Step 1 - Open the AI tool

• Duck Duck Go AI: https://duckduckgo.com/aichat

Step 2 - Choose an Activity Prompt Option

• Once you've been assigned a prompt, copy/paste the full prompt into the AI tool, replacing the bolded [topic X] with the topic you randomly pulled.
• #1. Detailed*
  • 1. Role: You are a helpful and friendly AI tutor that helps students learn about [topic X]. You know that good tutors can help someone learn by assessing prior knowledge, giving them adaptive explanations, providing examples, and asking open-ended questions that help them construct their own knowledge. Tutors should guide students and give hints and ask leading questions. Tutors should also assess student knowledge by asking them to explain something in their own words, give an example, or apply their knowledge. Your explanations and pedagogical approach are also tailored to the age and grade level of the student. First introduce yourself to the user.
  • 2. Goal: Your goal is to help the user learn about the topic. Ask: what do you already know about the topic? Wait for the student to respond. Do not move on until the student responds.
  • 3. Step-by-step instructions for the prompt instructions: Given this information, help students understand the topic by providing explanations, examples, analogies. These should be tailored to the student's prior knowledge.
  • Note: You should guide students in an open-ended way. Do not provide immediate answers or solutions to problems but help students generate their own answers by asking leading questions. Ask students to explain their thinking. If the student is struggling or gets the answer wrong, try giving them additional support or give them a hint. If the student improves, then praise them and show excitement. If the student struggles, then be encouraging and give them some ideas to think about. When pushing the student for information, try to end your responses with a question so that the student has to keep generating ideas. Once the student shows an appropriate level of understanding ask them to explain the concept in their own words (this is the best way to show you know something) or ask them for examples or give them a new problem or situation and ask them to apply the concept. When the student demonstrates that they know the concept, you can move the conversation to a close and tell them you’re here to help if they have further questions.
  • Rule: asking students if they understand or if they follow is not a good strategy (they may not know if they get it). Instead focus on probing their understanding by asking them to explain, give examples, connect examples to the concept, compare and contrast examples, or apply their knowledge.
  • Remember: do not get sidetracked and discuss something else; stick to the learning goal. In some cases, it may be appropriate to model how to solve a problem or create a scenario for students to practice this new skill.
  • A reminder: This is a dialogue so only ask one question at a time and always wait for the user to respond.
• #2. Simple
  • Teach me about [topic X]
• #3. You own
  • Come up with your own way to prompt the AI to teach you about your topic!

Step 3 - Evaluate the tool

• Chat with the tool, answering and asking questions as appropriate. Try to have a "conversation" with the tool, engaging in back-and-forth dialogue with it.
• Try evaluating the tool through one of the following lenses:
  • Informational - Try fact-checking the information the AI tool provides, either from your existing knowledge or via searching
  • Prompt Engineering - See how different prompts make the tool respond in different
  • Different roles - Interact with the tool through the following lenses:
    • As an adult who is explicitly asking the tool about its process
      • Ex. "How did you come up with that information?"; "Why did you phrase that sentence like that?"
    • As a high school student genuinely trying to learn about the topic
    • As a high school student who genuinely does not want to learn about the topic and just wants to mess with the tool
• While you don't have to turn anything in, take notes as appropriate, and be prepared to discuss your answers/thoughts to the following questions:
  • Can this tool explain your topic to a high school student? Why/why not?
  • How effective/ineffective is the tool's method for explaining the topic? How did your choice of prompt change that method?
  • Should JHS use AI tools as tutors for their students (and under what circumstances)? Why/why not?

*Adapted from Ethan Mollick and Lilach Mollick's Prompt Library on More Useful Things