Integrating Kalama Sutta, Critical Thinking, and Learning by Reflective Thinking: A Conceptual Framework for AI Literacy in Education with Critical Judgment of LLMs

Authors

  • Wanrat Swakhompanti Independent Scholar

Keywords:

Critical Thinking, Digital Literacy, Kalama Sutta, Large Language Models (LLMs), Reflective Learning

Abstract

This academic article presents a conceptual framework for critical literacy of Large Language Models (LLMs) in the context of education. A review of research, literature, and international reports indicates that LLMs play a significant role in learning, access to knowledge, and the creation of personalized learning effectively. However, their use still faces challenges such as bias, lack of transparency, and the risk of believing information without verification. To promote critical use of LLMs, this article integrates three essential concepts: the Kalama Sutta, which emphasizes not believing without reason; critical thinking, as a core skill in analyzing and evaluating information; and reflective Learning, which emphasizes reviewing and developing from direct experience. These have led to the proposed framework of “Critical Literacy of LLMs,” consisting of three steps: (1) Filtering Belief (2) Analyzing and Evaluating (3) Reflecting and Developing This new body of knowledge is not intended to limit the potential of LLMs but supports their use as “educational tools” aligned with social values, enhancing human capacity in a holistic manner, and contributing to the development of education to be responsive to the age of artificial intelligence.

References

Crawford, K. (2021). Atlas of AI: Power, politics, and the planetary costs of artificial intelligence. Yale University Press.

Dewey, J. (1938). Experience and Education. New York: Macmillan Company.

Dwyer, C. P. (2017). Critical thinking: Conceptual perspectives and practical guidelines. Cambridge University Press.

Evans, S. A. (2007). Doubting the Kalama-Sutta: Epistemology, ethics, and the ‘sacred’. Buddhist Studies Review, 24(1), 91–107. https://doi.org/10.1558/bsrv.v24i1.91

Facione, P. A. (1990). Critical thinking: A statement of expert consensus for purposes of educational assessment and instruction (The Delphi Report). The California Academic Press.

Gallegos, I. O., Rossi, R. A., Barrow, J., Tanjim, M. M., Kim, S., Dernoncourt, F., Yu, T., Zhang, R., & Ahmed, N. K. (2024). Bias and fairness in large language models: A survey. Computational Linguistics, 50(3), 1097–1179. https://doi.org/10.1162/coli_a_00524

Gibbs, G. (1988). Learning by doing: A guide to teaching and learning methods. Oxford Brookes University.

Mingsiritham, K. (2023). ChatGPT and education in the digital age. Silpakorn Educational Research Journal, 15(2), 1–10. https://so05.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/suedureasearchjournal/article/view/269776 (In Thai)

Kasneci, E., Sessler, K., Küchemann, S., Bannert, M., Dementieva, D., Fischer, F., Gasser, U., Groh, G., Günnemann, S., Hüllermeier, E., Krusche, S., Kutyniok, G., Michaeli, T., Nerdel, C., Pfeffer, J., Poquet, O., Sailer, M., Schmidt, A., Seidel, T., . . . Kasneci, G. (2023). ChatGPT for good? On opportunities and challenges of large language models for education. Learning and Individual Differences, 103, Article 102274. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2023.102274

Krupp, L., Steinert, S., Kiefer-Emmanouilidis, M., Avila, K. E., Lukowicz, P., Kuhn, J., Küchemann, S., & Karolus, J. (2023). Unreflected acceptance – Investigating the negative consequences of ChatGPT-assisted problem solving in physics education. In L. Fabian, T. Jason, D. L. Adam, D. Frank, M. Pradeep, T. Andreas, & Y. Pınar (Eds.), HHAI 2024: Hybrid Human AI Systems for the Social Good (pp. 199–212). IOS Press. https://doi.org/10.3233/FAIA240195

Lo, C. K. (2023). What is the impact of ChatGPT on education? A rapid review of the literature. Education Sciences, 13(4), Article 410. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13040410

McKinsey Global Institute. (2023). Generative AI and the future of work in America. McKinsey & Company. https://www.mckinsey.com/mgi/our-research/generative-ai-and-the-future-of-work-in-america

Moon, J. A. (2004). A handbook of reflective and experiential learning: Theory and practice. Routledge.

Narakeree, K. (2018). Thai Tipitaka: Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University edition. https://www.thepathofpurity.com/app/download/8912278386/TriMCU_20.pdf (In Thai)

OpenAI. (2025). GPT-5 system card. https://cdn.openai.com/gpt-5-system-card.pdf

Phra Brahmagunabhorn (P. A. Payutto). (2013). Buddhadhamma: Revised and expanded edition (32nd ed.). Phlittham Publishing. (In Thai)

Ratniyom, J., & Srisamarng, A. (2025). The application of ChatGPT in problem-based learning management on the topic of work and energy. Journal of Technical and Engineering Education, 16(1), 99–109. https://doi.org/10.14416/j.ftee.2025.04.08

Sharples, M. (2024). Generative AI and education: Issues and opportunities. Institute of Educational Technology, The Open University. https://www.education.ox.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/GenAI-and-Education-University-of-Oxford.pdf

Trikoili, A., Georgiou, D., Pappa, C. I., & Pittich, D. (2025). Critical thinking assessment in higher education: A mixed-methods comparative analysis of AI and human evaluator. International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction, 41(24), 15570–15583. https://doi.org/10.1080/10447318.2025.2499164

UNESCO. (2022). Reimagining our futures together: A new social contract for education. UNESCO Publishing. https://doi.org/10.54675/ASRB4722

Vaswani, A., Shazeer, N., Parmar, N., Uszkoreit, J., Jones, L., Gomez, A. N., Kaiser, L., & Polosukhin, I. (2017). Attention is all you need. In Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems 30 (pp. 5998–6008). Neural Information Processing Systems Foundation. https://papers.neurips.cc/paper/7181-attention-is-all-you-need.pdf

Zhai, X. (2023). ChatGPT for next generation science learning. XRDS: Crossroads, The ACM Magazine for Students, 29(3), 42–46. https://doi.org/10.1145/3589649

Zhou, J., Zhang, Y., Luo, Q., Parker, A. G., & De Choudhury, M. (2023). Synthetic lies: Understanding AI-generated misinformation and evaluating algorithmic and human solutions. Proceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1145/3544548.3581318

Downloads

Published

2026-06-24

How to Cite

Swakhompanti, W. (2026). Integrating Kalama Sutta, Critical Thinking, and Learning by Reflective Thinking: A Conceptual Framework for AI Literacy in Education with Critical Judgment of LLMs. Suan Sunandha Asian Social Science, 20(1), 120–134. retrieved from https://so05.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/ssajournal/article/view/285989

Issue

Section

Academic Articles