Instruction Games
You have done so much great thinking about instructions! Now it is time to play. In this lesson, every activity is a game or puzzle that lets you practice your skills. Get ready — your brain is about to have a workout!
Let the Games Begin!
We are going to play three different types of games in this lesson: Game 1: Order It Up — put steps in the right order. Game 2: Fix the Instruction — spot what is wrong and make it clear. Game 3: Build a Prompt — use what you know to create a great prompt from scratch. Each game builds on what you have already learned. Let's go!
Remember the four ingredients of a great instruction: clear action, clear object, helpful details, and the right order. You will need all four in these games!
Put these steps for drawing a traffic light in the correct order by matching each step to its number.
Terms
Definitions
Drag terms onto their definitions, or click a term then click a definition to match.
Great work ordering those steps! Now let's try spotting what is wrong with some instructions. Here are three broken instructions. See if you can feel why each one is a problem: Broken 1: 'Make the thing blue.' Problem: What thing? There could be many things on the screen. Broken 2: 'Write words in the box.' Problem: Which box? What words? How many? Broken 3: 'First delete the file, then create the file.' Problem: You are deleting something that should exist! The order seems backward — usually you create before you delete the old version. Spotting problems in instructions is just as useful as writing good ones!
Complete the sentence about what makes an instruction good.
Now for the trickiest game: building a prompt from scratch. You will be given a task, and you need to write the best possible prompt to give an AI helper. Remember: include the action, the details, the right order of ideas, and nothing vague!
Prompt Challenge
Ask an AI helper to explain how rainbows are made, in a way that is easy for a six-year-old to understand.
Your prompt should…
- State that the explanation should be simple and easy for a young child
- Ask for an example or comparison a child would recognize
- Request that the explanation be short — no more than four sentences
The instruction games in this lesson are even more fun with a friend! Take turns being the computer and the instructor. The computer has to follow instructions exactly as given — no making up what they probably meant!
You want to draw a cat on a computer. Which is the BEST first step?
What is wrong with the instruction 'Make it louder'?
The Robot Maze Challenge
- Draw a simple grid on paper — five squares wide and five squares tall.
- Place a dot in the bottom-left square. That is the robot.
- Place a star in the top-right square. That is the goal.
- Write a list of instructions (one per line) using only these commands: 'move up,' 'move right,' 'move down,' 'move left.'
- Hand your instructions to a partner. They trace the path by following each instruction exactly.
- Did the robot reach the star? If not, find the mistake in your instructions and fix it!
- Try making the maze bigger for a harder challenge.