CTRL+Think is a developmentally scaffolded cognitive and metacognitive toolkit designed to preserve and strengthen students’ critical thinking skills as AI becomes embedded in everyday learning. The project addresses an urgent challenge: students are forming automatic habits of AI reliance during the same years when metacognitive skills, executive function, and reasoning abilities are still developing. Without intentional guidance, cognitive offloading can become the default learning pattern.

CTRL+Think integrates research from developmental psychology, cognitive science, and learning sciences to help students build the cognitive architecture needed to use AI as a complement to, not a replacement for, their own thinking. Rather than teaching technology skills, the toolkit focuses on cultivating healthy thinking habits through reflective prompts, multimodal supports, and age-appropriate metacognitive routines.

The toolkit includes adaptable “Before You Prompt” cards, neurodiversity-inclusive thinking scaffolds, cross-curricular integration guides, and an AI-powered Thinking Coach that models responsible AI collaboration. These tools interrupt unthinking answer-seeking and encourage students to pause, question, compare, and evaluate, all while supporting diverse cognitive profiles, including ADHD, autism, and dyslexia.

CTRL+Think emphasizes cognitive safety, equitable access, and inclusivity. By shaping questioning habits and strengthening independent reasoning during the critical developmental window, the project aims to ensure students of all neurotypes learn to think with AI while preserving the foundational skills needed for intellectual independence, deep learning, and democratic engagement.

Key outcomes: Developed a comprehensive, developmentally informed framework for supporting critical thinking in the age of AI, created age-appropriate and neurodiversity-inclusive tools that strengthen metacognitive habits and accessible reasoning skills, and addressed emerging cognitive offloading patterns through evidence-based cognitive science, developmental psychology, and classroom-ready scaffolding.

• Links: [CTRL+Think Project] | [CTRL+Think GPT Coach]

• Skills demonstrated: Cognitive-development integration, metacognitive framework design, AI literacy development, neurodiversity-informed design, educational toolkit creation, cross-curricular implementation, evidence-based methodology