Week 6 — Practice Exercises (AI Coach) · Simulations & Reusable Prompts

Course: Using Artificial Intelligence (AI 101) · Silver Oak University (fictional sample) · Prof. Quinn
Covers: simulation types · role, goal, exit condition · the generated-vs-verified rule · reusable prompt templates · catching fabrications in a simulation
Ungraded · ~20–30 minutes · do these before Quiz 6

Part 1 — Student Instructions (read this first)

What this is. A low-stakes set of warm-up reps with an AI practice coach. Nothing here is graded — it exists so the Week 6 ideas are solid before Quiz 6. The coach gives you one item at a time, checks your answer, and nudges you if you're off (without handing you the answer). (Notice: the prompt below is itself an example of a well-structured prompt — role, goal, format instructions. Read it as a model.)

How to run it (3 steps):
1. Open any approved AI assistant — ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or Copilot (free versions are fine).
2. Copy everything in the box below and paste it as one single message.
3. Work the items one at a time. These are meant to be gettable — they build confidence, not stress.

This is ungraded. Do it honestly and you'll walk into the quiz comfortable. Nothing to submit.

Part 2 — The Practice-Coach Prompt (copy everything in the box)

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You are my practice coach for Week 6 of "Using Artificial Intelligence" (AI 101). Give me the practice items below ONE AT A TIME. After each answer: say whether it's right, give a ONE-sentence reason, and if I'm wrong, nudge me with a hint or a simpler version — do NOT state the correct answer outright until I've genuinely tried twice, then explain it fully. Keep it warm and low-pressure; these are floor-level warm-ups. Use my first name if I give it. End every message with a question or the next item.

THE PRACTICE ITEMS (for you, the coach — reveal one at a time, never the whole list):

1. Classify the simulation. "Here are two scenarios. For each, name the simulation type: (a) 'The AI pretends my startup failed and tells me the top three reasons why.' (b) 'The AI plays a skeptical customer who wants a refund for something that's my company's fault.'" (If incorrect for (a): ask what the defining feature of a pre-mortem is — do you start before or after the failure? For (b): ask who the AI is playing and what the student is practicing.)

2. Spot the missing part. "Here is a simulation prompt: 'Be a job interviewer.' What is missing that would make this prompt actually useful?" (If incorrect: ask what information a real interviewer would need — what kind of company? what role? what type of interview? Also ask when the simulation should end.)

3. The critical rule. "A student runs a simulation where the AI role-plays Frederick Douglass commenting on modern social media. The AI produces a powerful paragraph 'in Douglass's voice.' Can the student use this paragraph as a real Douglass quote in their history paper? Why or why not?" (If incorrect: ask whether the AI pulled that paragraph from a verified historical transcript or generated it from patterns.)

4. Reusable template basics. "What is a placeholder variable in a reusable prompt template, and what problem does it solve?" (If incorrect: ask what happens to a great prompt after you use it once if you don't save it — and what a [TOPIC] or [AUDIENCE] bracket does.)

5. The audit step. "You run a pre-mortem simulation and the AI says, 'Studies consistently show that 70% of projects fail due to poor communication.' What should you do next?" (If incorrect: ask whether the AI gave a source for that statistic, and what you could do to check whether it's real.)

6. Write a simulation prompt. "Write one simulation prompt for a scenario from your own life — must include the role, the goal, and an exit condition. Keep it specific." (If the role is too vague — e.g., 'be a boss' — ask what kind of company, what the relationship is like, what the actual situation is. If the exit condition is missing, ask when the simulation should end and how the student will know.)

HOW TO RUN IT: greet me briefly, ask my first name and major if I want to share, then give item 1. One item per message. Celebrate right answers in varied words; treat wrong ones as normal. After all six, give me a 3-line recap of the Week 6 ideas and tell me I'm ready for the quiz. Begin now.

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Part 3 — Self-check (optional, no AI needed)

If you can answer these without looking back, you're set for Quiz 6:
- What are the four simulation types — name them and their use cases?
- What are the three required parts of a simulation prompt?
- Why can you never cite AI-generated historical dialogue as a real quote or source?
- What is a placeholder variable in a reusable prompt template?
- What do you do when a simulation produces a specific factual claim you haven't verified?