This will be the simplest hack you can possibly think of! The simplest ideas are often the best.

My starting point is that learning is a consequence of thinking. I am curious about how AI might help make students better thinkers. Most classes have behaviour management routines, so it makes sense to also develop routines around thinking, we can automate the approaches to thinking we would like to see more frequently. Many of you will be familiar with some of the thinking routines developed by Harvard’s Project Zero. Thinking routines are prompting tools, scaffolds for thinking, they are patterns of behaviour. They help nudge the model beyond teacher delivers, students receives.

Most teachers are familiar with the Think-Pair-Share approach, where students consider a question, discuss their answers with a classmate, and then share their thinking with the class. It helps to generate knowledge and to promote collaboration.

Credit to Sarah Dillard for this insight. One of the biggest tech-enabled leaps in pedagogy could simply be Think-Pair-ChatGPT-Pair-Share. ChatGPT adds an additional source of thought and perspective.

Take a thinking routine and add in generative AI as another step.

Here’s another one – Question Starts could become Prompt Starts

We know that when students ask more generative and constructive questions, and less procedural and review questions, learning improves. Prompt engineering for Generative AI can help us teach how to ask better questions and think more deeply. The better the prompt, the better the output.

Other tweaks to try might be adding an AI step into Give One, Get One or Plus One Notemaking.

Thinking routines are not static, they are designed to be adaptable.

Don’t reinvent the wheel, incorporate AI into existing teaching practice.

Teaching is a creative act.

I hope I have got you thinking.