Beyond the Prompt: Exploring How Critical Thinking Shapes Girls’ AI Usage Patterns in a Year 8 GALS Series Class · ICGS Research Library

Title

Beyond the Prompt: Exploring How Critical Thinking Shapes Girls’ AI Usage Patterns in a Year 8 GALS Series Class

Author

Sydney Costa

Year Published

2026

Description

This action research investigated the impact of critical thinking skills on AI output in Year 8 girls within the social emotional self identity course called GALS Series at the Girls Athletic Leadership School. This study was aimed towards supporting the development and use of an AI policy at the Girls Athletic Leadership School, GALS, by obtaining students' perspective and encouraging the use of critical thinking skills with AI output. I worked with a group of 8th Grade students in the GALS Series classroom to facilitate this research. Data were analyzed to assess how critically thinking about AI systems output influenced adolescent girls’ motivation to use an AI platform. Students participated in pre- and post-surveys, individual reflections, and small and whole group discussions. Ultimately, through engaging with ChatGPT in a multitude of ways, three key findings were identified: students verbally discussed a lack of diversity in generated images, shared a mistrust and questioning perspective with the written output, and individually reflected on the impacts of AI in their future.