Human-AI-Human Cycle: Causation
1In the Human-AI-Human cycle, students do substantial initial thinking, then use AI to extend or challenge that thinking, and then return to human reflection with teachers and peers. The key shift is that AI amplifies rather than replaces cognitive work. What does this look like in a causation activity? A student-conducted causal analysis is followed by thoughtful use of AI. To complete the cycle, students use AI input to revise and adjust their initial work:1. Human causal analysis: Students complete the OER Project Causation Tool or a causal map (example: Black Death Causal Map), or both, depending on their proficiency and ease with the skill. In this step, students analyze cause and consequence, distinguishing immediate from long-term causes and recognizing that historical events have multiple causes.2. AI causal analysis: Students have AI perform a causal analysis to deepen their understanding. AI will challenge students’ causal reasoning and surface overlooked factors—but won’t explain causes to the them.When they engage with AI, students should avoid questions that collapse rigor. These are questions that allow AI to perform all the cognitive work or complete tasks.Examples of AI requests that collapse rigor• Asking AI to provide causal explanations: What caused ?• Asking AI to rank causes: Which cause was most important?• Asking AI to explain causal mechanisms: How did lead to ?• Asking AI to identify overlooked causes: What causes am I missing?Some requests of AI can be useful because they yield results that allow the student to decide how to engage.Examples of AI requests that can be useful• Asking AI to reflect back a causal argument: Summarize my causal analysis. Does my chain of reasoning sound logical when you say it back?• Asking AI to provide missing categories of causes: I’ve focused on political causes. Ask me questions about other categories I might be overlooking.• Asking AI to flag thin causal claims: Where is my causal reasoning underdeveloped? Point to weak links without fixing them.Finally, encourage students to interrogate AI in ways that uphold rigor. When asked questions like these, AI creates conditions that require student thinking.Examples of AI requests that uphold rigor• Asking AI to challenge causal weight assignments: Here are the causes I identified. Ask me questions that help me determine which were most significant and why.• Asking AI about necessity and sufficiency: Was this cause necessary for the outcome? Sufficient? Push me to be more precise.• Asking AI to probe for overlooked consequences: Here are the consequences I identified. Ask me questions about unintended or long-term effects I might have missed.• Asking AI to layer multiple causal timeframes: Ask me about long-term, medium-term, and immediate causes. Am I considering all timeframes?• Asking AI to test causation with counterfactual claims: If this cause hadn’t happened, would the effect still have occurred? Help me test my causal claim.HUMAN-AI-HUMAN CYCLE: CAUSATION
2Human-AI-Human Cycle: Causation3. Human: Refine causal analysis: Based on the AI conversation, ask students to revise their causal analysis. They can add missing categories of causes, adjust causal weights with justification, trace causal mechanisms more precisely, and ensure their analysis acknowledges complexity rather than oversimplifying.Success criteria• Multiple categories of causes included.• Causal weights justified with evidence.• Causal mechanisms explicitly traced.• Complexity acknowledged.Evidence of thinking/artifacts to collect• Initial causal brainstorm and categories (before AI).• Chat transcript showing causal reasoning development.• Final causal map or essay with refined analysis.Reflection promptWhat cause or consequence did you initially overlook or give too little weight to? How did the AI conversation shift your thinking?”For more on the purposeful implementation of AI in the classroom check out the blog: “Moving from ‘Will AI shape education?’ to ‘How can we shape AI to support learning?’” and our AI for Teachers topic page.