Thinking well with AI

Your students are using AI like a vending machine, and it can feel like there's not much you can do about it.

There's more you can do than you think, and it starts with how the task is designed. The Thinking Pendulum shows you how to redesign essays, lab reports and extended essays so the thinking has to be your students' own, and how to plan and assess so you can see it when it is.

A free guide and rubric you can use in a unit you're already planning.

The idea in one picture

The pendulum swings with the task

The Thinking Pendulum is Andrew Mowat's model of the two ways students use AI: as a vending machine that hands over answers, or as a thinking partner that pushes their own thinking.

Sometimes a quick answer is exactly right. The trouble starts when that's the only way students use AI. The Pendulum shows the second mode, the thinking partner, and its three zones, and gives schools a way to build them one step at a time.

Choosing the right mode for the moment is the skill we're really teaching.

Vending machineAsk, receive, move on.

2.1

Sense checkingI have an answer. Is it right?

2.2

Outcome determiningI know the problem. What are my options?

2.3

Problem shapingWhat's the real problem here?

The Pendulum in the wild

What each zone looks like in a real classroom

Each zone draws on a different kind of thinking. Here is the signature cognition behind each one, and one sign that a student is using it while working with AI.

ZoneSignature cognitionWhat you'll see with AI

Mode 1Vending machine

Retrieval
Delegation

One clear request for a product the student has already worked out, such as tidying their references.

2.1Sense checking

Monitoring
Verifying

"Is this date right?" Checking a claim against a source they've read, and saying whether it holds up.

2.2Outcome determining

Flexibility
Weighing
Deciding

Asking AI for several options and choosing one with a reason: "I chose this over that because…"

2.3Problem shaping

Problem finding
Framing
Questioning

"Is my question really about X, or about Y?" Narrowing or reframing the question, and giving the reason.

The full version, with every form each zone takes, the signals to look for in class without AI, and the emotional signals that tell you the work is at the right level, is part of the Pendulum in Practice editions. See the editions →

Where to start

Two ways in

For teachers

Classroom-ready tools for teaching students to think well with AI.

Free Thinking Pendulum guide and rubric
The Pendulum in Practice editions: Senior, Lower Secondary, Upper Primary (coming soon)
Online course, coming soon on EduSpark

Start with the free guide →

For schools

Whole-school and group work on AI and thinking, led by Andrew.

School licence for the Pendulum resources
Keynotes and staff workshops
Work across school groups
Middle leadership development and coaching

Book a conversation with Andrew →

Coming soon

The free guide shows you the model. The Pendulum in Practice editions show you how to build it into your tasks.

There's one edition for each phase of school, built on the same five steps. Each step takes a task you already set and redesigns it so the thinking has to happen, and so you can see it when it does.

What you'll be able to do

Plan each stage of a task for the kind of thinking it needs, and decide where AI helps and where it stays out.
Read a student's AI log as a trace of their thinking, and see in about a minute whether they checked, weighed options or handed the work over.
Give marks for the quality of a student's thinking with AI, with rubric wording you can drop into your mark scheme.
Move a class from checking AI's answers towards shaping problems themselves, year on year.

Some systems are responding by banning AI or dropping take-home work altogether. For younger children, holding AI back makes sense. But senior students meet AI everywhere, and their coursework still has to be set and assessed. Pulling the task removes the problem for a term. Redesigning the task is what grows the thinking.

Worked before-and-after redesigns show it in real subjects, with exam-board notes for coursework and the research behind every step. When a piece of work doesn't add up, there's a fair process for that conversation too. You'll need it less often, because the thinking is already in view.

First

Senior

Years 10 to 13 · IB, IGCSE and A-level coursework

Lower Secondary

Years 7 to 9

Then

Upper Primary

Years 4 to 6

Beyond the templates. Every step comes with a prompt you can adapt to your own subject and task. Use it a few times and you'll be writing your own. The edition gets you started, and the skill stays with you.

4kinds of thinking with AI, mapped

5steps that redesign a task you already set

14printable templates

6prompts that teach you to build your own

FAQ

Questions teachers ask

What is the Thinking Pendulum?

It's a model, developed by Andrew Mowat, of how students think when they use AI. In Mode 1, the vending machine, they press the button and take the result. In Mode 2, the thinking partner, AI pushes their own thinking through three zones: sense checking, outcome determining and problem shaping.

Is the vending machine always bad?

No. Mode 1 is fine when the thinking has already been done. The trouble starts when it's the only way students use AI. Modes are moments, not people: no student is a "Mode 1 student".

Isn't the thinking trace just reflection after the fact?

Less than it looks. The AI chat is written in the moment, so it's close to a live record of the thinking. The step that happens afterwards is labelling each turn with a zone, and that's where the interpretation comes in.

Does this work with younger students?

Yes. In primary, start at sense checking with the teacher driving the AI, and add one zone per phase. By senior school, students are choosing the swing themselves. Sense checking doesn't even need AI.

How is this different from an AI assessment scale?

A scale sets how much AI is allowed. The Pendulum describes the thinking that happens. If your school already uses a scale, keep it. The two sit side by side.

Who's behind it

Andrew Mowat, MetaLearn Education

Andrew has spent 42 years in education, in roles from the classroom to school leadership, and is a qualified executive coach. He works with international schools across Asia on how students learn and think, and is co-founder of EduSpark. He is co-author of The Success Zone, a book on the brain, leadership and coaching. He created the Thinking Pendulum to give teachers a practical way to see what's happening in students' heads when they use AI, and to design for the thinking that matters.

andrew@metalearnedu.com · LinkedIn · Substack