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Session 7 of 8

Session 7 of 8 ⏱ 25 minutes · 👨‍👩‍👧 Parent present

🪄 Better Questions = Better Answers

Ask the same thing 3 ways. See the difference.

🎯 Today's goal: Your child understands that the quality of their question directly determines the quality of AI's answer — the core skill of working with AI.

🔥 Warm Up — 2 minutes

Warm Up

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

Main Activity

One topic. Three versions of the question. Compare the answers.

📋 Type this exactly
Tell me about space.

Read. Note: how useful is this? Would you learn something specific from it?

📋 Type this exactly
Tell me 3 facts about black holes that would genuinely surprise a 9-year-old who thinks they already know a lot about space.

Read. Compare to Version 1. Ask: which is more interesting? More useful?

📋 Type this exactly
I am a 9-year-old who loves space and wants to impress my science teacher. Tell me one thing about black holes that most adults don't know, explained so clearly that I could teach it to my class tomorrow.

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

Find the Flaw

Give AI the same question in the style of two different people:

📋 Type this exactly
Version A: Why is the sky blue? — Version B: Explain the Rayleigh scattering phenomenon that produces the perceived blue colouration of Earth's atmosphere, at a level appropriate for a general audience.

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.

🛡️ Safety Moment
"AI is a tool, not a friend"

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.

👨‍👩‍👧 Parent: read this rule aloud. Ask your child to repeat it back.
🪄

Question Wizard Badge 🪄

Asked the same question 3 ways and found the best version

✓ Ask your parent to mark this session complete on your tracker
👨‍👩‍👧

Parent Notes — tap to expand

▼
What they learned today

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.

Questions to ask after the session
  • 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?
What to watch for

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.

Today's safety rule — in context

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.

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