International Journal on Integrating Technology in Education (IJITE)

 Paper Title:  A Cognitive-Preservation Framework for Young Learners in the Age of Generative AI Authors:  Ronald Jean Degen, ANEGEPE (Academia de Estudos em Empreendedorismo e Gestão de Pequenas Empresas), Brazil ABSTRACT Generative artificial intelligence (AI) can expand access to explanation, feedback, and personalized support, but it can also perform cognitive operations through which learning is built. This conceptual review examines how young learners can use generative AI without outsourcing retrieval, reasoning, argumentation, verification, and transfer. A large field experiment in high-school mathematics found that unrestricted GPT-4 assistance improved practice performance but reduced later independent performance, whereas pedagogical guardrails largely mitigated this effect. Other recent evidence is mainly correlational or preliminary and does not justify broad causal claims. Drawing on cognitive offloading, cognitive load theory, retrieval practice, generative...