Try it now
Three rounds, in pairs. Use the Claude or Gemini app; the free version is fine. No app? Open claude.ai or gemini.google.com in your browser.
The page
This is your ground truth. In Round 1 you photograph it: use the printed seat card, or take a screenshot of the passage below. The seat card as a PDF.
Chapter 6 · The Kandyan Kingdom · 6.3 Why the kingdom lasted so long · p.50
The Kandyan Kingdom kept its independence for more than two centuries after the coastal areas came under European control. Three things helped it survive.
First, the land. The kingdom lay in the central hills. Thick forests covered the slopes, and the monsoon rains turned paths into mud for months at a time. An army marching from the coast had to climb, cut its way through, and wait for the weather.
Second, the roads. There were none that a large army could use. Soldiers carried their own food and supplies on their backs, so every column moved slowly and could not stay in the hills for long.
Third, the way the Kandyans fought. They rarely met an invading army in open battle. Instead they let it advance, then attacked its supply lines and struck the tired columns as they retreated. Several invasions reached the city of Kandy and still failed.
The kingdom came to an end in 1815, when the British and the Kandyan chiefs signed an agreement.
Think about it: which of the three reasons mattered most? Why?
Original passage written for this session in the style of a Grade 7 textbook. Not from any published book.
1 Photograph the page. Get a worksheet.
At 9:05 on Ms Perera's day.
- Open your app. Tap + or the camera.
- Photograph the page on your seat card.
- Paste this, then send:
From this page only, write a 6-question worksheet for Grade 7 with the answers. Q1–3 basic, Q4–5 harder, Q6 a challenge. Give a page reference for every answer.
When the worksheet appears, send one more line:
Make a version for a student who finds reading difficult. Keep the same learning goal.
Then check, with your neighbour. Everyone photographed the same page.
- Compare your Q3 with theirs. Same page, different worksheet.
- Did it add a name or a date that is not on the page? Circle it.
- Look at the second version. What improved? What was lost?
2 Same tool, different instruction
In Part 2. One of you is the student; one watches. Get the first question wrong on purpose.
I am a Grade 8 student. Do not give me the answer. Ask me questions, one at a time, until I can explain whether heavier things fall faster.
After a few questions, in the same chat, send:
Just tell me the answer.
Did it hold, or give in? Either way, that is the lesson.
3 Test your task before they do
Write one homework task you set last week in the Round 3 space on your card. Photograph your handwriting, then paste. Not to catch anyone: to see what the finished work still tells you.
Do this homework the way a good student in that grade would. The task is in the photo.
Then ask yourself two things.
- What learning did I want to see?
- What else would show me it? A conversation, a first draft, a question in class.
If the finished work no longer shows the learning, change the task: no AI, AI-assisted, or AI-required. Say which, before they start.
Should students use AI?
Yes, to help them think.
No, to think for them.
Not a ban: it stops at the school gate, and children with help at home pull further ahead. Not a free-for-all: in one study, students who practised with a chatbot that gave answers did 17% worse in the test without it than students who never had it; those with a chatbot built to give hints did no worse.
Based on UNESCO's Guidance for generative AI in education and research (2023), which sets an age limit of 13 for AI tools in the classroom and puts human agency first, and UNESCO's AI competency framework for students (2024). Study: Bastani et al., PNAS, 2025.
The five-part brief
A bad brief gets a generic answer. Every prompt on this page has these five parts.
After every answer, ask: can I improve the brief now that I have seen it? A second try is normal.
Self-check: twelve habits
Private. For you only, not a test. Tick what is true today. Save it, and look again in four weeks. It stays on this phone.
This week
Start with one familiar task. Fill in once and the ten prompts below fill themselves in. Always: nothing identifying, read it before you use it, change at least one thing.
For your students
For students 13 and over. Copy it into the front of the exercise book, the class group, or the wall.
- Brain first, bot second. Ten minutes alone with the problem before you open anything.
- Hints, not answers. Start every chat with the coach line below.
- Explain it back. Tool closed. If you can't explain it, you haven't got it yet.
- Say when AI helped. A habit, not a confession.
The coach line
I am a student. Do not give me the answer. Give me one hint at a time, and ask me a question after each hint, until I can explain it myself.