AI at school vs. AI at home · Code with Martin

Two pitches, two rules

At home you may try analogies for fractions with a parent. At school the same chatbot on a phone can mean cheating, disruption, or a break of school rules. It is not split personality. It is like a bike: in the woods yes, in the school corridor no. A teacher in a lesson sees whether you are learning, or whether someone is whispering answers into your ear. A parent at home sees time and the account. You stand between that. The rule is simple: before you open a chatbot at school, you ask if this lesson allows it. Before you open a chatbot for homework “for tomorrow”, you ask if the teacher wants your head, or allowed help with an outline. “Everyone does it” is not permission. Permission is a sentence from the person who set the task.

Adam in geography types under the desk into Gemini “the capital of Australia”. Ema pokes his elbow: “This is a test now.” Adam rolls his eyes that he is “just checking”. The teacher sees it. Phone on the desk. Adam has a zero and a resit. That same evening at home a parent opens the chatbot and says: “Ask for three questions about Australia, open the map in the atlas.” Adam gets the difference. At school it was hide-and-seek. At home it is training. Ema writes two columns in the diary: SCHOOL — ask the teacher. HOME — ask a parent and do not cross the brief. Same tool. Different pitch.

💡

Before you click at school, put a hand up. One question to the teacher saves embarrassment and a zero.

Who is the referee on which pitch

At school the referee is the teacher and the school rules. Some schools ban the chatbot completely. Some allow it for an outline, ban it for a test. Some have their own school tool. You do not guess. You ask. At home the referee is a parent: time, account, what you may try. Even a parent cannot allow cheating into school. When the teacher said “write it yourself”, a home chatbot for the whole text is still cheating. Help with revision questions can be fine when the brief does not rule it out. A grey zone is solved with a question, not a shortcut. When you are in the Guard level, you will write a class code. Today two columns and the habit of asking before you open the window are enough.

Two columns in the notebook. Fill them in your own writing.

School

Test, exam, dictation: chatbot closed. Phone in the bag.
Lesson: only when the teacher says the tool is allowed.
Homework: read the brief. When it wants “in your own words”, AI is not the author.
School account ≠ a home game. Do not mix them.

Home

Time a parent allowed.
A parent’s account.
Training questions, an analogy, an outline — according to the brief from school.
When you are not sure, write to the teacher or ask tomorrow. Do not play solicitor on your own.

Example: “Write five sentences about photosynthesis.” At home you may ask for three questions and then write yourself. That is not the same as “generate five sentences and hand them in”.

⚠️

Under the desk in a test is not “checking”. It is cheating, even if you “only” check one capital city.

Why this right now

You are in the course Ask with Martin, level Prep. You work in a chatbot (ChatGPT, Gemini or Claude) — same game, different brand. No code. A parent or the school creates the account. A child’s email does not belong here.

This is not the Inventor level. There you build a chatbot on your own website. Here you are a user: a question, a check, a citation.

You will know this lesson by one sentence: At school the teacher decides, at home a parent — “everyone does it” is not permission. When you can say it to a parent or a teacher, you have got the core. The rest is practice, not magic.

Without two pitches you will drag home-table rules into the desk. Then a conflict comes that looks like “AI is evil”. It is not. The pitch is wrong. You need this lesson before you start hallucinations and citations — so you know where you may even ask.

Four things you will build in this course

The course has four small projects. You do not have to do them all at once. Today you add only what this lesson can do.

🏫 A report with citations

An outline, three sources that exist, and a sentence in your own words. AI must not be the only author.

Report: first find out if the teacher allowed AI for an outline. Only then the chat.

📝 Test training

Coach role: let it ask, do not let it say the answer. You count / answer yourself.

Test training is a home pitch. It does not go into the test.

📅 Family planner

Tasks for the week (not passwords, not marks). A parent sees the plan, not your chat.

A planner is a home list. You do not take a screenshot of a chat with classmates’ tasks to school.

📜 An AI code for the class

Seven short rules on a poster. No horror — a how-to.

The class code later will firm up these two columns. Today a notebook is enough.

Workshop: two columns and one question for the teacher

We do not chat about school until you have two pitches on paper. Then you write one sentence you will ask the teacher.

Split a notebook page into two columns: SCHOOL and HOME. Into each write three rules from this lesson in your own words. Do not copy the paragraph. Three short sentences are enough.
Find in the pencil case or in the school portal (with a parent) one concrete task for this week. Read the brief out loud. Sort it: may a home outline from AI go with it, or does the teacher want only your head?
When you are not sure, write on paper a question for the teacher: “For task X may I use a chatbot for an outline, if I write the text myself?” Really use this sentence — by email through a parent, or tomorrow at school. Do not argue with the model about school rules.
At home, not in a test, open a chatbot and ask for three revision questions on work you have already covered. Ban: “write me the answers for tomorrow’s test”. If the model starts dumping them, stop it with another sentence.
Close the chat. In the HOME column add what you tried today. In the SCHOOL column add that in a test the box is empty. Done.

Practice: pitch, or foul

Three situations. Write SCHOOL OK / HOME OK / FOUL. One sentence of reason.

A history test, phone under the desk, prompt “the year 1415”. Foul or ok?
Sunday, a parent at the table, prompt “three questions about the Hussites, not a lecture”. Foul or ok?
The teacher banned AI for a composition, at home you let it generate the whole text and “just edit it”. Foul or ok?

Now you 💪

Go through three checks. At each one tick in your head: can I see it, or not?

You have two columns in the notebook with your own rules.
You know that home permission does not cancel a school ban.
You have one sentence ready to ask the teacher about a concrete task.

If something is missing, go back to the steps above. This is not a test for marks. It is a safety net, so you go on sure, not confused.

✅

Check: Two pitches are on paper and you know who is the referee on which one.

What to take from this lesson

School: teacher and rules. Home: parent and time. Cheating counts on both.
“Everyone does it” is not permission.
Same chatbot, different pitch — like a bike in the woods and in the corridor.
Before you open the window at school, put a hand up.
A brief “in your own words” rules out AI as the author.
The names in the examples (Adam, Ema) are made up. Do not put your number, email or photo here.
Next lesson: When you can do this, go to the next lesson in the same level.