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Preserving Critical Thinking in The Era of Generative Artificial Intelligence: Evidence-Based Frameworks for Human-Centered Learning

Velma Adams

Abstract

The rapid diffusion of generative artificial intelligence into formal and informal learning environments has produced an urgent tension between immediate efficiency and the long-term cultivation of critical thinking. This paper synthesizes foundational scholarship on critical thinking with emerging evidence on human cognition under conditions of automation, and from that synthesis it derives a set of evidence-based frameworks for human-centered learning. Drawing on the expert consensus model of critical thinking, research on cognitive offloading, and the first wave of empirical and conceptual studies of large language models in education, the analysis identifies three principal threats to higher-order reasoning: the offloading of evaluative and inferential work to the model, automation bias, and an illusion of competence that decouples fluent output from genuine understanding. The paper then proposes an integrated framework, Human- Centered AI-Integrated Learning, composed of four interlocking components: a cognitive engagement gradient that specifies when delegation is appropriate and when it is not, an interrogative use protocol that converts passive prompting into structured inquiry, an AI-literacy competency model oriented toward critical evaluation, and a redesigned assessment logic that rewards reasoning rather than product. Each component is anchored in established learning theory, including cognitive load theory, self-regulated learning, and the Community of Inquiry model. Implications for curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment are discussed, together with limitations and directions for empirical validation.

Keywords

critical thinking; generative artificial intelligence; human-centered learning; cognitive offloading; AI literacy; self-regulated learning

References

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