AI Buddies in Welsh Schools

Wales is trialling AI companions in classrooms. Helpful, yes — but children still need to grow the habits of mind only humans can develop. Here’s why that balance matters. These tools can provide answers quickly, remind children of facts, and personalise practice. It’s an exciting development, but it raises an important question: what about the parts of learning that only humans can do?

What AI Can Do Well

AI is brilliant at information delivery. It can scaffold a child through maths steps, suggest a word in writing, or instantly check grammar. But education is more than answers.

To thrive in the long term, children need to develop habits of mind that make them independent, reflective, and creative learners.

Where Acorn Explorers Fits In

This is where Acorn Explorers provides the balance. Our resources help children build their “thinking muscles”:

• Remember → recalling and stretching what you already know.
  

• Understand → making sense of ideas, showing what you know in your own way.
  

• Apply → using knowledge in new situations.
  

• Analyse → spotting patterns, comparing, breaking ideas apart.
  

• Evaluate → weighing up, deciding what matters.
  

• Create → combining ideas to grow something new.

These muscles are what keep children learning like humans, not just information processors.

The Future: AI + Human Growth

We don’t see AI and Explorers as rivals. Instead, they can work together:

• AI buddies provide personalised practice and quick feedback.

• Explorers provides structured, playful activities that train human thinking muscles.

Children need both — the buddy that supports them, and the framework that helps them grow as human learners.

Takeaway: AI is brilliant at giving answers. Explorers is about growing thinkers.
Children need both — but only one builds the habits of mind that last a lifetime.