AI tools can answer instantly, but the struggle of retrieving, reasoning, and correcting mistakes is what actually builds durable learning. When students outsource that struggle to a chatbot, the practice that makes learning stick may never happen.
Access what you know
Make sense and plan
Try a solution, even if hard
Notice mistakes and learn
Adjust and improve
Retrieval-practice source: Carpenter, Pan & Butler (2022), Nature Reviews Psychology, 1, 496–511.
Frontal-cortex synaptic density changes substantially through childhood and adolescence.
Neural activity helps shape which connections are maintained and which are eliminated.
The developmental effects of routinely outsourcing cognitive practice to generative AI remain unclear.
Huttenlocher (1979), Brain Research, 163, 195–205; Faust, Gunner & Schafer (2021), Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 22, 657–673.
On September 2, 2026, LAUSD and NYC announced pauses on student access to generative AI. Both are using this time to build safeguards for introducing AI safely and effectively.
NYC Mayor's Office (Sept. 2, 2026); K–12 Dive (Sept. 3, 2026).
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