Welcome to Noesis

Published: January 06, 2025 • By Brandon Williams

Introducing Noesis: a new approach to AI-assisted education that focuses on critical thinking and student engagement rather than just providing answers.

The Problem with Traditional AI Tutoring

Most AI tutoring approaches focus on providing quick answers to student questions. While this might seem helpful, it actually undermines the learning process by:

  • Reducing Critical Thinking: Students get used to accepting answers without questioning
  • Missing Learning Opportunities: The thinking process is more valuable than the final answer
  • Creating Dependency: Students rely on AI instead of developing problem-solving skills
  • Limiting Assessment: Teachers can only grade final answers, not thinking processes

Our Solution: Process-Focused AI Tutoring

Noesis takes a fundamentally different approach. Instead of providing direct answers, our AI tutors:

Key Features

Guide Through Questions Ask leading questions that help students discover answers themselves

Encourage Exploration Promote curiosity and deeper investigation of concepts

Build Connections Help students see relationships between different concepts

Document Thinking Create shareable conversation records for teacher assessment

How It Works in Practice

Here’s a typical interaction with our Algebra tutor:

Student: “How do I solve 3x + 7 = 22?”

AI Tutor: “Great question! Before we solve this, what do you think this equation is telling us? What does the equals sign mean?”

Student: “The equals sign means both sides are equal… so 3x + 7 has the same value as 22?”

AI Tutor: “Exactly! So if both sides are equal, what do you think would happen if we did the same operation to both sides?”

Notice how the AI never just gives the answer. Instead, it guides the student to understand the underlying concepts.

Benefits for Educators

This approach provides unique advantages for teachers:

“For the first time, I can actually see how my students think, not just whether they got the right answer.”

— Sarah Johnson, 8th Grade Math Teacher

Key benefits include:

  • Visible Thinking: Conversation transcripts reveal student thought processes
  • Critical Thinking Assessment: Grade students on question quality and exploration depth
  • Personalized Insights: Understand where each student struggles or excels
  • Time Savings: AI handles initial guidance, teachers focus on higher-level feedback

Open Source and Collaborative

We believe great educational tools should be:

Open Source Free to use, modify, and share

Community-Driven Built by educators, for educators

Transparent See exactly how AI tutors work

Getting Started

Ready to try a different approach to AI tutoring? Here’s how to begin:

  1. Explore Subjects: Browse available AI tutors and questions
  2. Read Examples: See what excellent student engagement looks like
  3. Review Framework: Understand the pedagogical approach
  4. Start Contributing: Add questions for your subject area

Join the Movement

Help us revolutionize AI-assisted education by focusing on critical thinking rather than quick answers with Noesis. Start contributing today!

About the Author: Brandon Williams is the creator of Noesis and an advocate for technology that enhances rather than replaces human thinking.