Learning with AI Lesson Plan

Artificial intelligence

Level: Grades 4-6

Author: Matthew Johnson, Director of Education, MediaSmarts

Duration: 2 to 2 1/3 hours

This lesson is part of USE, UNDERSTAND & ENGAGE: A Digital Media Literacy Framework for Canadian Schools.

Overview

In this lesson, students in grades 4 through 6 explore the capabilities and limitations of AI. They learn to verify AI-generated answers using search engines and reliable sources while collaborating to build a model that explains how AI tools actually function. They evaluate the ethics of various AI uses and establish a set of responsible rules for its application in their studies. Finally, students design a visual "Learning Loop" that illustrates the distinct roles of humans and AI, reinforcing the concept that the student must remain the "boss" of the machine.

Learning outcomes

Essential knowledge: Students will learn..

  • Reading Media: the specific components of an AI system, including the parts (computer, prompt, output), the people (the user, developers, and experts in training data), and the interactions between them.
  • Finding and verifying: AI tools can generate convincing but false information; AI claims must be verified against trustworthy, external sources
  • Ethics and Empathy: the difference between ethical and unethical uses of AI in a school context, such as the distinction between using AI for feedback on clarity versus having the AI write an assignment for them
  • Making and Remixing: best practices for using AI as a learning tool

Key concepts/big ideas: Students will understand…

  • Media are constructions: AI is a machine, not a "brain," that it picks answers based on a massive amount of data provided by humans rather than "thinking" in the human sense
  • Media have social and political implications: the use of AI has real-world consequences for their own learning and that they must ensure it is used safely and effectively
  • Digital media experiences are shaped by the tools we use: how we use AI tools is influenced by their design, but we are able to use them in ways that we control

Performance tasks: Students will be able to…

  • Use: Verify AI-generated claims using search engines and the "Companion Reading" strategy; use AI effectively as a learning partner to test their understanding of a concept or process.
  • Understand: Build a model of how AI works and how to use it ethically and effectively.
  • Engage: Debate the ethics of various AI use cases and develop rules to guide their future interactions with AI tools.

Student-facing outcomes:

We will learn how AI works and how to use it well as a learning partner.

We will think about the right and wrong ways and times to use AI.

We will use AI to help us understand things and show what we have learned about how AI works. 

This lesson and all associated documents (handouts, overheads, backgrounders) is available in an easy-print, pdf kit version.

Lesson Kit