Discovering Prompt Engineering: A Qualitative Study of Nonexpert Teachers' Interactions with ChatGPT

Discussions of the use of artificial intelligence (AI) have become ubiquitous in research, industry, and education. Prompt engineering has emerged as a valuable skill desired by employers, and students have begun to express interest in learning effective ways of interacting with Generative AI. While much research has been done to formalize and optimize the process of prompt engineering, few studies have investigated the use of AI by nonexperts, including nonexpert teachers. In this study, we use qualitative analysis to characterize the process by which nonexpert teachers engage with and learn from ChatGPT as they engage with it as co-creators to develop an educational game designed to teach concepts of financial literacy. We address implications for nonexpert teachers’ use of Generative AI, including suggested methods for the use of ChatGPT to develop educational games and for tacitly learning prompt engineering by using the tool.