?”
• “If you were my teacher, what feedback would you give me?”

Prompts like these can promote thinking, self-evaluation, and curiosity, which are the foundations of meaningful learning. You can model this by saying, “Let’s use AI to stretch our thinking, not skip it.”

Building Curiosity and Productive Struggle

Ultimately, the goal is to help your child develop intellectual curiosity and the capacity for productive struggle—the willingness to persist when ideas feel difficult. Research shows that this kind of effort leads to deep, lasting learning (Young et al., 2024). Vygotsky’s concept of the zone of proximal development (ZPD) explains why: ZPD is the space between what a learner can do independently and what they can achieve with support. Struggling within that zone helps
students grow by turning what they can’t do into what they can, especially when guided by caring mentors who provide patient scaffolding.

The shift to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic made it clear that digital tools alone cannot meet student’s learning needs. While technology kept many students connected to learning opportunities, the learning loss that followed showed that in-person instruction is essential. Students learn best when guided by knowledgeable adults who can respond to their questions in real time. Although AI promises individualized learning, AI use is generally something students do alone; it lacks human connection and encouragement that drive deep understanding and motivation. Like any digital tool, AI can supplement learning, but academic growth depends on relationships and mentorship from teachers, tutors, and parents who can model productive struggle and guide students through the learning process.

Investing in Your Child’s Intellectual Growth

Helping your child understand how learning works is a valuable gift that will benefit them beyond academic contexts, like when they need to compare two different types of cars or need to wade through the benefits packages at a new job. When children grasp that meaningful growth requires time, effort, and even frustration, they develop persistence, confidence, and resilience. These lessons take root through consistent interaction with caring adults who guide and model how to approach challenges. As children grow into their teenage years they want independence, but they still need this support. Your involvement in their academic and personal life remains vital. And when your child resists direct help, working with a tutor or academic coach ensures they still receive the individualized attention and mentoring that foster both academic success and long-term personal growth. The time and care you devote now will shape skills and habits  that serve them for life.

References

Chiang, T. (2024, August 31) Why AI isn’t going to Make Art. The New Yorker. Retrieved from https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-weekend-essay/why-ai-isnt-going-to-make-art

McKendrick, J. (2025, October 24). AI delivers the missing piece of education — digital tutoring. Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/joemckendrick/2025/10/24/ai-delivers-the-missing-piece-of-education—digital-tutoring/

Vieriu, A. M., & Petrea, G. (2025). The Impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on Students’ Academic Development. Education Sciences, 15(3), 343.
https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci15030343

Vilcarino, J., & Langreo, L. (2025, October 8). Rising use of AI in schools comes with big downsides for students. Education Week. Retrieved from
https://www.edweek.org/technology/rising-use-of-ai-in-schools-comes-with-big-downsides-for-students/2025/10

Wang, S., Sun, Z., & Chen, Y. (2023). Effects of higher education institutes’ artificial intelligence capability on students’ self-efficacy, creativity and learning performance. Education and Information Technologies, 28, 4919–4939. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-022-11338-4

Young, J.R., Bevan, D., & Sanders, M. (2024). How productive is the productive struggle? Lessons learned from a scoping review. International Journal of Education in Mathematics, Science, and Technology (IJEMST), 12(2), 470-495. https://doi.org/10.46328/ijemst.3364

New England Tutors
Allison Neal
80 Ham Road | Barrington, NH | 03825
(603) 953-5025
allison@netutors.com