Prompt Iteration Cycle

Run the Prompt Iteration Cycle MicroSim Fullscreen

About This MicroSim

Beginners tend to treat a disappointing AI response as a verdict. Experienced prompt engineers treat it as data. This MicroSim makes that difference visible by drawing prompt refinement as a loop rather than a line, with a quality gauge in the middle that only moves when you keep going.

The five steps are deliberately ordinary: write, send, evaluate, diagnose, refine. The one most people skip is diagnose, and skipping it is why so many second attempts are no better than the first.

How to Use

Press "Next Step" to move around the cycle. The quality gauge in the centre climbs a little with every step you take.
Click any step to read its worked example without advancing the cycle.
Watch the gauge. It starts at 15%, which is roughly what a first draft earns. Getting it into the green takes several full laps — that is the point.
Press "Reset" to start over from a blank first draft.

Iframe Embed Code

You can add this MicroSim to any web page by adding this to your HTML:

<iframe src="https://dmccreary.github.io/prompt-class/sims/prompt-iteration-cycle/main.html"
        height="567px"
        width="100%"
        scrolling="no"></iframe>

Lesson Plan

Learning Objective

Students will be able to explain the iterative process of prompt refinement and how each step contributes to improving response quality.

Bloom's Level: Understand (L2) — explain, summarize

Grade Level

High school through adult learners.

Duration

10-15 minutes

Prerequisites

Students should have written at least one prompt and been mildly disappointed by the result. That experience is the hook.

Activities

Walk the loop (4 min): Students press Next Step through two complete cycles, reading each worked example as it appears.
Name the skipped step (4 min): Ask the class which of the five steps they usually skip in real life. Most will admit to jumping from Evaluate straight to Refine. Discuss what goes wrong when you fix something without diagnosing it.
Run it for real (7 min): Students take a genuinely weak prompt of their own and work it through all five steps once, writing down their diagnosis in words before they touch the prompt.

Discussion Questions

Why does the gauge start at 15% rather than 0%?
Two of the five steps are coloured differently. What do Evaluate Response and Diagnose Issues have in common that the other three do not?
What would it mean for the gauge to stop climbing? Is there a point where more iteration stops paying off?

Assessment

Can the student name all five steps in order?
Can the student state a diagnosis in the form "the response was X because the prompt lacked Y"?
Can the student explain why iteration is a normal part of the process rather than evidence of a mistake?