Screen Deep Does AI Help Students Learn? With Adam Dubé, PhD
Jan 21, 2026
Adam Dubé, PhD, Associate Professor of Learning Sciences at McGill who studies children and technology, discusses how youth perceive AI and the risks of cognitive offloading. He outlines four classroom roles for AI, teachers’ shifting views, data and personalization concerns, and clear criteria parents should use when choosing educational apps.
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Children See AI As Friendly Agents
- Young children often treat AI as a friendly, semi-agentic being rather than a machine or person.
- Their mental models shift toward technical explanations around age seven or eight as they learn more about devices.
AI Can Replace Practice, Not Mastery
- Generative AI helps users perform tasks immediately but often prevents long-term learning of core skills.
- Cognitive offloading means students may not practice idea generation, summarizing, or deep reading themselves.
Classify AI Use Before You Deploy It
- Ask how you intend to use AI: as a resource, tutor, tool, or mind tool before deploying it.
- Avoid using generative AI as an information resource or tutor while it still hallucinates and is inaccurate.