In 1981, the German electronic band Kraftwerk released a song called Pocket Calculator.


At the time, affordable calculators were a recent phenomenon. Kraftwerk, as dyed-in-the-wool technophiles, were clearly pleased.


Many educators were pleased too. Young children often don’t enjoy learning arithmetic. Those educators thought that calculators could free them from having to learn it. Instead, they could learn to apply mathematics to real world problems. This, they thought, would be more motivating.


Other educators were less pleased. They were concerned that, if children came to rely on calculators, they would never learn basic numeracy. Some were also worried that students might use them to cheat in exams.


More than forty years later, educators are having what is essentially the same argument all over again. Except, this time, it’s about writing. Chat GPT and its large-language compatriots can write flawless, if often pedestrian, prose.


Like pocket calculators before them, AI has mesmerised fans of technology and stimulated an important debate in educational circles. Excitable futurists imagine freeing students from the drudgery of learning to write grammatically correct sentences. Conservatives worry about falling educational standards and cheating.


So, which side has it right?


In the four decades between the first mass produced calculators and the advent of generative AI, the science of learning has advanced greatly. It can now help us to resolve these debates.


When we first encounter new knowledge or start to learn a new skill, we hold it in a short-term memory system called working memory while we consciously manipulate it. Working memory has a very small capacity. When it gets overloaded, we feel confused.


To manage this problem of cognitive overload, we must learn in stages. Knowledge must be committed to long-term memory, which has a virtually infinite capacity. That frees up working memory to take in new learning, building on what has been stored in long-term memory.


Mathematics and writing are both cases in point. To learn algebra, the rules of arithmetic must be committed to long term memory. To write thoughtfully or creatively, basic writing skills must be similarly mastered.


Just because technology can do something as well as, or better than, human beings, does not necessarily mean that children no longer benefit from learning it. Skipping the basics can close the door to rich and interesting learning.


Sure, Kraftwerk used computers to help them make music. But they learned to play well first.