Presentation Type
Oral Presentation
Category
Professional Experiences
Abstract/Artist Statement
This project argues that a central challenge in contemporary education is an incoherence between the inherited purposes of schooling and the realities young people now face. While schools continue to emphasize siloed content and performance measures, students are entering a rapidly changing, AI-mediated world that demands critical thinking, adaptability, collaboration, and reflection. Integrating research on depth of learning, interdisciplinary scholarship, and a practitioner case study, this project proposes competency-based learning as a practical structure for supporting deeper learning, increased relevance, and a renewed orientation toward wellbeing in the age of artificial intelligence.
The paper employs a literature review and theoretical synthesis drawing from educational philosophy, psychology, contemplative traditions, and emerging research on youth and artificial intelligence. These ideas are examined alongside a reflective narrative of a multi-age competency-based unit, using practitioner experience as a lens through which to explore how theory operates in classroom practice. Rather than a formal qualitative study, the practitioner narrative functions as an interpretive case illustrating the lived implications of the framework.
This project contributes a conceptual framework linking learning theory, human development, and competency-based education within the context of AI. It grounds competency-based learning in developmental processes and demonstrates how educators can design learning environments that cultivate reflection, relationships, and adaptive thinking. Ultimately, the paper addresses a broader social question: how must education evolve to prepare young people for an unpredictable future? By emphasizing human capacities—creativity, citizenship, collaboration, and critical reflection—it offers a pathway for gradual change through existing structures such as standards, assessment practices, and teacher preparation programs.
Mentor Name
Kate Brayko
Education in the Age of AI
UC 327
This project argues that a central challenge in contemporary education is an incoherence between the inherited purposes of schooling and the realities young people now face. While schools continue to emphasize siloed content and performance measures, students are entering a rapidly changing, AI-mediated world that demands critical thinking, adaptability, collaboration, and reflection. Integrating research on depth of learning, interdisciplinary scholarship, and a practitioner case study, this project proposes competency-based learning as a practical structure for supporting deeper learning, increased relevance, and a renewed orientation toward wellbeing in the age of artificial intelligence.
The paper employs a literature review and theoretical synthesis drawing from educational philosophy, psychology, contemplative traditions, and emerging research on youth and artificial intelligence. These ideas are examined alongside a reflective narrative of a multi-age competency-based unit, using practitioner experience as a lens through which to explore how theory operates in classroom practice. Rather than a formal qualitative study, the practitioner narrative functions as an interpretive case illustrating the lived implications of the framework.
This project contributes a conceptual framework linking learning theory, human development, and competency-based education within the context of AI. It grounds competency-based learning in developmental processes and demonstrates how educators can design learning environments that cultivate reflection, relationships, and adaptive thinking. Ultimately, the paper addresses a broader social question: how must education evolve to prepare young people for an unpredictable future? By emphasizing human capacities—creativity, citizenship, collaboration, and critical reflection—it offers a pathway for gradual change through existing structures such as standards, assessment practices, and teacher preparation programs.