---
id: "action-teach-specification"
type: "action-item"
source_timestamps: ["00:06:35", "00:07:08", "00:14:29"]
tags: ["curriculum", "future-skills"]
related: ["concept-specification-literacy", "claim-specification-is-bottleneck", "framework-nate-7-principles"]
action: "Force children to articulate precise goals and constraints before prompting an AI."
outcome: "Children learn to direct autonomous systems effectively rather than accepting mediocre default outputs."
sources: ["s10-vibe-codes"]
sourceVaultSlug: "s10-vibe-codes"
originDay: 10
---
# Teach Specification as a Core Literacy

## Action

Shift educational focus toward teaching children how to write precise specifications. This is the operational form of [[concept-specification-literacy]] and Principle 2 of [[framework-nate-7-principles]].

## The Practical Move

When a child wants to use AI to:
- Build a game
- Write a story
- Plan a project
- Solve a problem

…force them to **first articulate** the exact goals, constraints, and parameters of the task *before* they are allowed to prompt the AI.

## What 'Articulating' Means

- Explicit objective: 'I want a 2D platformer where the player is a cat.'
- Constraints: 'It must run in a browser, have 3 levels, never crash.'
- Decomposition: 'First the cat sprite, then the platforms, then enemies, then scoring.'
- Success criteria: 'How will I know when it's done?'

## Why

Quality specifications are the only thing standing between mediocre AI output and excellent AI output — see [[claim-specification-is-bottleneck]]. This is the affirmative skill of the AI age.

## Outcome

Children learn to direct autonomous systems effectively rather than accepting mediocre default outputs. This is the [[concept-vibe-coding-d10]] skill applied generally.

## Pedagogical Note

Specification can be taught as a writing exercise *before* AI is even introduced. Have kids write 'instructions for a robot babysitter' or 'instructions for a stranger to bake their favorite cookie.' This builds the muscle without the AI dependency.