Bridging cognitive science, academic perseverance, and AI to help educators cultivate deeper thinking and resilient learners.
Full Professional Bio
Dr Pooneh Roney (MEng, PGCE, AST, MEd, PhD) is an educator and cognitive-science scholar whose work sits at the intersection of cognition, academic motivation, perseverance, and emerging technologies in education. Pooneh has served as a secondary Mathematics and Science teacher, an Advanced Skills Teacher of Mathematics, a Teaching & Learning Lead, and an adjunct professor in the Department of Education at Brunel University London. With UK and international experience, her career has centred on understanding how learners think, why they persevere, and how educators can design environments that cultivate deeper thinking, resilience, and learner agency.
Pooneh completed her master’s degree in Mind, Brain & Education at Harvard Graduate School of Education, where she deepened her expertise in cognition, learning sciences, and education neuroscience. She has a deep interest in the underlying cognitive mechanisms that drive learning.
Her doctoral research further developed her interest in cognition and motivation, leading to a transformative realisation of how pivotal academic perseverance is to educational success, which she conceptualised as the steadfast pursuit of short- and long-term goals that lead to academic achievement. Her research highlights the pivotal role of self-efficacy, “productive struggle,” and mastery experiences in predicting whether adolescents persist when faced with cognitive challenge—particularly in mathematics. This work continues to inform her teaching, leadership, and scholarship, and contributes meaningfully to the literature on motivation and learner variability.
A passionate advocate for evidence-informed practice, she works closely with teachers and leaders to improve instructional design, deepen conceptual understanding, and cultivate classroom cultures where thinking and perseverance are visible, valued, and nurtured.
Her recent work examines the profound impact of generative AI on student thinking, metacognition, and cognitive effort. In her TED Talk, she argues that while AI can dramatically enhance learning, it also risks reducing the very cognitive engagement students need to develop self-efficacy, resilience, and original thought. Her work calls for a reimagining of formal education that leverages AI as a catalyst for deeper thinking rather than a shortcut around it.
Pooneh’s current independent research explores teacher and lecturer attitudes toward AI in education, seeking to understand how educators navigate both the opportunities and risks of AI in their professional practice. Across all her work, she remains dedicated to one mission: helping students and educators become better thinkers, more adaptive learners, and individuals who can persevere, especially in the age of AI.
Research Statement – AI, Thinking, and Academic Perseverance
Project title: Survey of Teacher and Lecturer Attitudes Toward AI Use in Education
Overview
This research project investigates how teachers and university lecturers understand and experience the growing presence of generative AI in education. While much of the public conversation has focused on plagiarism and cheating, this study looks deeper: it explores how AI is shaping students’ willingness to think, their metacognition, and their academic perseverance.
Rationale
Previous work on academic perseverance has shown that students’ persistence in the face of challenge is closely linked to their academic self-efficacy and to the quality of their learning experiences. When students are allowed—and supported—to wrestle with challenging problems, they develop a sense of “I can do this,” which in turn predicts both academic achievement and longer-term outcomes.
Generative AI has introduced a powerful new dynamic. Students can now bypass the most cognitively demanding parts of learning by asking AI tools to generate solutions, explanations, or essays. Early evidence suggests this may reduce neural engagement and weaken recall, raising concerns about the development of self-efficacy, resilience, and deeper understanding.
Research Aims
This survey-based study aims to:
- Map current attitudes toward AI among school teachers and university lecturers.
- Understand how educators are currently using AI in their own professional practice.
- Explore educators’ perceptions of how AI is affecting students’ effort, engagement, and perseverance.
- Identify emerging practices that use AI to support, rather than replace, productive struggle and deep thinking.
- Inform the design of frameworks and professional development that help educators create classrooms where AI is used as a tool for thinking, reflection, and creativity—not simply as a shortcut.
Methodology
The study uses an anonymous online survey completed voluntarily by teachers and lecturers. The survey combines:
- Closed questions on AI usage, attitudes, and perceived risks and benefits.
- Likert-scale items related to academic perseverance, student effort, and observed changes since the introduction of AI tools.
- Open-ended questions inviting educators to describe specific classroom experiences, concerns, and promising strategies.
Intended Contribution
By centring educators’ voices, this research seeks to clarify how AI is reshaping everyday teaching and learning, particularly around effort, challenge, and motivation. The findings will contribute to:
- A more nuanced understanding of how AI affects students’ willingness to think and persevere.
- Practical guidance for schools and universities on using AI in ways that strengthen metacognition, self-efficacy, and long-term learning.
- The broader conversation about how we might reimagine formal education so that it nurtures “prompters who can think”—students who use AI wisely, but still do the hard work of learning.
Participant Information Sheet
Please read this information carefully before deciding whether to take part.
Researcher
Dr Pooneh Roney
Project: Survey of Teacher and Lecturer Attitudes Toward AI Use in Education
Email: por490@mail.harvard.edu
What is the purpose of this research?
This project seeks to understand the views of teachers and university lecturers on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in education. It explores:
- Attitudes toward AI in teaching and learning.
- Educators’ own use of AI tools.
- Perceptions of student use of AI.
- Perceived opportunities, risks, and impacts on student thinking and perseverance.
Why have I been invited?
You have been invited because you are a teacher or lecturer working in an educational setting. Your professional perspective is valuable to understanding how AI is being integrated into education.
Do I have to take part?
No. Participation is entirely voluntary. Choosing not to take part will have no negative consequences for you. You may exit the survey at any time before submission.
What will I be asked to do?
You will be asked to complete an online survey that should take approximately 5–10 minutes. You may skip any question you prefer not to answer. There is no follow-up or additional commitment.
Informed consent
Before starting the survey, you will see a brief consent statement summarising this information. By submitting the completed survey, you indicate that you:
- Have read and understood the information provided.
- Understand that participation is voluntary.
- Understand you may withdraw before submitting the survey.
- Agree that your anonymous responses may be used for research purposes (e.g. articles, presentations, reports).
Are there any risks or benefits?
This is a low-risk study. The main burden is the time taken to complete the survey. The topic concerns professional experiences and opinions rather than sensitive personal data. You may find it useful to reflect on your own practice and on how AI is affecting your students.
Privacy, anonymity, and data protection
- No personally identifiable information is collected.
- Optional demographic questions (e.g. role, sector) are designed so they cannot identify you or your institution.
- Data will be stored securely in encrypted, password-protected files and used solely for research purposes.
- Data will not be shared with employers, institutions, or third parties in any form that could identify you.
- Data will be retained only until the research is complete and then securely deleted.
Right to withdraw
Because the survey is anonymous, it is not possible to identify or remove your responses after submission. You may, however, withdraw at any time before submitting the form simply by closing your browser or leaving the survey.
Ethical approach
Although this is an independent project and not overseen by an institutional ethics committee, the study has been designed in line with UK research-ethics principles, including respect for persons, beneficence, non-maleficence, justice, transparency, and data protection compliance (UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018).
Contact
If you have any questions about the study, or wish to discuss your participation, please contact:
Dr Pooneh Roney
Email: por490@mail.harvard.edu
By proceeding to the survey and submitting your responses, you confirm that you have read this information and agree to take part.