Summary
In this activity, students will explore how AI can serve as a personalized tutor to support their learning in challenging subject areas. Students will also create their own tutoring prompts and practice using prompts developed by their peers to enhance understanding and collaboration.
Essential Questions
How can effectively use AI tools to support my learning and improve my understanding of challenging concepts?
Snapshot
Engage
Students critique AI-generated responses to determine more effective prompting strategies for eliciting accurate and relevant content.
Explore
Students participate in a tutoring session with AI.
Explain
Students identify and summarize best practices for developing effective AI tutoring prompts by analyzing an article to assist with producing relevant and accurate AI-generated responses.
Extend
Students will develop and demonstrate their understanding of effective AI prompting techniques by applying them during tutoring sessions of their content choice.
Evaluate
Students will self-asses their understanding of how AI can be used as a tutoring tool.
Materials List
Student devices with access to AI tools (see Preparation section)
Lesson Slides (attached)
AI Tutoring Notecatcher (one per student, attached)
Writing Effective Prompts for Generative AI (one per student, attached)
Critique the Bot (one per student, attached)
Learning Goals
Explore how to customize AI tools through prompting to support learning needs and give feedback on prompts created by other students.
Preparation
Prior to facilitating this activity, select an AI chatbot or tool for students to use for this activity. Ensure that the tool complies with your district’s AI use policies and that it can be accessed by students. Some recommended tools are:
Before using any AI system, please be aware that most AI platforms and tools require users to be at least 13 years of age in compliance with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and other applicable privacy regulations.
If a student is under the age of 13, they must have verifiable parental or guardian consent or be directly supervised by a teacher or school administrator when using this tool. Teachers are responsible for ensuring that students under 18 use AI systems in a safe, ethical, and age-appropriate manner and in alignment with school and district policies.
Teachers should consult their district’s guidelines and technology use policies before introducing AI tools in the classroom to ensure compliance with local regulations and data privacy requirements.
By continuing to use any AI system, users confirm they meet the minimum age requirement or have obtained the appropriate consent and supervision.
Engage
10 Minute(s)
Use slides 2-3 to introduce the topic and learning objective.
Distribute the Critique the Bot handout.
Display slide 4. Explain the instructional strategy Critique the Bot to the students by asking them to read the prompt on the handout and then analyze and critique the AI generated feedback written below the prompt. Ask students to decide which one is more helpful to them as a student and to mark any observations, concerns about the output, or thoughts about the difference between the responses. Allow students 5 minutes to read and analyze.
Once everyone has completed the critique, move to slide 5 to share the “Think-Pair-Share” strategy. Ask students to find an elbow partner (someone sitting right next to them) and share out their preferred response, as well as any observations, concerns, thoughts, and whether they agree or disagree with one another’s feedback about the prompts. After about two minutes of sharing with a partner, ask if any of the partners would like to share with the whole group their thoughts.
Explore
25 Minute(s)
Next, move to slide 6 and have students get out their internet connected devices. Help them navigate to the AI program you have chosen for them to work with. Once students are all on the program, show them how to copy and paste the example prompt into the program.
Direct students to work through the tutoring conversation for 10 minutes, and then begin the timer.
Proceed to slide 7 and introduce the Stand Up, Sit Down strategy. Ask students to write down their three most important understandings from the tutoring session. Instruct all of your students to stand up. Then, going one at a time, have students share just one item from their list. If a student’s peer shares an item that is listed on their paper, they will mark it off. As your students are sharing out, write down their responses on a sheet of chart paper or the board to have a comprehensive list of the class’s understanding. Once a student has shared, or marked off, all of their understandings on their paper, they will sit down. Continue until all students are sitting.
Explain
20 Minute(s)
Next, move to slide 8 and pass out the Writing Effective Prompts for Generative AI handout. Use this reference page to introduce students to the concept of Prompt Writing for AI programs. Explain that writing effective prompts is how people get AI programs to work in specific ways, and for this activity students are learning how to prompt an AI program to help them as an academic tutor.
Give students a printed copy of the example prompt you had them use in Explore.
Explain that when creating a prompt, there are certain pieces you need to include to make sure the program has the information it needs. Move to slide 8 and show students the different parts that a prompt needs along with their descriptions: “Task”, “Format”, “Voice”, and “Context”. Once you have explained those pieces, move to slide 9 where the example prompt has been highlighted and have students identify which parts correspond with “Task”, “Format”, “Voice”, and “Context”.
Extend
25 Minute(s)
Inform students that they will now be using what they’ve learned to create their own AI tutoring prompt. Display slide 10 and pass out the AI Tutoring Notecatcher handout. Then, ask students to pick a topic that they are struggling with or that is of interest to them.
Have students use one of the prompts presented during the Explore section and customize the prompt in a way they think will yield the best AI tutor possible.
Students should input the prompt to test the performance of the AI tutor. As they work, they should record their experiences and reflections in the AI Tutoring Notecatcher handout.
Ask students to take screenshots of their interaction with the AI tutor to share with you for evaluation.
Evaluate
10 Minute(s)
Display slide 12. Once the student is satisfied with their prompt and how the tutor interacts with the users, they should complete a 3-2-1 reflection on their own paper:
3 - Write three things you learned through this process
2 - What were two challenges you faced during this assignment?
1 - What is one thing that surprised you about AI, prompts, or its usefulness?
Facilitate a short debrief conversation to help students consider how they are feeling about using an AI tutor and what they think it could help them with in school.
Screenshots and participation in discussion can be used as forms of assessment.
Follow-Up Activities
Research Rationale
Resources
K20 Center. (n.d.). 3-2-1. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/117
K20 Center. (n.d.). Critique the Bot. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/3491
K20 Center. (n.d.). Stand up, sit down. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/1771
K20 Center. (n.d.). Think-pair-share. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/139
