Year 8 • Lesson 5

Prompt Powerup

Better prompts = better results

The quality of your question determines the quality of the answer.

🎯 Learning Objectives

  • Construct prompts using the RCTF framework (Role, Context, Task, Format)
  • Iterate on prompts to improve AI outputs
  • Compare weak and strong prompts for the same task

📚 Key Vocabulary

Prompt engineering
The skill of crafting instructions that get the best results from AI
Iteration
Improving through repeated attempts — each prompt builds on the last
Context
Background information that helps AI understand your situation
Output format
Telling AI how to structure its response (list, table, paragraph, etc.)

⏱️ Lesson Timing (50 mins)

🪝
Hook
5 mins

"Prompt Battle": Teacher shows two prompts for the same task. Students predict which gets the better result. Teacher reveals both AI responses live.

👨‍🏫
Teach
10 mins
  • RCTF framework: Role ("You are a friendly tutor..."), Context ("I'm a Year 8 student who..."), Task ("explain X"), Format ("in bullet points under 100 words")
  • Be specific: vague in = vague out
  • Iteration: "Make it shorter", "Give me 3 alternatives", "Explain it differently"
  • System prompts: setting the scene for the whole conversation
  • Few-shot prompting: give examples of what you want
🛠️
Create
40 mins

Prompt challenge tournament (teacher-mediated — under-13 safe): students write the best possible prompt for each of 5 tasks and submit them through the lesson's Teacher AI Station. The teacher runs the prompts and returns the outputs; students evaluate each (1-5 stars with a reason), then iterate once by submitting an improved prompt. Tasks: (1) Help me understand photosynthesis, (2) Give me 10 ideas for a school campaign poster, (3) Check my argument in this paragraph [their own writing], (4) Create 5 quiz questions on the Roman Empire, (5) Help me plan my revision timetable. Record all prompts and returned outputs in their AI Log.

Tools:
Teacher AI Station (submission)AI Log
📢
Share
5 mins

Share the best prompt they wrote today. Class decides what makes it great. Add "great prompt features" to a shared class document.

🔧 Tools & Resources

🤖 AI Angle

Core AI skill — this lesson alone changes how students use AI forever. All prompts are run by the teacher via the Teacher AI Station, so under-13 students learn prompt engineering without using a live AI service themselves.

📝 Evidence of Learning

AI Log with 5 prompt/output/evaluation/iteration cycles

📚 Homework

Write 3 RCTF prompts for something useful in your life (homework help, meal ideas, career research). For each, predict what a strong response would include and note how you would improve the prompt. You can run them at the Teacher AI Station next lesson.

⏱️ 20 mins

♿ Differentiation

Support (for students who need help)

RCTF prompt frame with sentence starters for each element

Extension (for advanced learners)

Research "chain-of-thought prompting" and test it on a maths problem. Write up findings.