Compare three requests with increasing levels of useful context. Follow Carla's demonstration, pause to make your own attempt, and compare your check with the result.
Your activity / Right here
Bring a notebook. Begin below.
The activity is included on this page. Work on paper or in your own document; keep your first attempt and the evidence you checked.
AI Lab: Three Levels of Context
Use only an AI tool your instructor approves and that allows users your age. Check its minimum age and parent-permission rules first; an adult's permission cannot override an 18+ limit. Follow your school's rules, and do not share personal information. About 25 minutes.
1. Pick a real school task, such as studying for a quiz or planning a short presentation.
2. Write the same request at three levels:
• Level 1: five words or fewer.
• Level 2: add the subject, the topic, and the deadline.
• Level 3: add your grade level, what you already know, what confuses you, the format you want, and one rule, such as "quiz me before you explain."
3. Start a new chat for each level so context from one level does not leak into the next.
4. Score each answer from 0 to 4: one point each for the right topic, the right level, the right format, and nothing made up.
5. Build your Context versus Error chart. Put the three levels along the bottom and the scores up the side, and connect the dots. This chart is your portfolio piece.
6. Verify: Check one fact from your best answer against your textbook or class notes. Write down what you found and where.
7. Record your AI use: which tool you used, what you asked at each level, and what you kept.
Own It
No AI. About 10 minutes.
On an index card, write your own layered request template with blanks for Role, Objective, Context, Task, and how you will audit the answer. Then answer in three sentences: Why did the error shrink as you added layers? Which layer helped most? What could only you supply?
Context File Upgrade
Add this section to my_context.md:
## How to Give Me Context
- Before you answer, ask me which class, which topic, and what the assignment asks.
- Explain things for a high school student in grade ___.
- If you are not sure, say "I am not sure" instead of guessing.
- Tell me where facts come from so I can check them.
- Quiz me before you explain. Never write my assignments.
Context about how you learn helps. Your full name, address, school name, and passwords never go in.
Skeptic's Corner: Prediction or Proof?
These statements are exercises to classify and check. Do not assume every statement is true.
Label each statement: Fact, Idea, Rob's Story, Made-Up Example, Rule, or Prediction.
1. "In OpenAI's 2025 research, a chatbot gave three different wrong dates for one person's birthday."
2. "Every AI answer is a prediction based on context."
3. "Mike studied the wrong unit for twenty minutes."
4. "In every AI Lab, use only a tool your instructor approves."
5. "In two years, chatbots will never make anything up."
6. "In a 2026 study, people using chatbots on medical scenarios identified relevant conditions in fewer than 34.5 percent of cases."
Read the video transcript
Read along, pause, or return to an idea. This transcript follows the selected lesson video.
I'm Carla, an AI avatar.
Today I'm running the same request three times,
with three levels of context, and scoring how far off each answer is.
That is this chapter's AI Lab.
Why three levels?
Rob's mission says the error shrinks as context grows.
I do not want to take anyone's word for it,
so I am going to test it.
Here is my scoring card.
One point each for the right topic,
the right level, the right format,
and nothing made up.
Four points is a perfect score.
One rule first.
I start a brand new chat for each level.
Otherwise the AI remembers my earlier context,
and the test is not fair.
Level one, five words or fewer: "Help me study for biology."
The AI gives me a plan for all of biology:
cells, genetics, ecology.
Nice, but my test is on photosynthesis.
Right subject, wrong topic, and no format I asked for.
One out of four.
The AI answered the question I actually asked.
My question just left almost everything to guess.
Level two adds the subject, the topic,
and the deadline: "Help me study for my biology test on
photosynthesis this Friday."
Better.
Now it's all photosynthesis, with a plan through Friday.
But it reads like a college course,
and it explains everything instead of quizzing me.
Two out of four.
Two out of four is still an error,
just a smaller one.
The AI is guessing my level and my format.
So I will stop making it guess.
Level three uses Dr. Q's Five Steps.
Role: a patient biology tutor for a tenth grader.
Objective: get ready for Friday with practice,
not answers.
Context: twenty multiple-choice questions and one short
answer, and I mix up the light reactions and the Calvin cycle.
Here are the class notes my teacher shared.
Task: quiz me with five questions,
one at a time, and explain only after I answer.
Look at that.
One question, at my level, about the exact thing I mix up.
Topic, level, and format all check out.
Now the last point: nothing made up.
I answer question one.
The AI tells me I mixed up where the Calvin cycle happens,
explains it in two sentences, and then asks question two.
That is what a good tutor does.
Question three mentions a detail I can't find in my notes.
So I ask the audit question: "Walk me through exactly
where you got that."
The AI says it came from general knowledge,
not my notes.
I check my textbook.
It's correct, but it's not on my test,
so I ask it to stick to my notes.
Four out of four.
Here is my Context versus Error chart.
Level one, one point.
Level two, two points.
Level three, four points.
More layers, smaller error.
One more thing.
My Level 3 prompt had no personal information in it.
No name, no school, no teacher's name.
Context about how I learn helps.
Private details never go in.
Then I verify one fact from the best answer against my
textbook, and I record my AI use:
the tool, what I asked at each level,
and what I kept.
Keep your chart.
It is your portfolio piece, and it shows,
in your own work, why context matters.
Your turn.
Same request, three levels.
Score it, chart it, and check it.
Before you use an AI tool
Follow your course or institution's rules. Use an instructor-approved tool that permits your age, and meet any required consent conditions. Keep names, contact details, school records, and other private information out of prompts. Use fictional examples when you can.
Learning without an AI account
Follow the demonstration, pause before each answer, and do the reasoning on paper. Discuss what you would ask, how you would check it, and which decisions would remain yours.
About the characters and voices
This course uses AI-created characters and synthetic voices. Carla is an AI avatar. They help tell the story; they are not real students sharing testimonials.
Designed for high-school and community-college learners. Choose examples from your classes, work, and everyday life. Keep your completed work in your course portfolio.
