AI Lessons
Lesson 1: Is this AI or not?

Purpose: Students are introduced to AI technology and the different types of AI. They explore how AI generates text by learning from examples and predicting what comes next, rather than thinking or understanding like humans.

No. of Classes

1 - (Time : 1 hour 30 minutes, Laptops/desktops : 10, Students strength : 15 to 20).

Materials Required

Laptop / Desktop with Internet connections / Wi-Fi.

Curriculum Content

1. AI Literacy

  • 1.1 What Artificial Intelligence is (and what it is not)
  • 1.2 Everyday AI tools
  • 1.3 Using AI tools
  • 1.4 Prompting and prompt effectiveness

2. AI and ML Concepts - A Simplified Overview

  • 2.1 Types of AI
  • 2.2 Generative AI fundamentals
Prior knowledge
  • Browsers
  • Familiarity with common digital tools such as search and maps
Exercises

Exercise (1)


  • Identify everyday technologies that use AI and those that do not. Discuss how AI is used in daily life and explore different types of AI. Click here to open the instruction document for this exercise.

Exercise (2)


  • Predict the next word in simple sentences and observe how AI generates text by predicting the most likely next word. Click here to open the instruction document for this exercise.

Exercise (3)


  • Give different prompts to ChatGPT, compare the responses, and observe how changing the prompt affects the AI's output. (This can be same as the two AI prompting activities) Click here to open the instruction document with sample prompts for the children to try.

Solutions


Teacher's Instruction:
  1. Ask the students: "Have you ever used an AI tool without realising it was an AI tool?" (e.g., autocorrect, search suggestions, voice assistants)
  2. Ask students: "Have you ever seen Google Maps suggest and change travel time because of traffic on the way?" Discuss how tools predict outcomes based on data
  3. Explain to students that:
    • Not all technology is based on AI. Not all robots are AI
    • AI learns from data - highlight differences and similarities in the way AI and humans learn
    • AI generates text based on predictions and patterns, not by meaning and emotions
  4. Prompts and chatbot responses: Show students how a chatbot answers a prompt, and how changing the wording changes the answer: Compare the outputs for (1) "Write a poem", (2) "Write a funny poem" and (3) "Write a funny poem on a cat"
  5. Points to Ponder:
    • Two of you typed the very same prompt and got different answers back. Why did AI not give the exact same answer?