🔍
← Owens AI Institute

Thinking in the Age of AI

Critical thinking, discernment, creativity — the skills AI can't replace.

Elementary

Using Your Amazing Brain

Your brain is an amazing thinking machine. Kids learn what thinking is, how attention and memory work, and that thinking grows stronger with practice.

  1. 1Your Brain Is Amazing
  2. 2What Is Thinking?
  3. 3Quick Thinking and Careful Thinking
  4. 4Paying Attention
  5. 5Remembering Things
  6. 6Thinking Takes Practice
  7. 7Your Brain and AI Are Different
  8. 8Growing Your Mind
  9. 9Brain Workout
  10. 10A Strong Thinker

Asking and Wondering

Great questions power great thinking. Kids learn to ask why, to wonder about the world, and to use curiosity as a superpower.

  1. 1The Power of Questions
  2. 2Big Questions and Small Questions
  3. 3Asking Why
  4. 4Wondering About the World
  5. 5Good Questions for AI
  6. 6Questions That Lead to More Questions
  7. 7When You Do Not Know
  8. 8Curiosity Is a Superpower
  9. 9Question Quest
  10. 10A Curious Mind

Checking and Knowing

Smart thinkers check what they hear. Kids learn the difference between facts and opinions, how to look for evidence, and how to check what AI tells them.

  1. 1How Do We Know Things?
  2. 2Facts and Opinions
  3. 3Looking for Clues
  4. 4Is It True?
  5. 5Asking Where It Came From
  6. 6Two Sides of a Story
  7. 7Being Sure and Not Sure
  8. 8Checking What AI Tells You
  9. 9Truth Detective
  10. 10A Careful Checker

Thinking It Through

Every problem can be thought through. Kids learn to break problems into steps, try different ideas, learn from mistakes, and decide carefully.

  1. 1What Is a Problem?
  2. 2Breaking a Problem Into Steps
  3. 3Trying Different Ideas
  4. 4Mistakes Help Us Learn
  5. 5Thinking Before You Decide
  6. 6Comparing Choices
  7. 7Stuck? What to Do
  8. 8Thinking It Through With AI
  9. 9Problem Solvers
  10. 10A Clear Thinker
  11. 11Lab: Clue Detective

Thinking With AI Helpers

AI can help you think — but your thinking comes first. Kids learn to think before they ask, check AI's answers, and stay the boss of their own brain.

  1. 1AI Can Help You Think
  2. 2Think First, Then Ask
  3. 3Your Ideas Come First
  4. 4Using AI to Learn, Not to Skip
  5. 5Checking AI's Thinking
  6. 6Staying the Boss of Your Brain
  7. 7When to Use AI and When Not To
  8. 8Thinking Together
  9. 9Smart Helper Challenge
  10. 10A Thinker for Life

Capstone Project: Become a Question Detective

Collect surprising claims and investigate which are true.

  1. 1Project: Become a Question Detective

Middle

How the Mind Works

The mind is a thinking machine with patterns and pitfalls. Students study fast and slow thinking, attention, memory, cognitive biases, and metacognition.

  1. 1Your Brain, the Thinking Machine
  2. 2Two Systems: Fast and Slow Thinking
  3. 3Attention and Focus
  4. 4Memory and How It Works
  5. 5Cognitive Biases
  6. 6Common Thinking Traps
  7. 7Metacognition: Thinking About Thinking
  8. 8Your Mind vs. an AI Model
  9. 9Map Your Mind
  10. 10Module Check: How the Mind Works

Reasoning and Argument

Good thinking means good reasoning. Students learn to build arguments, distinguish claims from evidence, spot logical fallacies, and reason about AI.

  1. 1What Is Reasoning?
  2. 2Claims, Reasons, and Evidence
  3. 3Building a Strong Argument
  4. 4Deductive and Inductive Reasoning
  5. 5Logical Fallacies
  6. 6Spotting Weak Arguments
  7. 7Changing Your Mind
  8. 8Reasoning With and About AI
  9. 9Argument Lab
  10. 10Module Check: Reasoning and Argument

Evaluating Information

In a flood of information, evaluation is everything. Students learn to judge sources, weigh evidence, spot misinformation, and check AI-generated answers.

  1. 1The Information Flood
  2. 2Sources and Credibility
  3. 3Evidence and Proof
  4. 4Correlation vs. Causation
  5. 5Spotting Misinformation
  6. 6Evaluating AI-Generated Answers
  7. 7Cross-Checking and Triangulation
  8. 8Lateral Reading
  9. 9Information Audit
  10. 10Module Check: Evaluating Information
  11. 11Lab: Fact Or Opinion

Learning How to Learn

Learning is a skill that can be trained. Students study how memory forms, deliberate practice, retrieval, productive struggle, and learning with AI tutors.

  1. 1Learning Is a Skill
  2. 2How Memory Forms
  3. 3Deliberate Practice
  4. 4Spacing and Retrieval
  5. 5Understanding vs. Memorizing
  6. 6Productive Struggle
  7. 7Feedback and Growth
  8. 8Learning With AI Tutors
  9. 9Design Your Study Plan
  10. 10Module Check: Learning How to Learn

Thinking Well With AI

AI is a powerful thinking tool — and a tempting crutch. Students learn cognitive offloading, when to think first, and how to keep human judgment in the loop.

  1. 1AI as a Thinking Tool
  2. 2Cognitive Offloading
  3. 3The Risk of Outsourcing Your Thinking
  4. 4When to Think First
  5. 5Prompting as Thinking
  6. 6Judging AI Output
  7. 7Keeping Your Skills Sharp
  8. 8Human Judgment in the Loop
  9. 9Thinking-With-AI Workshop
  10. 10Module Check: Thinking Well With AI

Capstone Project: Fact-Check Investigation

Pick a real claim and investigate it like a fact-checker.

  1. 1Project: Fact-Check Investigation

High School

Cognition and Its Limits

Thinking starts with understanding cognition. Students study dual-process theory, heuristics, cognitive biases, bounded rationality, memory's reconstructive nature, attention as a scarce resource, and debiasing strategies — then apply everything in a personal cognitive self-audit.

  1. 1The Science of Thinking
  2. 2Dual-Process Theory
  3. 3Heuristics: Useful Shortcuts
  4. 4Cognitive Biases, Systematically
  5. 5Bounded Rationality
  6. 6Memory's Reconstructive Nature
  7. 7Attention as a Scarce Resource
  8. 8Debiasing: Can We Think Better?
  9. 9Cognitive Self-Audit
  10. 10Module Check: Cognition and Its Limits

Logic, Argument, and Inference

Rigorous thinking rests on logic. Students study argument structure, deductive and inductive inference, fallacies, Bayesian reasoning, and evaluating AI arguments.

  1. 1The Anatomy of an Argument
  2. 2Deductive Validity and Soundness
  3. 3Inductive and Abductive Inference
  4. 4Formal and Informal Fallacies
  5. 5Bayesian Reasoning
  6. 6Steelmanning and Charitable Interpretation
  7. 7Evaluating AI-Generated Arguments
  8. 8Constructing Rigorous Arguments
  9. 9Argument Analysis Lab
  10. 10Module Check: Logic and Inference
  11. 11Lab: Argument Builder

Epistemics: Knowing in an AI World

Knowing well is hard in an AI world. Students study evidence, justification, calibration, expertise, truth, and the epistemic risks AI introduces.

  1. 1What Is Knowledge?
  2. 2Evidence, Justification, and Belief
  3. 3Calibration and Confidence
  4. 4Expertise and Testimony
  5. 5Truth, Consensus, and Disagreement
  6. 6Epistemic Risks of AI
  7. 7AI, Authority, and Trust
  8. 8Building a Personal Epistemology
  9. 9Epistemic Audit
  10. 10Module Check: Epistemics

Decision-Making and Judgment

Good judgment can be trained. Students study decision-making under uncertainty, expected value, risk, judgment traps, and deciding well with AI.

  1. 1How We Decide
  2. 2Decision-Making Under Uncertainty
  3. 3Expected Value and Tradeoffs
  4. 4Risk, Probability, and Intuition
  5. 5Judgment Traps in Decisions
  6. 6Decisions With AI Assistance
  7. 7When to Defer, When to Decide
  8. 8Reflective Decision-Making
  9. 9Decision Analysis Project
  10. 10Module Check: Decision-Making

Intellectual Character in the Age of AI

Thinking well is a matter of character. Students cultivate intellectual humility, courage, curiosity, cognitive autonomy, and lifelong intellectual habits.

  1. 1What Are Intellectual Virtues?
  2. 2Intellectual Humility
  3. 3Intellectual Courage and Honesty
  4. 4Curiosity and Open-Mindedness
  5. 5Cognitive Autonomy
  6. 6Resisting Cognitive Outsourcing
  7. 7Deep Work and Sustained Attention
  8. 8A Lifelong Thinker
  9. 9Intellectual Character Portfolio
  10. 10Module Check: Intellectual Character

Capstone Project: Build an Argument Map

Map and evaluate the reasoning around a complex issue.

  1. 1Project: Build an Argument Map