1. Include Course Context

   When you’re creating AI prompts for teaching purposes, make sure to include important and relevant course context. If not, AI may not provide you with the the most useful of responses.

• Name of your course: Provide the name of your course in your prompt so that the AI can locate relevant course materials. This is especially important if you are teaching a standardized course, such as Spanish 1 or an Advanced Placement. AI has access to a ton of resources for standardized courses, so if you fail to mention the name of your course you may miss out on much helpful information.

• Grade level of your course: Make sure that the AI knows the grade level of your course. For instance, you may teach a course entitled English Grammar and Writing. But the abilities of the students and your academic expectations will likely be different if this course is taught to grade 5 students as opposed to grade 11 students. You may also want to include the ages of your students to further help AI locate developmentally appropriate resources.

• Proficiency level of your course: K12 courses are sometimes split by proficiency levels, so that one class might be labeled “Advanced,” while another class that teaches the same curriculum subject is not. So, indicate if the class has a special designation. Likewise, indicate if your course is for ELLs (English Language Learners) or contains some other important distinguishing characteristic.

• Curriculum unit. The topic that you are exploring with AI might be part of a commonly taught curriculum unit. This is especially true if you teach a standardized course. So, include the curriculum unit that relates to your topic of interest. If you do, AI may provide more useful resources than otherwise.

• Topic description. The teaching topic you are addressing should be explained clearly and your objectives made plain. Say, for instance, you want lesson resources on how children fared during the Great Depression. Make clear that the Great Depression you are exploring was the one in the United States and provide a range of years (say, 1923 to 1938), as desired. Be clear and state the ages or categories of children (infants? teenagers?) you wish to research. If you want to focus on a particular region or state of the country, indicate that as well. If you’re interested in resources such as oral histories, transcripts, or orher types of primary sources, indicate that as well. In other words, think carefully about what you want the AI to do for you.

2. Follow AI Principles

There are research-based guidelines for generating effective prompts. According to a recent research study on “guided principles’ for effective large-language-model questioning there are dozens of effective principles for AI prompting.

Based on the study, here are 10 recommended practices:

1. Make clear the task for AI: Include “Your task is” in the prompt and explain the task.

2. Make clear what the AI must do. Include “You MUST” in the prompt and explain what the AI must do.

3. Include your intended audience in the prompt. If you’re creating lesson materials aimed at grade 7 (American) students, indicate as much in the prompt.

4. Implement example-driven prompting. For instance, if you’re using AI to grade a written response to a short-answer question, provide an example of a desired student response to the question.

5. Make it clear if you want a detailed response. For example, “Write a detailed [essay/report

   /guide] for me on [topic] in detail by adding all the information necessary”.

6. To gain better understanding, ask the AI to “explain” a complex idea or topic. For example, ask the AI to “explain” a complex idea or topic in “simple terms” or “as if I’m a fifth-grader” or “as if I’m a beginner”. if desired, ask the AI to “think step by step” as it constructs its explanation of a complex topic.

7. To test understanding, ask the AI not to immediately reveal “correct” answers: “Teach me the [concept/theorem/topic/] and include a test at the end, but don’t give me the answers and then tell me if I got the answer right when I respond”.

8. To revise text without changing its style: For example, “Revise every paragraph and improve the user’s grammar and syntax, but do not change the writing style.” If you do wish to change the style, tell the AI which style to adopt: “Write a natural-language response at the level of a high school senior”.

9. Tell the AI to ask you questions about your prompt. For example, “Ask me questions to. clarify what your task is, what you MUST do, what you should do, and what you shouldn’t do.”

10. Help reduce bias in answers: Include: “Ensure to the best of your ability that your answer is unbiased and does not rely on stereotypes”.

3. Write Clear Instructions (but expect to revise them)

Write clear instructions explaining want your AI to do — and what you don’t want it to do. Focus on “affirmative” instructions more than negative ones; spend more time telling the AI what you do want it to do and less on what you don’t want it to do.

But think carefully about what exactly you want it to do.

To give you an example, I asked ChatGPT to provide (me) an intermediate Spanish learner with a series of 20 questions, one-at-a-time, that would require me to respond using the subjunctive verb form in Spanish. ChatGPT provided excellent questions, but the answers required a more advanced form of the subjunctive that I understood. Another problem was that ChatGPT used the subjunctive form when asking the questions, so it essentially gave me the answer in the way it phrased a question. So, I had to rewrite my prompt, telling ChatGPT that its first ten questions “must” require an answer using the (basic) present form of the subjunctive and that all its questions must avoid using the subjunctive. With the revised prompt, ChatGPT gave me exactly what I wanted.

In closing, crafting effective AI prompts is a process that requires a thoughtful approach. Unfortunately, AI will not always respond with relevant, helpful, and accurate information. But if you follow the the Context-Principle-Instruction (CPI) process as outlined in this guide you’re likely to uncover a wealth of excellent educations resources and minimize frustration and lost time when using AI chatbots.

• Tom Daccord