Integrating AI Literacy into Secondary Education Curricula: Impact on Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving Skills

Abstract

AI now permeates search, translation, social media, writing support, tutoring systems, and even workplace decision-making. Secondary education can no longer afford to treat AI as a minor technological subject of a small subset of computing students. The current paper establishes an evidence-based curriculum integration model of AI literacy in secondary education and discusses how it is likely to affect the critical thinking and problem-solving skills of students in secondary education. The paper presents arguments based on the literature of AI literacy teaching as an interdisciplinary skills development, versus the teaching of particular tools. The offered framework will make AI literacy organized into four curricular strands: conceptual understanding of AI, practical and responsible use, critical evaluation of AI results, ethical-social reasoning. The analysis defines three mechanisms by which AI literacy can enhance higher-order thinking: the evidence-based evaluation of machine outputs, metacognitive control of tool use, and genuine problem-based inquiry across subjects. Meanwhile, the paper cautions that improperly implemented AI integration can compromise independent reasoning by prominently supporting shortcut behaviour, shallow prompting and blind belief in what they are generating output. The paper adds a spiral curriculum model, assessment cycle and implementation tables to schools that strive to achieve a measured improvement in critical thinking and problem solving without compromising human judgment with the automated systems.