One-on-one and small-group sessions with a current Lower Mainland university professor, in scientific reasoning, critical thinking, numeracy and writing. One clear rule about AI: it can help you think, but it cannot think for you.
Grades can rise while thinking weakens. These are the three gaps we see most often.
AI writes the essay, solves the problem set, summarizes the reading. The student submits the output and never builds the skill.
What we doTeach when a tool helps and when it hollows out learning, then practise the work without it.
Every source sounds confident. Students struggle to separate evidence from opinion, or a real finding from a misleading statistic.
What we doSource checking, bias spotting and basic statistics, practised on real articles and studies.
Students can recite facts for a test but cannot say how anyone knows them, or what would change the conclusion.
What we doRead actual research together: the method, the sample, the controls and the limits.
Better grades follow. They are a side effect, not the goal.
See the statistics and trendsCanadian students are losing ground in reading and math, and AI arrived in their schoolwork faster than anyone taught them how to use it.
As a current university professor in the Lower Mainland with nearly twenty years in the classroom, Michael has watched these trends arrive in his own courses: more students who struggle with long readings, who are less confident with numbers, and who turn to AI before they have tried the problem themselves. The national data below confirms what he and his colleagues see first-hand.
More about MichaelPISA tests 15-year-olds in over 80 countries every few years. Canada's 2025 results were its lowest ever.
points in math since 2003. The OECD treats about 20 points as one year of school, so that is more than two years of learning.
points in reading since 2003, with the steepest drop after 2018.
Canada still ranks near the top in reading (11th in math) because most other countries are falling too.
KPMG Canada surveyed students and educators across high schools, colleges and universities in summer 2026.
of Canadian students use generative AI for schoolwork
use it at least a few times a week
say their own critical thinking has declined since they started
believe classmates use AI to avoid thinking altogether
of educators warn that without guidance students will form habits that hurt their learning
of students also say AI helps them understand material. The tool is not the problem; how it is used is.
Two widely cited 2025 studies point the same way. Both are early, and neither proves cause, but the pattern matches what teachers report.
Michael Gerlich found a strong negative link between frequent AI use and critical thinking, largely explained by offloading mental work to the tool. People aged 17 to 25 used AI most, offloaded most and scored lowest. More education was protective.
Correlation only: weaker thinkers may also lean on AI more.
Participants wrote essays with ChatGPT, with a search engine, or unaided while their brain activity was recorded. The ChatGPT group showed the weakest connectivity, and the difference lingered when they later wrote without it. Teachers grading blind found the AI-assisted essays more uniform.
Small, not yet peer reviewed, and limited to writing.
In the OECD's 2022-23 adult skills survey, about one in five Canadian adults read at Level 1 or below. Canada beat the OECD average of 27%, and adult scores held steady while teen scores fell.
Military test data on about 730,000 men show IQ rose for decades, then fell for those born from the mid-1970s. Comparing brothers showed the cause is environmental, not genetic.
The OECD links falling teen reading to less reading for pleasure, more skimming, and constant device distraction. None of these causes is proven, and all are changeable.
The trends are national and international, but the fix is individual. Reasoning, careful reading and numeracy are skills, and skills respond to deliberate practice. That practice is exactly what our sessions provide, with AI used as a tool the student controls.
Every session is taught by Dr. Michael Kiraly, a current university professor in the Lower Mainland.
Michael is a practising university professor in the Lower Mainland, where he teaches anatomy, physiology, neuroscience, nutrition and health sciences at two universities. He has been in university classrooms for nearly twenty years. His students arrive with very different levels of preparation, and much of his career has been spent finding out why some of them learn to think independently and others do not.
He earned his PhD in Physiology at the University of Toronto's Faculty of Medicine and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Seattle. His understanding of how the brain learns, consolidates and retrieves information shapes every part of how West Coast Critical Minds teaches.
He still teaches every week, so the trends on The Problem page are not abstract to him. He sees them in his own lecture halls and labs, in students who are capable but less practised at sustained reading, at working through numbers, and at drafting their own arguments without reaching for AI. He founded West Coast Critical Minds to give students the practice their classes no longer guarantee.
Education is about developing the capacity to think. In a world full of information, the ability to analyze, question and reason on your own is worth more than any collection of facts.
The goal isn't to know all the answers. It's to know how to ask better questions and evaluate the answers you find.
Our role is not to give students the right answers. It is to help them become people who can find those answers, test them, and use them well.
Why the company exists and the principles behind every session.
To give students the critical thinking skills and scientific literacy to navigate complexity, question assumptions and think for themselves, keeping their minds strong in an age of AI and information overload.
Information is abundant and judgment is scarce. AI can produce an essay in seconds, but it cannot build a student's ability to think. Facts are instant; the skill to weigh them takes years of deliberate practice.
West Coast Critical Minds exists to develop capabilities rather than deliver content, to teach how to think rather than what to think, and to build real understanding rather than test performance.
Every student should leave with better grades and, more importantly, a mind ready for problems that do not exist yet, using tools that have not been invented.
Truth matters more than comfort. We never pretend science has every answer or flatten complexity into false certainty.
Easy answers are rarely right. Students learn to question assumptions and build arguments that survive scrutiny.
Every concept connects to real debates, current events or personal decisions.
We guide; students lead. They pursue their own questions and own their learning.
Teaching follows research in learning science and cognitive psychology, not habit or intuition.
AI is a tool. Students learn to use it while keeping, and strengthening, their own abilities.
We guide you toward answers. Struggle is part of learning, and we support you through it without taking it away.
Too easy breeds complacency, too hard breeds frustration. We aim for stretched but never overwhelmed.
Some students need confidence, others need structure, others need freedom. We start where you are.
You will see our reasoning, our uncertainty and how we work through hard questions.
Evidence-based methods grounded in neuroscience and cognitive psychology.
Not only grades. We look at how they read, reason through a problem and respond to being wrong, so we can build on how their mind already works.
Can they evaluate a claim? Spot a flawed argument? Write a paragraph that holds up? We define targets we can measure.
Scientific reasoning, quantitative literacy, close reading and structured argument, practised on real-world material.
The student's own assignments become the training ground. We work the process together; we do not hand over answers.
Sessions taper as the student catches their own errors and tackles unfamiliar problems without prompting. Success is noticing they have been working independently for weeks.
Homework help, re-explaining the lesson, getting through the next test, improving one grade.
Thinking skills that carry across subjects and outlast school. School gets easier as a side effect because the student gets stronger.
Flexible formats built to develop real intellectual capability.
Fully personalized skill development built around the student's needs, learning style and goals.
Best for: students who need intensive support or have a specific goal.
See ratesTwo to four matched students solving problems together, debating and reviewing each other's work.
Best for: friends, siblings or classmates who learn well with peers.
See ratesFocused, project-based programs of 4 to 12 weeks, or 3 to 5 day bootcamps during school breaks.
Best for: students preparing for a big step or wanting rapid progress.
Ask about datesOn Bowen Island, BC, a short ferry from Horseshoe Bay.
Live video with a shared whiteboard, from anywhere.
Mix both around school and family schedules.
Why school alone is not preparing students for the world they are entering.
ProblemStudents use chatbots to write essays and solve problems. The tool does the thinking and the skill withers.
Our responseStrategic AI use: when it helps, when it harms, and how to keep your own abilities growing while using it.
ProblemEvery source claims authority and misinformation travels as fast as truth.
Our responseSource evaluation, bias detection and spotting statistical manipulation. These are learnable skills.
ProblemStudents memorize facts but cannot judge a claim, find a flaw in a method or say what evidence means.
Our responseHow studies work, what makes evidence strong or weak, and why uncertainty matters.
ProblemSchools reward test performance. Problem-solving and analysis do not show up on bubble sheets.
Our responseTransferable skills that lift test scores as a by-product and last long after school.
ProblemLectures, notes and memorization create the feeling of learning without the substance.
Our responseActive work: students ask questions, test ideas and defend positions.
Problem"When will I use this?" goes unanswered and motivation fades.
Our responseEvery concept tied to current events, real debates, decisions and careers.
A generation has more information and computing power than any before it, and less practice thinking independently. Students who build real thinking skills will have a large advantage. Those who do not risk being easy to replace.
The future labour market will reward people who think critically, adapt and solve new problems.
Evaluate arguments, detect fallacies, weigh evidence. Never obsolete.
How knowledge is made, how to read research, how to think about uncertainty.
Using numbers to think: statistics, data, and spotting misused math.
Learn quickly, transfer skills across fields, adjust to change.
Thinking about your own thinking: catch biases and know when to change course.
Evaluate sources, detect manipulation, resist misinformation.
Know when to use AI, when not to, and how to stay sharp while using it.
Explain complex ideas plainly and build arguments that persuade.
It does not replace independent judgment, creative problem-solving or knowing which question to ask.
The scarce resource is the ability to evaluate it, combine it and apply it well.
Students who learn continuously and adapt will do well wherever the market moves.
Every student starts with a no-cost 30-minute consult with the student and, for teens, a parent.
| Service | Length | Price | Per hour |
|---|---|---|---|
| Consultation | 30 min | Free | n/a |
| One-on-one | 60 min | $120 | $120 |
| 10-session package | 10 × 60 min | $1,080 | $108 |
| 20-session package | 20 × 60 min | $2,040 | $102 |
| Small group, per student | 90 min | $90 | $60 |
| Intensive program | 4 to 12 weeks | Quoted | Package rate |
Mostly grades 8 to 12 and first- and second-year university students. Adult learners returning to school are welcome too.
Yes. Sciences, math and essay-based courses are all common. We use the student's own coursework, but the student does the work.
No. Students learn where AI is useful, such as quizzing themselves or checking a draft, and where it replaces the thinking they need to practise.
Not directly. We build the reasoning and reading skills that make tests easier, and we can apply them to an upcoming exam when needed.
Most families notice changes in how a student approaches homework within four to six sessions. Grades usually follow over a term.
Short notes after each session, and written progress reports at set points in packages. Parents can book a check-in any time.
No. Most sessions run online. In-person sessions on Bowen Island are available for local students or anyone who prefers them.
Yes. On iPhone, tap Share then Add to Home Screen. On Android, tap the menu then Install app. It opens like an app, without the browser bar.
Tell us a little about the student and we will reply within one business day with times that work.
Email your request.
Free 30-minute consult by video or phone.
We agree goals and book the first session.
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