Exploring Cognitive Learning Through AI: Curated Research, Podcasts, and Talks

Today, I would like to mix it up a little and talk about some resources that I find helpful and interesting relating to my subjects of curiosity: AI, cognitive processes, and their relationship to learning and education. I regularly visit popular sites such as AI For Education and ISTE - staples in the tech-education community - to keep up-to-date on current developments, and I find that reading, listening, and watching expert insight not only helps me connect theory to practice but also gives me different perspectives and points of view on the ever-growing field of cognitive learning. Hopefully, you will also find these resources useful, and we can all reflect on their applications in AI-enhanced learning.

Podcasts Raising Kids in the Age of AI by aiEDU.org with Alex Kotran and Dr. Aliza Pressman

I’m a regular visitor to the aiEDU.org (The AI education project) website. They provide great resources and insight on AI and young learners, and very recently they collaborated with Google to create the Raising Kids in the Age of AI podcast, a podcast exploring how AI shapes education and learning, especially for parents, teachers, and students. So far, my favorite episode is titled “AI 101: Everything parents need to know”. I am especially intrigued by the comparison between AI and the human brain, the discussion on how AI supports different learners and learning styles due to how personalized it can be, and also how to program AI to be even smarter and more efficient tools for education. 

Braininsipired.co with Paul Middlebrooks

This podcast is my absolute favorite. I have been following it for a very long time, and each episode teaches me something new about neuroscience and AI. If you’re new to this podcast, a good place to start is in episode 205: Neurons are smarter than you think. In this episode, Paul and his guest discusses how the brain works versus how AI is engineered, and I found it interesting to note that although AI is engineered to emulate the brain, it doesn’t do it very well (or at least haven’t advanced enough to do so), because of how the human brain actually works. They talk about neural networks and how the brain makes connections, and how engineers attempt to reproduce that with generative AI. 

TED talks

Learning how to learn: A TEDxOaklandUniversity by Barbara Oakley

This TED talk is one I return to often when I want to go back to basics and remember what it means to learn as a human being. The real standout point was how she split our brain modes into two: focus and diffuse. I won’t give too much away because I’d like you to discover them for yourself, but all I want to say is at the end of the video, you will find a new way of learning and using your brain that you never thought of before. Guaranteed.

How your brain’s executive function works - and how to improve it: TED by Sabine Doebel

I love activities that exercise the brain, and for a while there was a plethora of “brain training” apps available for mobile that I’d try out for fun. They were supposedly targeting my “executive functions” through mini chess games, puzzles, and word-finding games. It was around this time that I also found Sabine Doebel’s TED talk, and it opened my eyes to what “executive function” actually was. It can’t be trained with mini games, because it’s not how our brains work. It’s about using a combination of context and strategies to achieve effective cognitive learning that extends beyond the task at hand. Blogs Mindshift by KQED Radio

This blog is actually a part of the KQED Radio in San Francisco. They focus on changing lives to be better through education and media. Mindshift especially examines how technology and discoveries about the brain affect students and how they learn. One noteworthy article is the “So Long, Study Guides?” post. It actually mirrors my own experience with generative AI such as ChatGPT and how I use them in my own learning process. Many of my peers are becoming overreliant and this is a major concern in the education industry, as we are often not cross-checking AI suggestions and taking them as absolute truth. This article reminds us not to lose our basic research skills: read articles, find resources, form personal opinions, and practice critical thinking.

EdTechMagazine by CDW

EdTechMagazine is an amazing repository of articles and news bulletins relating to education and technology. You can choose between bulletins focusing on kindergarten to high school learners and articles on higher education. It’s hard for me to choose just one, but I want to put a spotlight on “University Medical Schools Train Students to Better Understand AI”. This article talks about how AI models are already being incorporated into curricula to help train medical students on visual cues for a variety of ailments. This is in line with my firm belief that AI is a tool that can help make lives better for everyone.

What I’ve learned from all these resources is that AI is a tool that can help personalize learning based on individual needs. There are strategies to enhance engagement, memory, and improve cognitive function. The possibilities are endless when it comes to AI and education, but we must always keep in mind the ethics behind the use of AI (especially generative AI and intellectual property), and that the human touch cannot and should not be replaced by technology.

Sharing these resources with you has been very exciting. Through these, and hopefully more in the future, I hope to connect with you and other readers who are just as passionate about neuroscience and education as I am. Exploring these podcasts, TED talks, and blogs helped me see how AI can enhance cognitive learning while keeping ethical use and human guidance at its center, and I hope I’ve inspired you to explore and share your own with me.