A 5-Step Guide For High School Students to Learn a New Concept

Since its introduction in mainstream use, ChatGPT has taken the world by storm. While it has roused passionate debates in academia about its use and misuse, we cannot deny its power in compiling information and giving you exactly what you need. There are concerns about students lifting their assignments off the platform instead of putting in real effort. On the brighter side, it will push the teachers to give more challenging work to students that demands reflection and formulating opinions. 

Despite all these concerns, we think it is a great tool to help students with their studies. In the Indian education system, there is a high premium on private classes after school. It is a common belief that these classes help students excel in their exams. However, it is also a fact that this regimented routine of school, coaching classes and self-study puts a lot of burden on students. As a result, the understanding of topics remains at a superficial level where the students do not necessarily learn the real-life use of concepts.

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With ChatGPT, students can enhance their understanding of a topic by cutting out irrelevant information and connecting it with real-life scenarios and other academic concepts. Also, with the correct prompts, they can learn a topic at different levels of difficulty. We experimented with different prompts and developed a 5-step process that will take you up the learning curve. To get started, let us look at how ChatGPT can create a study plan for a new topic.

For the sake of an example, let’s consider the topic of momentum in Physics. Here is the prompt to generate a study plan to get introduced to the topic and gradually build up your level of understanding through the complexities of momentum as a concept.

ChatGPT prompt to create a study plan – “Act like a high school teacher. Give me a study plan to understand momentum for the 11th standard.”

Here is the study plan that ChatGPT generates.

Once you have the study plan, you can use a 5-Step process to improve your learning.

1. Explain it to me as if I am a five year old?

When you are first starting out, it is a  good idea to simplify the topic instead of diving into the complexities of the topic directly. We told ChatGPT to explain momentum to a five-year-old. Here is the prompt we used – “Explain the concept of momentum to a five-year-old.” This is the result it gave.

We weren’t too happy with the result and asked ChatGPT to simplify it further, and here is what we got. Now, that is a pretty good way to get introduced to a concept, right?

2. Give me a simple definition and an academic definition with a couple of examples?

Here is the result we received for an academic definition.

We also asked for a non-bookish definition of momentum. ChatGPT simplified the definition to make it clear to us.

Moving on to the next concept of conservation of momentum, we asked ChatGPT to break it down. Here is the prompt we used, “Can you breakdown conservation of momentum in simpler pieces”

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We wanted more examples and asked ChatGPT for it. We liked the result as it really enhances the quality of understanding.

3. Give me a few creative analogies or stories for momentum to make it fun.

We wanted to add a fun element to learning and used this prompt. We like the fact that it has lifted examples from everyday life. When students learn something this way, they are not only more engaged but will also understand the concept deeply and remember it for a longer time.

4. What are a few adjacent topics that are crucial to understand the concept of momentum. Please provide a simple explanation and connection to momentum.

Learning is a process and in high school, students are expected to relate one concept with others. ChatGPT would do that for you too. We used this prompt and here is what we received.

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5. Give me 10 problems on momentum in increasing order of difficulty. I will submit  my answer, please check and guide me.

Once the concept has been understood, the last step is to solve the problems. ChatGPT can act like a tutor and show you how to solve numerical problems associated with the concept. We asked ChatGPT to show and solve a practice problem involving momentum using the prompt, “Give me a practice problem for momentum.”

Finally, we asked the platform to give us a number of problems and allow us to solve them ourselves.

In all, we think ChatGPT is pretty good at being a teacher. With the right prompts, you can enhance the quality of your studies and be more productive. Do try this out and let us know how it helped you.