As artificial intelligence becomes increasingly present in children’s routines, how does the process of constructing and absorbing knowledge, the one built through trial and error, happen when AI offers answers without requiring prior reflection?
Learning is not just receiving information
The brain is molded by the experiences it receives, and the consolidation of knowledge relies on attention, meaningful interactions with others and the emotions involved each time a child tries something new.
That is why learning is far more than simply receiving information. According to the neuropsychopedagogue Silvia Kelly Bosi, children strengthen neural connections when they actively engage with the world. It could be through play, exploration, asking questions, making mistakes and trying again, any of these experiences activate cognitive processes that help transform information into lasting knowledge.
“The process of trial and error stimulates planning, cognitive flexibility, working memory and problem-solving”, says the specialist.
In this context, the concern around AI is not the technology itself, but what it may replace. When answers arrive before children could reflect, part of this cognitive journey can be shortened.
As an example, Silvia illustrates what happens when a child is trying to solve a math problem. By testing different strategies, the child exercises several skills before reaching the answer. “If she only consults AI and simply copies the solution, she might learn the result, but not necessarily how to build it,” she explains.
Communication and creativity skills can also be affected
According to the neuropedagogue, this shortened learning process also affects the way children construct language. Formulating ideas, organizing thoughts, and building arguments also require constant practice.
“When answers are repeatedly given pre-prepared, the child may have fewer opportunities to practice verbal elaboration, argument construction, and linguistic creativity,” she explains.
Another point that should raise concern is the way children deal with mechanisms of immediate reward. Children’s brains respond rapidly to fast stimuli. Tools that offer instant solutions can make longer tasks seem even longer, more challenging, and less attractive to them.
However, this does not mean that the occasional use of AI could somehow harm children. Rather, the specialist affirms that what deserves attention is the daily recurrence of its use when it starts replacing the effort to think, elaborate, and express their own ideas.
AI might not be the problem
Even with all these concerns, Silvia avoids an alarming perspective. With proper mediation, AI can, in fact, support children’s development.
“It can help personalize learning, adapt content, expand access to information, support reading, organize studies, and even provide accessibility resources for children with disabilities or learning difficulties” she explains.
But the turning point in transforming artificial intelligence into a supportive tool lies in the way children are exposed to it. From the neuropedagogue’s clinical perspective, as with every technological innovation, the use of AI raises concerns, but the challenge is not the technology itself, it is the absence of mediation.
“What makes the difference is the presence of adults who are capable of guiding, supervising, and teaching the critical use of these tools” she says, adding: “Technology should support child development, not replace the experiences that are fundamental to it.”
A conscious use of AI involves, like everything in life, balance. “AI can be an additional tool, helping expand learning, stimulate curiosity, and provide support in specific challenges” Silvia says.
Her perspective emphasizes that, to coexist with technology in a healthy way, children must continue exploring the real world, building human connections, practicing sports, reading, creating, and solving problems by themselves.
“Ideally, technology should be a bridge to knowledge, not a shortcut that eliminates the learning process” she concludes.
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The article above was edited by Rafaela Navarro.
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