AI is a powerful tool — but only if you use it to strengthen your thinking, not replace it. Here are 7 best practices, each backed by real sources, plus a worksheet to test your understanding.
Built from: CNA commentary by Kennedy Albar (NTU lecturer, 14 Jul 2026) · UNESCO guidance on AI in education · Harvard & Stanford university guidelines · Singapore MOE EdTech direction
The 7 Practices
Read each one carefully. The ✓ shows what to do; the ✗ shows what to avoid. Every practice comes from a cited source — you can check them yourself.
Practice 1
Struggle first, then ask AI
Before you open ChatGPT, try to answer the question yourself — even if you're stuck. Educational psychologists call this the productive struggle: the discomfort of thinking without help is exactly where learning happens. If you skip the struggle, AI can "cover over the cracks" and you won't know what you don't understand.
Attempt the problem for at least 10 minutes before using AI
Go straight to AI the moment you feel stuck
Source: Kennedy Albar, "Commentary: AI has changed the way my students write and that worries me," Channel News Asia, 14 Jul 2026. — channelnewsasia.com
Practice 2
Use AI as a tutor, not a ghostwriter
AI is best used to help you think — brainstorming questions, explaining concepts you don't understand, or organising ideas you already have. It should never write your final argument for you. The key test: can you defend every sentence in your own words? If you can't, you didn't write it — AI did.
Ask AI "Can you explain X in a simpler way?" or "What are the main arguments on both sides?"
Ask AI "Write me an essay about X" and submit it
Source: Kennedy Albar (CNA, 14 Jul 2026) — "has the student made a genuine choice in the argument? Can they defend their claim when challenged?" Also aligns with UNESCO Guidance for Generative AI in Education and Research (2023), which calls for AI to support — not replace — human agency in learning. — unesco.org
Practice 3
Always verify — AI gets things wrong
AI tools "hallucinate" — they can produce confident-sounding answers that are completely wrong, including fake citations, wrong dates, and invented facts. Treat every AI output as a draft that needs fact-checking, not as a finished answer. Cross-check important facts against at least one reliable source.
Verify dates, names, statistics, and quotes against a textbook, your notes, or a trusted website
Copy AI output directly into your homework without checking
Source: Harvard University, Guidelines for Using ChatGPT and Other Generative AI Tools at Harvard — "You are responsible for the accuracy of your work. AI tools can produce incorrect or fabricated information." — provost.harvard.edu
Practice 4
Be transparent — say when you used AI
Academic integrity means taking ownership of how your answers came to be. If you used AI to brainstorm, structure, or check your work, say so. This is not a sign of weakness — it's a sign of honesty. Your teacher needs to know what's your thinking and what's AI assistance.
Add a short note: "I used AI to brainstorm initial ideas, then wrote the final argument myself"
Submit AI-assisted work as if it were entirely your own
Source: Kennedy Albar (CNA, 14 Jul 2026) — "education is built on intellectual responsibility: not simply producing answers but taking ownership of how those answers came to be." Also: UNESCO Guidance for Generative AI in Education (2023) — Principle 3 calls for transparency in AI use. — unesco.org
Practice 5
Write in your own voice — don't copy AI's
AI produces "polished but interchangeable" writing — the same phrases appear across entirely different topics. Your voice is different. When AI gives you a draft, rewrite it in your own words. If your teacher can't tell the difference between your essay and everyone else's, you've lost the most important thing: your own thinking.
Use AI output as a rough guide, then rewrite everything in your own style
Copy-paste AI text and just change a few words
Source: Kennedy Albar (CNA, 14 Jul 2026) — "I find myself reading submissions that feel polished but interchangeable... The same phrases emerge even when discussing entirely different topics." Also: Stanford University, Generative AI Guidelines — encourages students to use AI as a "thinking partner" but to maintain their own voice. — teaching.stanford.edu
Practice 6
Know the three self-check questions
Before you submit any AI-assisted work, test yourself with these three questions from the CNA article. If you can't answer all three, you need to go back and engage more deeply with the material.
Ask: "Can I restate this argument in my own words without looking?"
Ask: "Can I explain why I chose this example and not another?"
Ask: "Which side of this argument do I actually find more convincing — and why?"
Source: Kennedy Albar (CNA, 14 Jul 2026) — "has the student made a genuine choice in the argument? Can they defend their claim when challenged? Can they restate their argument in their own words?"
Practice 7
Build AI literacy — it's a future skill
AI isn't going away. Singapore's MOE has announced that students across all institutes of higher learning will learn AI skills tailored to their fields from 2027. The goal isn't to avoid AI — it's to use it responsibly and critically. Students who learn this now will have a real advantage in university and the workplace.
Practice using AI for learning (explanations, quizzes, feedback) — not for shortcuts
Pretend AI doesn't exist or refuse to learn how to use it
Source: Kennedy Albar (CNA, 14 Jul 2026) — "Students will graduate into workplaces where AI literacy is increasingly expected — so they will need to learn how to use these emerging tools responsibly and critically." Singapore MOE announcement referenced in the same article: AI skills in IHLs from 2027. — moe.gov.sg
⚡ Quick Self-Test
Before you submit any AI-assisted homework, ask yourself:
Did I struggle with this problem myself first, for at least 10 minutes?
Can I explain every sentence in my own words — without looking at the AI output?
Did I verify the key facts AI gave me against a reliable source?
Did I write the final version in my own voice, not AI's?
Have I been honest about where I used AI and where I didn't?
◆ ◆ ◆
Worksheet: Show You Understand
Now that you've read the 7 best practices above, answer these 5 questions in your own words. Two questions test recall, two test your inference skills (reading between the lines), and one asks you to apply what you've learned to a real situation.
RECALL — what the practices sayINFERENCE — what they implyAPPLY — use it yourself
Q1 · Recall
List the three self-check questions from Practice 6 that you should ask yourself before submitting AI-assisted work. Why does each one matter?
Look back at Practice 6 — the three questions are listed clearly there.
Q2 · Recall
Practice 3 says "AI gets things wrong." Give two specific examples of the kinds of errors AI can make, and explain why you must always verify AI output against a reliable source.
Think about fake citations, wrong dates, invented facts — the word is "hallucinate."
Q3 · Inference
The CNA article says AI can "cover over some of those cracks." Practice 1 says the productive struggle is "where learning happens." Putting these two ideas together — what do you think a student loses when they skip the struggle and go straight to AI? Infer at least two things that go beyond "they don't learn the answer."
Think about confidence, judgment, the ability to defend ideas, and what happens in exams when AI isn't there.
Q4 · Inference
Practice 4 says to be transparent about AI use. Practice 7 says AI literacy is a future skill. From these two practices together, what can you infer about how the workplace will judge you in the future — not just whether you can use AI, but how you use it? Why might an employer trust someone who openly used AI over someone who secretly did?
Think about trust, judgment, and what "intellectual responsibility" means beyond school.
Q5 · Apply
Imagine it's Monday evening and you have a Science essay due Wednesday. You don't know how to start. Using what you learned from all 7 practices, write a step-by-step plan for how you would use AI wisely to complete this essay — from the moment you read the question to the moment you submit. Show that you can put the practices into action.
Start with Practice 1 (struggle first), then show how you'd use Practices 2-5, and end with the self-test box and Practice 6's three questions.
Sources Cited
Kennedy Albar, "Commentary: AI has changed the way my students write and that worries me," Channel News Asia, 14 Jul 2026. — channelnewsasia.com
UNESCO, Guidance for Generative AI in Education and Research, 2023. — unesco.org
Harvard University, Guidelines for Using ChatGPT and Other Generative AI Tools at Harvard. — provost.harvard.edu