The Importance of Thinking Skills in an AI World

Written by: Liza Gresko, Mom and PR Specialist at Moss Tucker Group

It seems no matter where you go or what you do, the acronym “AI” for Artificial Intelligence is everywhere. People are using various AI applications to answer not only everyday questions but also as a tool to finish presentations, draft emails, even answer health and relationship questions.

Artificial intelligence is changing how we find information, solve problems, create content, and make decisions. A question that once required research can now be answered in seconds. A complicated task can be simplified with a prompt. A recommendation, explanation, or solution is often only a few clicks away.

That convenience can be incredibly useful, but it also creates new challenges. If the answer is so easy to get, are we weakening our ability to take the time to think about it for ourselves? And how do we know that the sources of that answer are valid and reliable?

This is why thinking skills matter.

Thinking skills are the mental toolkit we use to analyze and evaluate what we see, read, and hear so we can make sense of the world around us. They allow us to compare information, recognize possibilities, anticipate consequences, solve problems, and make informed decisions.

In an increasingly AI-powered world, these abilities become essential. AI can provide information, but it cannot replace our responsibility to decide what to do with that information.

Judging the information AI presents us is something that is often left out of the process. Are we stopping to think about whether the answer we get is accurate or if it makes any sense? Are we thinking about what information might be missing or if it’s ethical? Do we stop to think if the answer we get is the best choice or is it just the one that AI crawlers found first?

These questions require judgment, which is one of the most important components of strategic thought.

AI can give us answers to questions we ask, but thinking is what helps us evaluate the quality and usefulness of those answers.

The conversation around AI often focuses on what technology can do, but an equally important question is what we need to be able to do when AI becomes part of everyday life.

A recent KQED MindShift article, “‘Cognitive Surrender’: Faster Solutions, Lower Test Scores Show How AI is Eroding Math Skills”, provides an important example. The article examines research analyzing millions of student interactions with an online math platform. Researchers found that students appeared to spend less time on certain problems that were easier to outsource to AI. Although they answered more of those problems correctly during unsupervised practice, their performance on comparable proctored assessments declined.

The researchers caution that the study does not definitively prove that students were using AI, and the working paper had not yet been peer reviewed. Still, the findings raise an important question: What happens when we routinely outsource the mental work that helps us learn?

It might be easy for us to think that AI shouldn’t be used at all, but that may not necessarily be the best decision. When used thoughtfully, AI can be a powerful and timesaving tool.

Thinking Skills Are Strategic Skills

Strategic thought doesn't happen in a vacuum. It involves looking at a situation, considering available options, predicting possible outcomes, making a choice, and adapting when circumstances change.

It sounds complicated, but in fact, it’s as easy as playing a game.

Games create small, manageable environments where decisions have consequences. Players can take a risk and see what happens. They can make a plan, discover what isn't working, and then try something different as needed. Players can also anticipate what another player might do and adjust their own strategy.

There is no need for a big lecture on cognitive development or the ins and outs of why this works or that doesn’t. Children are simply playing, and thinking and learning while doing it.

Hook’em: Practice Judgment Through Risk

In SimplyFun’s Hook’em, players ages 6 and up practice using judgment to decide whether taking a risk is worthwhile. Predicting is an essential feature of Hook’em. After many rolls, a player has an option to roll again. This requires assessing the probability of rolling a successful or unsuccessful combination of dice. Players also need to predict the reaction of another player if they decide to take fish from that player.

Young children will typically predict an outcome that ‘could’ produce the biggest win. That decision is important because the outcome isn't guaranteed. Players can consider the situation, make a choice, and then see the consequences of that choice unfold.

This creates a valuable feedback loop where children think, then decide, then experience the outcome of that decision before they have to think again.

That process is at the heart of good judgment.

In the real world, decisions don't always come with a clear "right answer." Sometimes the best choice involves taking a calculated risk. Other times, knowing when not to take a risk is the smarter strategy.

Hook’em gives kids a playful environment in which to practice that kind of thinking.

Crystal Cup Rally: Adaptability Is Part of Strategy

Having a multi-step plan is very useful for children to start practicing as adult life is filled with planning and choices. A willingness to change those plans by understanding how shifts in risk change the outcome can be even more valuable.

Crystal Cup Rally helps children ages 7 and up develop adaptability by encouraging them to evaluate different pathways to success. Rather than assuming there is only one way to accomplish a goal, players consider their options and respond to changing circumstances. The game is a great way to help children choose how to power up their vehicles to use different routes along the racetrack, taking shortcuts or overcoming roadblocks. Crystal Cup Rally is also good for developing adaptability as players adjust their strategy to the changing course conditions that may pop up anywhere along the track.

That is an increasingly important skill in an AI world where information is constantly being updated, and the answer received one day may change quickly the next time you ask. The circumstances surrounding a decision can also change very quickly. A person who can evaluate new information and adjust their approach has an important advantage over someone who remains locked into an original plan simply because it was the original plan.

Strategic thinking isn’t just about asking where you want to go, it’s about recognizing when another path might get you somewhere more effectively.

Raise the Roofs: Break Big Goals Into Smaller Decisions

Raise the Roofs introduces another important element of strategic thought: goal setting.

As players ages 8 and up choose whether to build new towers, add height to existing towers, or remove blocks from opponent’s towers, they’re actively developing strategy skills and flexing their problem-solving muscles. Players decide what actions to take, based upon their dice rolls and what other players are building. Sometimes the goal you want isn't immediately attainable, so children must stop and think what to do next now that their original plan is no longer viable.

Can you still work toward it through smaller steps? Or perhaps you recognize that another goal has a greater probability of success and shift your strategy?

This is a concept that applies far beyond a game board. In careers, education, and everyday life, we frequently encounter situations where the outcome we want isn't immediately available. Strategic thinkers ask things like what can I accomplish now? What needs to change to move closer to my goal?

Learning to break a larger objective into achievable steps, and knowing when to adjust, is a powerful thinking skill.

Fossil Sweep: Think About What Others Might Do

In Fossil Sweep, players ages 8 and up must consider not only what they want to do, but what other players might do first.

This fun game is great for developing situational analysis skills as players think through the possible choices that others might make and evaluate the risk of probable outcomes.

Fossil Sweep also helps develop decision making skills as each player uses critical thinking to decide the best timing and placement of their cards so they can get the best score.

This game provides players an opportunity to ask themselves things like “What could happen next?” rather than just focusing on their own moves. Learning to think both offensively and defensively in making your choices is a thinking skill used in many aspects of adulthood.

Accepting AI While Building Thinking Skills

Artificial Intelligence is an amazing advance in technology that will help simplify many tasks in daily life. But it is also a tool that requires us to develop the skills to manage it productively.

The goal is to help kids (and adults) sharpen up their thinking skills to take advantage of all the things these new tools offer.

Thinking skills give children and adults the ability to pause before accepting an answer, evaluate competing possibilities, anticipate consequences, adapt when circumstances change, and make decisions based on sound judgment.

Those skills are useful no matter where the information comes from and most importantly, they can begin developing early on through easy outlets like play.

The games in SimplyFun's Thinking Line demonstrate that strategic thinking doesn't have to feel like work. When children make decisions in a game, experience consequences, adapt their strategies, and anticipate the actions of others, they are practicing skills they can carry into school, relationships, careers, and an increasingly AI-driven world.