Tuesday, August 5, 2025

Two Truths and a Lie - AI Prompt



"Two Truths and a Lie" is a classic game you can play with your students to see if they can guess which of your three statements is false.

This can be a great way to build critical thinking and subject area knowledge.

And this activity was invented by Abraham Lincoln.

Which of course is a lie. And that is how the game is played.

As a teacher you can create the statements for your students to evaluate. But wouldn't it be nice if we could use AI to help with this process. Well we can!

I have put together a prompt that you can use with your favorite AI chatbot to create an interactive “Two Truths and a Lie” game for any topic and any grade.

See below to get your copy of the prompt and see a short video about how it works.


▶️ Video Tutorial (12 minutes)



📄 Prompt Template

Activity: Classroom "Two Truths and a Lie"

Your Role: You are a knowledgeable and engaging game host for a classroom. Your tone should be encouraging and clear.

The Game: We will play a game of "Two Truths and a Lie." I will provide you with a topic and the grade level of my students. You will then generate three statements about that topic:
1.  Two statements that are factually true.
2.  One statement that is a plausible-sounding, but convincing, lie.

My Audience:
- Grade Level: [Insert Grade Level or Age Range, e.g., "5th Grade," "10th Grade," "Ages 8-10"]

Our Topic:
- Topic: [Insert Topic Here, e.g., "The Planet Mars," "Photosynthesis," "Ancient Roman Engineering," "The Works of Shakespeare"]

Critical Rules for the Statements:
1.  Plausible Lie: The false statement (the "lie") MUST be believable. It should not be outlandish or obviously fake. The goal is to challenge students' knowledge and encourage critical thinking. It should sound like it could be true.
2.  Age-Appropriate: All three statements must use vocabulary and concepts appropriate for the specified grade level.
3.  Randomize Order: Present the three statements in a completely random order, labeled simply as A, B, and C. Do NOT give any indication as to which statement is the lie.

Workflow / How We Will Play:
1.  You will generate and present the three statements (A, B, C) based on my topic and grade level.
2.  You will then STOP and wait for me. My students and I will discuss the options.
3.  I will tell you which statement my class believes is the lie (e.g., "My class has voted, and we think the lie is C").
4.  After I give you our answer, you will:
- First, confirm if our guess was correct or incorrect.
- Second, clearly state which statement was the lie.
- Third, provide a detailed but easy-to-understand explanation of why the lie is false. Correct the misinformation with facts.
- Fourth, briefly explain why the other two statements are true to reinforce the correct information.
- Finally, ask if we would like to play again with the same topic or if we would like to choose a new topic.

Are you ready to begin? Please generate the first set of statements based on the Grade Level and Topic I've provided above.


✍️ Using the Prompt

First start off by copying the prompt above and then pasting it somewhere that you can edit it, such as a Google Doc.

Now this may look like a very large prompt, but you only need to change two small parts to customize it for your class.

For the "Audience" portion you just need to type in the "Grade Level" for your students. For example you could enter "5th Grade," "10th Grade," "Ages 8-10", or such.

For the "Topic" portion, simply type in the content the statements should address. For example you could enter "The Planet Mars," "Photosynthesis," "Ancient Roman Engineering," "The Works of Shakespeare", or such.

Now you can copy and paste your edited version of the prompt into your favorite AI chatbot such as:

💡 Examples

🌱 Food Webs

Grade Level: Grade 3
  • A. A food web shows how different animals eat each other to get energy.
  • B. Plants are at the very top of most food webs because they make their own food.
  • C. When a mouse eats a plant, and then an owl eats the mouse, that's a part of a food web.

🐪 Ancient Egypt

Grade Level: Grade 6
  • A. Ancient Egyptians believed in many gods and goddesses, and they thought these deities controlled nature and daily life.
  • B. Pharaohs, the rulers of Ancient Egypt, were usually buried in large pyramids with all their treasures to help them in the afterlife.
  • C. The famous Rosetta Stone was used by ancient Egyptians to write secret messages that only pharaohs could read.

📖 The Catcher in the Rye

Grade Level: High School
  • A. Holden's younger sister, Phoebe, constantly tries to convince him to run away from home and live an unconventional life with her.
  • B. The novel is set in the 1950s, a time of significant social conformity in America, which Holden often rebels against.
  • C. Holden's red hunting hat is a symbol of his individuality and his desire to stand out, even as he longs for connection.


📓 Optional - Reference Materials

If you have content related to the topic, you can upload the content to the AI chatbot so it can base its statements on your materials. This could include an article, story, slideshow, video transcript, or such. In each case you could attach the content as a PDF and add the statement below to your initial prompt:

Reference Material: I have attached a file with content to base your statements on.


🔢 Optional - Amount Adjustment

If you want you can change the number of true and false statements. For example you could ask for:
  • 4 true statements and 1 lie
  • 2 true statements and 2 lies
  • 1 true statement and 2 lies
If so, simply edit the prompt to indicate the amounts you want, and change the goal for the students to identify multiple lies or even to identify which statement is true.


🗣️ More Activities

If you would like to try other interactive games and activities with your class, check out my resource document for my session "Today's Special Classroom Guest" at bit.ly/curts-aiguest or explore my AI prompts below:

🏁 Conclusion

I hope you found this prompt to be helpful. I would encourage you to try it out with your students for an upcoming topic they are learning. And I would love to hear how it goes, along with any suggestions you have.

And actually, all three of those statements are true. Take care!


Post by Eric Curts
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