Youth Advanced AI Lessons

🟢 WEEK 1 — Lesson 1

Title: Advanced Prompt Engineering

🎯 Lesson Objective

By the end of this lesson, students will be able to design structured, clear, and powerful prompts that produce high-quality AI outputs.

1️⃣ What is Prompt Engineering?

Prompt Engineering is the skill of giving AI clear, structured instructions to produce better, more accurate results.

Instead of asking:

“Write something about climate change.”

We learn to ask:

“Act as an environmental science teacher. Write a 300-word explanation of climate change for secondary school students. Include 3 causes, 2 effects in Africa, and a short conclusion.”

The difference is structure.

2️⃣ Writing Structured Prompts

Teach students this simple formula:

Role + Task + Context + Constraints + Output Format

Example:

Role: Act as a study coach

Task: Create a 5-day reading plan

Context: For a student preparing for exams

Constraints: 1 hour per day

Output Format: Table format

This formula becomes their builder tool.

3️⃣ Role Prompting

AI performs better when given a role.

Examples:

Act as a software engineer

Act as a marketing strategist

Act as a teacher

Act as a business consultant

Activity: Students try the same task with and without role prompting and compare results.

4️⃣ Task Breakdown Prompting

Instead of asking AI to do everything at once, break tasks into steps.

Weak:

Create a business plan.

Strong:

Step 1: Generate 3 business ideas for teenagers.

Step 2: Choose one and outline target audience.

Step 3: Create revenue model.

Step 4: Write short pitch.

Teach them to think in steps. That’s how builders think.

5️⃣ Output Formatting Control

Students learn to control how AI responds:

Ask for bullet points.

Ask for table format.

Ask for numbered steps.

Ask for JSON-style structure.

Ask for summary + detailed explanation.

Example:

Provide the answer in a 3-column table with headings: Problem, AI Solution, Tools Needed.

This prevents messy output.

🛠 Practical Exercise

Prompt Upgrade Challenge.

Step 1: Take 3 weak prompts like:

“Write about AI.”

“Help me study.”

“Make a business idea.”

Step 2: They must redesign them using:

Role

Clear task

Context

Constraints

Output format

Step 3: Compare results and discuss improvement.

📌 Mini Assessment (End of Class)

Students submit: 1 improved structured prompt

1 short explanation of why it works better.

💡Key Takeaway

AI is powerful.

But structure creates intelligence.

Builders don’t ask vague questions.

They design instructions.

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 About Soft AI Academy

Soft AI Academy is the education and talent-development arm of Soft AI Africa, created to train Africans with practical, job-ready Artificial Intelligence skills that solve real problems across the continent.

We focus on hands-on learning, mentorship, and real-world projects, not just theory. Our programs are designed for students, professionals, entrepreneurs, institutions, and governments looking to build or adopt AI responsibly and effectively.