Teaching students to think and learn through questions

OpenAI launched its free AI for Educators course in Brazilian Portuguese on OpenAI Academy, aimed at primary, secondary and higher-education teachers planning lessons, activities, assessments and communications. It also promoted Study Mode in ChatGPT, which guides students step by step with questions, hints and checks for understanding, and which OpenAI says was developed with teachers and pedagogy experts.

The post suggests classroom uses where students explore a topic with Study Mode and then write their own explanation without looking back at the chat.

We like the instinct here. The worry about AI in school has always been that it does the thinking for the student. A mode built around asking one question at a time is the right counter-design, and the suggested classroom routine — explore, then explain it yourself, unaided — is good teaching.

Localizing the educator course for Brazil is also meaningful. Teacher training in the local language is where adoption actually happens.

The caveat is that Study Mode is a choice, not a default. The same app answers directly one menu away. Whether this helps learning depends on teachers structuring its use, which is extra work for people who already have too much.

I'm watching for evidence — not campaign videos — that students using guided modes learn more than those who don't.