Audience asks how schools will teach critical thinking about AI; superintendent urges iterative use and source evaluation

An audience member asked how the district will help students learn to evaluate and use AI and online information. The questioner asked, "How do you factor all that in today to children's learning where they can actually learn how to learn and how to be critical thinkers?" Connors responded that she uses AI as a "thought partner" but teaches students to treat initial AI outputs skeptically, to iterate prompts and to compare multiple sources.

Connors said the district will not rely solely on a single, standalone course; instead she recommended teachers embed digital-literacy exercises in regular lessons (for example, presenting multiple sources about the same event and asking students to compare perspectives). She emphasized modeling prompt construction and classroom exercises that make the mechanics and limits of algorithms explicit to students.

The exchange included discussion about how AI differs from search engines (Connors noted AI can recall what a user has fed it), how to use prompts responsibly and the need to teach students to be discerning consumers of automated outputs.