AI as a cognitive partner in learning: Emerging epistemic practices of reflective thought

This article explores emerging epistemic practices when students engage with generative AI tools as cognitive partners. Such partnerships enable students to accomplish tasks they could not complete without technological support and transform how they learn. Drawing on focus group interviews from a one-year action and design-based research project, this qualitative study identifies epistemic practices of reflective thought arising from students’ process-oriented engagement with AI. Notably, theoretical and empirical reflection appear through cognitive partnerships with AI. The article offers insights for teachers on how to scaffold these practices and support students in realizing the potential of AI as a cognitive partner. An implication for educational practice is not to ban AI but to cultivate students’ abilities to engage with AI as instruments for reflective thought.