The emergence of LLM AI tools has reshaped the way students approach learning and assessment, presenting both challenges and opportunities. While initial responses to AI tools such as ChatGPT centred on concerns over academic integrity, it has become clear that AI’s role in education should not be solely viewed through the lens of restrictions. The inclusion of AI tools in classrooms is a catalyst, empowering both teachers and learners in ways that were previously challenging or resource intensive. AI is enabling personalised learning experiences, delivering instant feedback, and creating customized resources, allowing teachers to focus more on engaging students in meaningful ways. By providing varied perspectives and supporting skill development in areas like creative and critical thinking, language, and writing, these tools make learning accessible to students of diverse abilities and backgrounds. Additionally, AI tools can provide data-driven insights that help teachers understand individual strengths and needs, fostering more targeted support. They can also promote collaboration across language barriers, empowering students to work together and explore complex, interdisciplinary problems.
By focusing on competencies (like creative intelligence) while working with curriculum content, educators can prepare students to thrive in an AI-integrated world. In classrooms where AI supports instruction, students can tackle open-ended problems, delve into interdisciplinary challenges, and develop essential skills like exploring conceptual possibilities, tolerating ambiguity, problem defining and solving, and innovation.
A Framework for Learning in the Age of AI
The following ways of working with knowledge represents a teaching and learning approach that emphasises a process orientated methodology of stretching learner’s knowledge beyond recall and reproduction. By creating learning experiences that encourage students to re-evaluate, adapt, and grow, educators can foster competencies and creative dispositions needed for an unpredictable future, where increasingly complex challenges demand more adaptable and forward-thinking approaches than current methods provide.
The initial stages of working with knowledge begins with laying a strong foundation where learners initially engage with essential content and skills. Rather than stopping at simple understanding, this foundational phase opens pathways for students to see knowledge as dynamic, sparking curiosity that will grow throughout their learning journey. Building on this, students are then encouraged to explore and experiment with what they’ve learned, observing connections between ideas and applying them in various contexts. This phase brings the world into the classroom, with interdisciplinary learning revealing how different fields intersect to shape our understanding of complex issues.
As students gain confidence, the learning process becomes one of critical inquiry, with educators fostering an environment where students formulate and ask questions, seek solutions, and think deeply. They’re invited to investigate “what if” scenarios that push the boundaries of what they already know. During this process, teachers introduce authentic, open-ended challenges, encouraging students to frame and reframe problems and apply creativity. They become active agents of their learning, using innovative thinking to connect knowledge with real-world relevance.
As the process unfolds, students begin to take ownership of their learning journey by experimenting with ideas, envisioning new possibilities, and iterating on their understanding. Engaging with diverse perspectives, they work collaboratively with peers, professionals, and the broader community, finding unique solutions to real-world issues. Finally, this iterative process brings them to a point where they can apply their accumulated skills and insights to impact their surroundings meaningfully. Empowered to take action, students tackle real-world challenges, use choice and agency, and find significance in their contributions.
These stages of learning allow for knowledge transfer and connection, creativity, flexibility and deeper learning, moving students toward autonomy and resilience by encouraging them to revisit earlier steps, refine their ideas, and innovate.
Benefits of Interdisciplinary Learning
Engaging students in interdisciplinary learning broadens the scope of traditional education, encouraging students to view problems and solutions through a wider lens. When students can draw connections between different subjects, such as history and technology or science and art, they develop a more holistic understanding and engage in more meaningful learning experiences where knowledge is more likely to stick. Interdisciplinary projects foster curiosity, improve collaboration skills, and inspire creative thinking, ultimately helping students transfer and apply their knowledge in various contexts.
Shaping the Future Together
The move toward an AI-enhanced educational landscape is not about simply adapting to change; it’s about leading it with intention. As educators transition from the “sage on the stage” approach to a more interactive “meddler in the middle” (McWilliam, 2009) model, they foster a culture of co-learning where students gain the skills and confidence to shape their own futures. AI offers the tools, but it’s the teaching practices and learning experiences—rooted in creativity, collaboration, critical thinking and interdisciplinary inquiry—that will ultimately prepare students for the demands of tomorrow.
By embracing these changes, schools and teachers can create environments where students become active participants in their learning journey. This vision moves education from a static state of “what is” to a dynamic future of “what might be,” where learners are equipped to adapt, imagine, and thrive.
Bibliography
McWilliam, E. (2009). Teaching for creativity: From sage to guide to meddler. Asia Pacific Journal of Education, 29(3), 281-293.
