Artificial Intelligence is changing how students learn, create, and solve problems, but many educators still view AI as a mysterious "black box." Understanding how AI processes questions can help both teachers and students become more thoughtful, effective, and ethical users of these powerful tools.
In this highly interactive session, participants will experience hands-on activities that model how modern AI systems organize information using embeddings, retrieve relevant knowledge through concepts like Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), and generate responses through next-token prediction. Rather than focusing on prompt "tricks," we'll explore why strong inquiry skills naturally lead to stronger AI interactions.
Through games, discussion, and inquiry-based learning, participants will build an intuitive understanding of how AI interprets context, why additional information improves responses, and how better questions help both humans and AI learn more effectively.
Participants will leave with classroom-ready activities, a practical mental model of how generative AI works, and new strategies for helping students develop one of the most important skills of the AI era: asking better questions.
Participants will:
- Explain, at a conceptual level, how modern generative AI processes prompts.
- Experience how embeddings organize information through hands-on activities.
- Understand how context influences AI responses and why richer prompts produce better results.
- Connect inquiry-based teaching practices to effective AI use.
- Leave with classroom-ready activities for developing AI literacy.
