Build, Question, Improve

A free course in applied AI, critical thinking and agency

In September 2026 I spent two days with about 70 students in Calgary, ages 9 to 18. I didn't teach them how to use a chatbot. I taught them to think, ask better questions, check what AI tells them, and build real things with it.

This course is those two days, written down so anyone can use it. It works if you're a student teaching yourself, a teacher running a class, or a parent who wants to help your kid get ahead. It's free.

The whole course comes down to one idea:

AI can now do most of the task. Your job is everything around the task: the goal, the plan, the context, the limits, the quality bar, the review, and whether the result helps a real person.

Every unit builds on that. You turn something you care about into a question. The question becomes a clear prompt. AI does the heavy lifting, and you keep the judgment.

If you remember one thing, make it this: spend your effort on the prompt and the review, not on the output.

Why this matters now

Anyone can now get an AI to write a first draft of almost anything. That changes what's worth learning.

AI is hitting entry-level jobs first. Stanford's Digital Economy Lab tracks US payroll data. In its August 2026 update, employment for workers aged 22 to 25 in the jobs most exposed to AI was about 19% lower than it would have been if it had kept pace with other jobs. A year earlier the gap was 15%. Most of the drop comes from companies hiring fewer young people. Experienced people in the same jobs, who lean on judgment built over years, didn't see the same drop.

Employers want thinking, not just tasks. In the World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs Report 2025, nearly 70% of employers called analytical thinking a core skill, more than any other skill. They also expect 39% of workers' core skills to change by 2030.

Most teens already use AI, but mostly as a shortcut. Pew Research found that 54% of US teens have used chatbots for schoolwork, and one in ten do all or most of their schoolwork with chatbot help.

Put those together. If you use AI to skip the thinking, your work looks like everyone else's, and that's exactly the kind of work that's disappearing. If you use AI to think better, test claims and build real things, you're building the skills that are getting more valuable every year.

Here's how I said it to the students:

"You could all produce the same exact result using AI. That's actually the only differentiator you have nowadays. Everybody's smart. Everybody can get good grades. But will you actually understand how it affects someone's business and how it helps them?"

Young people also have something most adults don't: time, few responsibilities, and no real penalty for trying something that fails. This course is about using that advantage.

Who it's for

• Students who want to use AI to think and build, not just to finish homework faster.
• Teachers and program leaders who want a ready-made plan they can run with a class.
• Parents who want to work through it with their kids.
• Anyone starting out with AI who wants a method, not a list of tricks.

Each unit is written as steps you can follow on your own or run with a group. Where a step works differently in a group, I say so.

What you need

• A laptop, tablet or phone with internet.
• At least one free AI chat assistant. Two is better, from different companies, because they think differently and catch each other's mistakes.
• A free website builder for Unit 9. Any AI website builder with a free tier works.
• Paper and a pen. Writing things down by hand is part of the method.
• The free PDF kit, which has a worksheet for every unit.

A note on age limits. Many AI tools require users to be 13 or older, and some require 18. If you're under 18, check each tool's terms and get a parent or guardian's okay. Don't lie about your age to get in. Pick a tool you're allowed to use.

How the course is built

There are eleven units in three parts:

Part	Units	What you learn
A. The thinker	1 to 3	Curiosity, questioning ideas, and solving problems on your own
B. The machine	4 to 7	How AI works, how to direct it, and how to make it check itself
C. The builder	8 to 11	Research you can trust, building real things, and getting help from people

Go in order. Each unit uses what you made in the one before it.

Two ways to run it

The content is the same either way. Pick the schedule that fits your time.

Option 1: Two-day intensive

This is how I first taught it. Use it for workshops, camps, or a weekend on your own. It's fast and high-energy, but there's less time to build between lessons.

Day 1 (about 3.5 hours)

Time	Activity
0:00	Unit 1. Curiosity and the three questions (30 min)
0:30	Unit 2. The Socratic method (25 min)
0:55	Unit 3. Agency (20 min)
1:15	Break (10 min)
1:25	Unit 4. What AI actually is (30 min)
1:55	Unit 5. Prompt engineering (40 min)
2:35	Unit 9. Build time: start your portfolio website (50 min)
3:25	Exit ticket (5 min)

Day 2 (about 4 hours)

Time	Activity
0:00	Recap of Day 1 (10 min)
0:10	Unit 6. Looping and agents (40 min)
0:50	Unit 7. AI councils and choosing the right model (25 min)
1:15	Break (10 min)
1:25	Unit 8. Verified research (60 min)
2:25	Unit 10. AI that does real work (20 min)
2:45	Unit 9. Build time: ship one working feature (45 min)
3:30	Unit 11. People, outreach and purpose (25 min)
3:55	Exit ticket (5 min)

Option 2: Eight weeks

Use this for schools, clubs and self-learners. Each session is about 90 minutes, with a small task to do before the next one. It's slower, but you finish with more real work done, because you build between sessions.

Week	Session	Do before next week
1	Units 1 and 2	Ask one adult about one of your three questions
2	Units 3 and 4	Bring one plan to someone instead of a question
3	Unit 5	Write one one-shot prompt for your project and run it in two tools
4	Unit 6	Run the two-window loop three times on your project
5	Units 7 and 10	List three tasks in your life and decide: AI, human, or both
6	Unit 8	Check five claims from your research using the claims checker
7	Unit 9	Ship one working feature and let a friend test it
8	Unit 11 and show-and-tell	Send one outreach message

If you're running it with a group

• Coach more than you lecture. Most of the learning happens while people are building and asking questions, not while you're talking. Keep the explaining short and give the room time to try things.
• Skip "hands up if you're confused." Nobody raises their hand in front of their friends. Use the exit ticket at the end of each session instead: one thing you'd explain to a friend, and one thing you still don't get.
• Show how it works and what it costs. People lean in when you show them how the pieces connect and what it costs to run. Show it working first, then explain the theory.
• Learn names first. Name tags or a quick list. You'll want to follow up.
• Don't answer every question. When someone asks you something, show them how to find the answer themselves. That's the real lesson.

About me

I'm Josh Rainbow, a technology entrepreneur based in Calgary and the Founder and CEO of Future Summit. I build AI and data systems that help companies make better decisions and grow, and I bring together the people building what comes next.

I wrote this course because the students I met were smart, curious and already using AI. What they were missing was a method. This is the method I use every day.

Future Builders

If you're a student building something real, apply to Future Builders. It's Future Summit's program that gives young builders sponsored access to the summit, plus mentorship and introductions to people who can help.

Use it, share it, adapt it

This course is free, and it's licensed under Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0. That means:

• You can use it, print it, share it, and adapt it for your class, club or family.
• Give credit: "Build, Question, Improve by Josh Rainbow, joshrainbow.com."
• Don't sell it.
• If you change it and share it, share your version under the same licence.

If you run it with a group, I'd love to hear how it went. Reach me through joshrainbow.com.