🪄 Better Questions = Better Answers
Ask the same thing 3 ways. See the difference.
🔥 Warm Up — 2 minutes
Ask your child: "What's the difference between asking 'help me' and asking 'help me pack my bag for a 3-day camping trip where it might rain, for a 10-year-old'?" Let them explain.
"Today we're going to see exactly how much your question style changes the answer."
🤖 The Activity — 15 minutes
One topic. Three versions of the question. Compare the answers.
Read. Note: how useful is this? Would you learn something specific from it?
Read. Compare to Version 1. Ask: which is more interesting? More useful?
Read. This is the most useful version. Ask: "What made Version 3 better? What extra information did we give AI that helped it?"
Key insight to draw out together: Context + specificity + purpose = better answers. You gave AI: who you are, what you want, and why you want it.
🧩 The Twist — 5 minutes
Give AI the same question in the style of two different people:
Compare the two answers. Which is more useful to your child right now? The lesson: different people need different answers to the same question — and you can tell AI which kind of answer you need.
The better you get at asking questions, the more it might feel like AI 'gets you'. It doesn't — it's responding to the information you gave it. A calculator that gives a correct answer isn't your friend. It worked because you pressed the right buttons.
Question Wizard Badge 🪄
Asked the same question 3 ways and found the best version
Parent Notes — tap to expand
▼Prompt engineering for children — the single most transferable skill this programme teaches. A child who knows how to give context, specify their audience, and state their purpose will use every AI tool more effectively.
- What's the most important thing to include in a question to AI?
- Can you teach me how to ask a better question about something you're studying at school right now?
- If you asked AI for homework help — how would you ask so that it explains rather than answers?
This session often produces the biggest 'aha' moment. Children who see the difference between Version 1 and Version 3 often become significantly better at giving instructions and communicating clearly in general — not just with AI.
Reinforce: even with the best question, personal details (name, school, location) never go in. The context we give AI is about the task — not about who we are.