Class 04 — AI as Tutor: Learn It, Then Explain It Without AI

Date: TODO · Slides: TODO

Objectives

• Use AI to learn a new concept and to build a study guide.
• Recognize when AI is helping versus replacing thought.
• Prove the learning happened without AI still open.

Agenda (60 min)

Time	Block
0–5	Warm-up: AI-weirdness shares.
5–15	Mini-lesson: tutoring patterns — “quiz me on…”, “explain X like I’m 12, then like a textbook, then find the gap between my two explanations”, “make a study guide for my Tuesday test”. Ask AI for questions before answers.
15–35	Core activity: each student picks a concept from another class they’re struggling with. Learn it with AI (prompt, iterate, ask for practice questions). Then close the tab and write the explanation by hand.
35–45	Partner grading: swap handwritten explanations; grade against the AI’s version. Where did the student actually learn?
45–55	Compare modes: doing a task alone vs. with AI vs. copying the AI answer. When did each produce learning vs. the appearance of learning?
55–60	Exit ticket: one study task this week you’ll do with AI, one you’ll do without — and why.

Key terms

• Desirable difficulty — the struggle IS the learning; AI can remove it.
• Retrieval practice — recalling without notes; why the closed-tab step matters.
• Study-guide prompting — asking for structure, not answers.

Seven-Question connection

Q3 (support, not replace) — this class exists to make Question 3 physical: the closed-tab explanation is how a student knows they can answer YES.

Homework / log entry

Use the tutor pattern for a real test this week. Log the prompts AND a photo of the handwritten explanation.

Teacher notes

• The “learn it then explain it without AI” activity is the pedagogical spine of the course — protect it from any schedule cuts.
• Coding and language-learning use cases are cut from the original module; if a student raises them, promise them for project week (Class 10 options).