Techniques & Prompt Starters
This guide provides practical examples for teachers and students, aligned with our three-part AI framework. Use these prompt starters to engage with AI tools responsibly and effectively.
Click each section below to expand techniques and prompt starters
🎯 Goal:
To use AI as a tool to deepen thinking, understand new concepts, and plan work. The student does all the final cognitive work.
💡 General Technique:
Use prompts that force the AI to ask you questions, not give you answers. This keeps you in the driver's seat.
Brainstorming & Socratic Partner
Technique: Command the AI to only ask you questions.
📝 Prompt Starters:
Tutor & Study Guide
Technique: Ask the AI to explain, rephrase, or create practice tools. You are not asking it to do an assignment, but to help you understand the material for the assignment.
📝 Prompt Starters:
Organizer & Strategist
Technique: Use the AI to create structure, but not content. This helps overcome the "blank page" problem without sacrificing originality.
📝 Prompt Starters:
Metacognitive Partner
Technique: After completing a draft or a problem, ask the AI to help you review your process.
📝 Prompt Starters:
🎯 Goal:
To receive feedback on work you've already created. AI evaluates, critiques, and suggests, but does not do the work for you.
💡 General Technique:
Paste your work and ask targeted questions. You remain responsible for deciding whether to accept or reject the feedback.
⚠️ Important:
Remember: AI can be wrong. Always verify feedback with your teacher or textbook.
Process Review (Not Correction)
Technique: Show your work and ask if you're on the right track.
📝 Prompt Starters:
Suggestions for Strengthening
Technique: Ask AI to suggest improvements, not make them for you.
📝 Prompt Starters:
Reflecting on Learning Strategies
Technique: Ask AI to help you think about how you're learning.
📝 Prompt Starters:
⚠️ Warning:
These tools ask AI to do cognitive work for you. They are only permitted when your teacher explicitly allows them AND when the learning goal is shifted.
💡 When Teachers Permit These:
The goal is not to let you skip work, but to offload one skill so you can focus deeply on another. For example: AI writes a draft so you can practice revision, or AI translates so you can practice error correction.
Teacher's Goal:
Offload drafting to focus on revision.
📝 Prompt Example:
"Write a rough first draft on [topic]."
Teacher's Goal:
Offload summarizing to focus on synthesis.
📝 Prompt Examples:
Teacher's Goal:
Offload error identification to focus on analysis of why it was an error.
📝 Prompt Examples:
Teacher's Goal:
Offload data collection to focus on data analysis.
📝 Prompt Examples:
Teacher's Goal:
Offload simple brainstorming to focus on evaluating and selecting the best idea.
📝 Prompt Example:
"Give me 10 specific essay topics for my assignment on [book]."