AI Can Write an Essay — But It Cannot Think Like This

Inside the 30 Year Secret to Teaching Bright Kids the Human Skills Machines Will Never Replace

Brain Power’s refreshed Language Arts curriculum captures thousands of pages of proven pedagogy for bright and talented learners, now scaled through a growing network of PhD and elite faculty

TORONTO, Aug. 12, 2025 /CNW/ – For more than three decades, Brain Power Enrichment Programs has prepared some of Canada’s most accomplished leaders, innovators, and thinkers. The organization has now completed the full documentation of its research backed methods, developed and refined over 30 years, that make its Language Arts program uniquely effective for bright and talented learners.

This documented pedagogy has been transformed into refreshed materials that go even further in building essential skills in critical thinking, creativity, and advanced communication. These resources are now in the hands of a growing roster of PhD level and elite instructors, ensuring that every student at every Brain Power campus and in its Virtual Campus experiences the same level of excellence.

Research from the National Association for Gifted Children shows that advanced learners disengage when confined to repetition, low-level drills, or shallow comprehension tasks. They need challenges, complexity, and cross-disciplinary integration to stay motivated and grow. Brain Power’s lessons deliver exactly that, combining rigorous literacy instruction with reasoning, invention, and creative expression in ways unmatched by conventional programs.

“While other programs seat students in front of screens to select machine generated answers, our classrooms are alive with Socratic dialogue, inventive problem solving, and creative synthesis,” said Vanessa Iarocci, CEO at Brain Power. “By documenting our approach, we have ensured that the same spark which shaped our alumni is now consistently delivered to every student by every teacher in every classroom.”

“We are now attracting top educators worldwide, including Ivy League graduates, who recognize this as something rare, a fully integrated enrichment program that builds creativity, critical thinking, and communication common in bright learners,” added Dr. Jenn Chenkin, Faculty Director.

Where Language Trains Original Thought

Brain Power’s Language Arts program goes beyond the programs that pepper schools today, which often focus on isolated skills, speed, or surface-level engagement. It is designed to develop the human capacities most valued in the AI era: creative and innovative thinking, critical thinking, complex problem solving, emotional intelligence, and cross-disciplinary synthesis.

Even the youngest students build skill sets such as:

• Critical thinking and innovative problem solving — developed by dissecting the chain of cause and effect in a story, then redesigning the plot so that a single change transforms the entire outcome.
  
  
  
  
• Emotional intelligence and strategic communication — built by analyzing how pacing, vocabulary, and sentence structure create tension, then reconstructing the passage to evoke a completely different emotional response.
  
  
  
  
• Cross-disciplinary synthesis and creative expression — strengthened by integrating accurate scientific or historical knowledge, such as the mechanics of hot-air balloons or the origins of camouflage, into an original narrative.

In upper grades, these skills are applied to even more advanced work — reframing historical speeches to construct new arguments, synthesizing literary and philosophical insights into original theses, and unpacking moral dilemmas from multiple perspectives. In every case, students actively transform information into original, well-reasoned arguments.

Why It Matters Now

Ontario’s Grade 3 reading proficiency has dropped from 74 percent to 53 percent in the past decade. Globally, 15 year olds now lag nearly a full school year behind their 2018 peers. Creativity scores, measured by the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking, have been in steady decline since the 1990s.

These declines are concerning for every student. However, they represent a particular loss for bright learners whose advanced potential is too often underused in classrooms. With the right challenges, these students are uniquely capable of excelling in the skills that will define human achievement in the decades ahead, including deep comprehension, original synthesis, inventive problem solving, and nuanced communication. The demand for these capacities has never been greater in a world transformed by AI.

As AI takes over routine writing, reporting, and analysis, it is these human abilities that will shape the innovators, leaders, and creators of tomorrow. 

Parent Perspective

“Brain Power is not just teaching my children to read and write. It is teaching them to think in ways that prepare them for an AI future. They question assumptions, connect ideas across history, science, and literature. That is the kind of adaptability I want for the world they are growing up in. Best of all, they love the program!” – Nan Yang

Proven Results, Scaled for a New Era

Brain Power alumni have gone on to Harvard, Princeton, MIT, and Canada’s top universities before taking leadership roles at Netflix, Amazon, global law firms, research labs, and entrepreneurial ventures. They excel in measurable ways too, earning higher grades, scoring at the top on standardized tests, and developing exceptional confidence in their abilities.

“Brain Power taught me how to think outside the box and shaped me into the curious, critical thinker I am today,” said Jessica Peter, University of Waterloo Computer Science graduate and Netflix software engineer.

“Brain Power taught me how to think authentically and find my voice,” said Sandro Colacito, incoming Harvard University student.

“I have never seen another school so effective at teaching bright students,” said Dr. Ilia Sucholutsky, Post doctoral Fellow at Princeton University.

Brain Power at a Glance

Years in operation: 30+

Grades served: 1 to 12

Campuses: 10 across Canada plus Virtual Campus serving students worldwide

Faculty: PhD level and expert instructors from top universities

Alumni outcomes: Graduates at Ivy League, top Canadian universities, and global leadership roles

Programs Offered: Math and Problem-Solving, Language Arts, Public Speaking, Admission Support, Summer Workshops

The Language Arts refresh follows the 2024 documentation of Brain Power’s Mathematics and Problem Solving program and is part of a multi year initiative to preserve and extend its pedagogy across all grades. This work meets unprecedented demand from families and educators seeking human centered learning in an AI transformed world.

About Brain Power Enrichment Programs

For more than 30 years, Brain Power Enrichment Programs has been Canada’s premier intellectual enrichment academy, serving bright students in Grades 1 to 12. With 10 campuses across Canada and a Virtual Campus serving students worldwide, Brain Power delivers advanced curricula taught by PhD level faculty from world class universities. Its programs develop the critical thinking, problem solving, creativity, and communication skills that prepare students for top universities and future leadership roles.

Website: www.brainpower.ca

SOURCE Brain Power Enrichment Programs