AI Blocks › Teach and train people
Step-by-step hint writer
Give it a problem type. Get hints that reveal help bit by bit without giving away the answer.
Step-by-step hint writer is a free AI skill for the job "Teach and train people". Give the instructions to an AI assistant that supports the required files and tools, then review its output.
Free · No account · CC BY SA 4.0 licence · Made by Gareth Manning
Made by Gareth Manning. See the original on GitHub; we copied it as it is, with its licence.
What it does
A set of hints for one kind of problem, written so a student can climb from a small nudge to a near-full solution without being handed the answer. You use it ahead of time to build worksheets, quizzes or tutoring scripts. You name the problem type and where students usually get stuck. The skill designs three to five levels, each tied to a specific stuck point, from a prompt to look again, to naming the idea needed, to showing a parallel example. You choose what happens at the end: reveal the answer, send them to a teacher or give a fresh task. It follows research on tutoring hints and scaffolding, and can be tuned to an age group and subject.
You give it
- The problem type students are solving
- Common sticking points
- Student level and subject (optional)
- How hints will be delivered (optional)
- Number of hint levels (optional)
You get
- A hint sequence from light to strong
- Each hint linked to a sticking point
- A rule for what comes after the last hint
- Notes on when to show each hint
- A version matched to the learner's level
Use it when
- You are writing a worksheet and want built-in help for stuck students.
- You teach a topic where the same mistake appears every year.
- You are building a tutoring bot and need hint text for each problem.
- You want to stop hints from giving the answer too early.
How to use it
- Add it to your AI once: download it and add the folder to Claude, ChatGPT or Codex as a skill.
- Ask for the job in your own words. Your AI opens the skill when it fits.