Ethics

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9th, 10th, 11th, 12th

Convincing AI Socrates to escape prison

Based off of 'Crito' (book by Plato), let students play the role of Crito and try to convince AI Socrates to escape prison.

Screenshot of student session next to book cover of 'Crito' by Plato.
Screenshot of student session next to book cover of 'Crito' by Plato.
Screenshot of student session next to book cover of 'Crito' by Plato.

Teaching goals

Reading texts is essential to learning philosophy, but it can be challenging for students to connect and interact with literature that is centuries old.

While discussions and written reflections can help students develop a deeper understanding of a text, teachers have used Flint to bring readings to life in a way that is much more engaging for students.

With Flint, the AI can play the role of a character from any text, which can give students an entirely new way of engaging.

In this example, as you can see below, the learning objective the teacher entered centers around Crito, the book by Plato. In this case, the teacher hasn’t uploaded any supporting materials for the AI to pull from. That’s okay, because Flint already has an expansive knowledge base that covers well-known texts.


Learning objective:

Students should understand why Socrates refused to escape from prison in 'Crito' (the book by Plato).

No materials provided (learn more here)

Extra customization

As the next step of designing this AI tutor, Flint provided the teacher with three options to choose from. These ideas are generated automatically by the AI, based on the learning objective that the teacher provided.

Three tutor type ideas generated by Flint with one selected, being a philosophical role-play.

Once the teacher selects a “tutor type”, Flint automatically generates the underlying prompts that the AI will follow as it plays the role of Socrates. As you can see, AI Socrates will ensure that he clearly communicates why he refused to escape from prison.

Screenshots of the initial prompt and rules showing how the AI is playing the role of Crito.

To give the conversation a sense of urgency (after all, the student will be trying to convince Socrates to escape from prison), we can set a time limit for the conversation.

Screenshot of the countdown timer on sessions because the duration has been set to 15 minutes.

Student experience

Throughout the conversation with the AI, students will play the role of Crito as they convince AI Socrates to escape from prison.

Screenshot of example student session with the AI

To better integrate this activity as part of the lesson plan, the teacher can have the student print out their session (or download it as a PDF) to bring into class as the basis for a class-wide discussion.

Printing preview screenshot showing how Flint sessions can be exported as a PDF and printed.

As a result, AI can be used to help students engage with the text on a deeper level as they develop their own perspective on why Socrates refused to escape from prison. Then, students can share their perspectives with the class and engage in a richer discussion than would be otherwise possible.

Extra customization

As the next step of designing this AI tutor, Flint provided the teacher with three options to choose from. These ideas are generated automatically by the AI, based on the learning objective that the teacher provided.

Three tutor type ideas generated by Flint with one selected, being a philosophical role-play.

Once the teacher selects a “tutor type”, Flint automatically generates the underlying prompts that the AI will follow as it plays the role of Socrates. As you can see, AI Socrates will ensure that he clearly communicates why he refused to escape from prison.

Screenshots of the initial prompt and rules showing how the AI is playing the role of Crito.

To give the conversation a sense of urgency (after all, the student will be trying to convince Socrates to escape from prison), we can set a time limit for the conversation.

Screenshot of the countdown timer on sessions because the duration has been set to 15 minutes.

Ethics

|

9th, 10th, 11th, 12th

Convincing AI Socrates to escape prison

Screenshot of student session next to book cover of 'Crito' by Plato.

Teaching goals

Reading texts is essential to learning philosophy, but it can be challenging for students to connect and interact with literature that is centuries old.

While discussions and written reflections can help students develop a deeper understanding of a text, teachers have used Flint to bring readings to life in a way that is much more engaging for students.

With Flint, the AI can play the role of a character from any text, which can give students an entirely new way of engaging.

In this example, as you can see below, the learning objective the teacher entered centers around Crito, the book by Plato. In this case, the teacher hasn’t uploaded any supporting materials for the AI to pull from. That’s okay, because Flint already has an expansive knowledge base that covers well-known texts.


Learning objective:

Students should understand why Socrates refused to escape from prison in 'Crito' (the book by Plato).

Extra customization

As the next step of designing this AI tutor, Flint provided the teacher with three options to choose from. These ideas are generated automatically by the AI, based on the learning objective that the teacher provided.

Three tutor type ideas generated by Flint with one selected, being a philosophical role-play.

Once the teacher selects a “tutor type”, Flint automatically generates the underlying prompts that the AI will follow as it plays the role of Socrates. As you can see, AI Socrates will ensure that he clearly communicates why he refused to escape from prison.

Screenshots of the initial prompt and rules showing how the AI is playing the role of Crito.

To give the conversation a sense of urgency (after all, the student will be trying to convince Socrates to escape from prison), we can set a time limit for the conversation.

Screenshot of the countdown timer on sessions because the duration has been set to 15 minutes.

Student experience

Throughout the conversation with the AI, students will play the role of Crito as they convince AI Socrates to escape from prison.

Screenshot of example student session with the AI

To better integrate this activity as part of the lesson plan, the teacher can have the student print out their session (or download it as a PDF) to bring into class as the basis for a class-wide discussion.

Printing preview screenshot showing how Flint sessions can be exported as a PDF and printed.

As a result, AI can be used to help students engage with the text on a deeper level as they develop their own perspective on why Socrates refused to escape from prison. Then, students can share their perspectives with the class and engage in a richer discussion than would be otherwise possible.

Other Ethics teacher testimonials:

With the AI chat history, I can see what the kids are thinking through their writing. The kids also thoroughly enjoyed the Flint assignment. At back-to-school night last week, I had several parents mention that their kids went home and talked about the ‘cool assignment’. It's not often kids openly share with their parents about their classroom experiences, so that was great to hear.”

Zach Richards headshot

Zach Richards

Ethics teacher at Episcopal

Spark AI-powered learning at your school.

Sign up to start using Flint, free for up to 80 users.

Watch the video

Spark AI-powered learning at your school.

Sign up to start using Flint, free for up to 80 users.

Watch the video

Spark AI-powered learning at your school.

Sign up to start using Flint, free for up to 80 users.

Watch the video