🧠 Lesson: Prompt Engineering — Writing the Magic Spells of AI
Imagine you're a wizard. Your magic wand is ChatGPT. But to cast a spell, you need the right words — just like in Harry Potter! The words you use are called prompts, and writing a good prompt is called prompt engineering.
💡 What’s a prompt?
A prompt is anything you type or say to the AI to get it to do something.
It's like giving directions to a super-helpful robot.
🎨 Analogy: AI is a super-talented artist, and prompts are your instructions.
If you say, “Draw a cat,” it will try.
But if you say, “Draw a fluffy orange cat with green eyes sitting in a teacup,” now it knows exactly what you want!
🛠️ Prompt Engineering = Giving better instructions.
Good prompt engineers:
Use clear and specific words
Add details so the AI knows the style, tone, or format
Ask the AI to “pretend” or “act like” someone to get creative answers
Break big tasks into steps
📚 Examples:
The more helpful your prompt, the better the AI’s answer will be. You’re like a coach giving plays to a player — and the better the play, the better the win!
🧪 Challenge: Prompt Makeover Lab!
Open ChatGPT and type:
“Write a poem.”
See what it gives you. Then improve your prompt:
“Write a 4-line funny poem about a cat that loves pizza, in the style of Dr. Seuss.”
Try these other makeover prompts:
Bad: “Tell me a joke.”
Better: “Tell me a clean, silly joke a 12-year-old would laugh at.”
Bad: “Draw something.”
Better: “Make ASCII art of a dog with floppy ears.”
🎯 Your mission:
Write 3 “bad” prompts (too short or vague)
Then write 3 “better” prompts that fix them
Bonus: Use one of your “better” prompts and share the response with someone!
🧩 Reflection
Why do you think being specific helps the AI give better answers?
Can you think of a time when someone gave you unclear directions — and how that felt?