A video of a global celebrity holding a protest t-shirt recently sparked mixed reactions in a family WhatsApp group. It looked authentic but turned out to be generated by artificial intelligence (AI).

What if the same technology produced a video of a doctor rejecting a vaccine or a leader inciting violence?

Generative AI already multiplies the speed, scale and believability of information—true, misleading and deliberately false. The question is: will learners master AI or will AI master them?

It underpins cognitive security and resilience against misinformation, manipulation and division.

And for education systems equipping learners with skills for life in the modern age, the importance of critical thinking is ever more urgent.

5 things to know about critical thinking

1. It draws on both nature and nurture

Learning science shows that critical thinking is not a single skill but a complex developmental process that integrates cognitive, social and affective dimensions. From Vygotsky’s Mind in Society (1978) and Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives (1956) to Kuhn’s work on metacognitive reasoning (1999), evidence shows that reasoning evolves through interaction, experience and reflection. Many education systems treat critical thinking as a discrete skill to enable its integration into curriculum, pedagogy and assessment, given widespread agreement that it can be cultivated across the schooling experience.

2. It starts early and continues through adolescence

Research in cognitive psychology shows that reasoning and critical thinking build on earlier foundational skills which then develop and mature throughout adolescence. Reasoning and critical thinking can be fostered from early childhood when children learn to question, compare and justify their thinking, and are mutually reinforcing to foundational literacy and numeracy. By age 3, many children can begin recognizing inaccurate information and identifying reliable sources.

Teachers can play a central role in modeling and nurturing these skills to learners of different ages through questioning, dialogue and exploration that connect reasoning to everyday learning. India’s Teaching at the Right Level program exemplifies this synergy: teachers regrouped students by learning level, incorporated peer problem solving and introduced hands-on activities to apply practical skills, achieving marked gains in both literacy and reasoning for students.

While critical thinking can be cultivated throughout a student’s education—from early childhood to adulthood—the ways it is taught vary with cognitive development. Teachers can use concrete examples and guided discovery with younger learners while older students benefit from real-world applications and open-ended inquiry. Bangladesh’s BRAC Education Program, for instance, combines literacy and numeracy with creative problem solving, showing that learners who are older than the official age for a particular school grade can still strengthen both foundational and higher-order thinking when pedagogy emphasizes application over memorization.

3. It's possible to develop, no matter the context

Simple dialogue techniques, peer-to-peer discussion and story-based learning can improve reasoning outcomes without expensive material resources or major investments in technology or infrastructure. For example, efforts in Nigeria using the Questionstorm methodology to teach children to think more critically, philosophically and outside the box involve a question-to-answer approach where learners are presented with ‘answers’ and invited to generate a diverse set of relevant questions that could precede them. The pedagogy thereby aims to move pupils away from rote memorization and knowledge reproduction to learn to interrogate information and to challenge their assumptions, further developing their critical thinking skills as a result.

4. Teacher preparation and assessment reform are critical

If exams reward recall, many teachers and classrooms will continue to teach to the test. Teachers need professional development in questioning strategies and dialogue facilitation. Assessment systems must evaluate reasoning, not just memorization.

Evidence from Pakistan highlights the assessment challenge of advancing reasoning skills over and above basic reading and decoding. The lesson transcends boundaries: curriculum reform and teacher preparation must advance as integrated strategies, not sequential steps.

5. It’s best integrated across subjects and social-emotional skills

Critical thinking develops best when it is deliberately embedded across academic disciplines and linked to social-emotional learning (SEL) that strengthens both social behaviors and academic outcomes. Recent studies highlight positive associations between empathy, a common component of many SEL programs, and critical thinking, suggesting that when learners practice perspective taking and reflection, they not only strengthen relationships but also enhance their reasoning abilities.

Should we teach students to use AI as thinking partners or to think independently of AI?

The answer is likely both depending on the context and age of the learners.

Students need to learn how to harness AI thoughtfully for exploring complex problems but also to think critically to evaluate AI-generated content. AI will not slow down. The question is whether education systems will keep pace.

Critical thinking is not a luxury for elite schools or wealthy nations—it is a survival skill for people of all ages, everywhere.

Research demonstrates that with the right pedagogy, reasoning skills can be promoted in all learning contexts at low cost.

The choice facing policy makers today will determine whether future generations can think critically in an AI-saturated world. The time to act is now.

*Written by humans, with AI as the intern—who works fast but still needed a lot of supervision and our critical thinking.