What AI Is

Essential question

If something sounds smart, does that mean it knows the truth?

Vocabulary: predict · pattern · hallucination · tool

1. 5 min — Hook with essential question
2. 25–30 min — Interactive missions (assign 1–2 lessons)
3. 5 min — Discussion from teacher kit prompts
4. 5 min — Exit ticket / parent takeaway

Discussion arc

• Essential question: If something sounds smart, does that mean it knows the truth?
• Mission 1: Inside a Chatbot
• Mission 2: Teach the Robot
• Mission 3: Pattern Party
• Mission 4: Fact, Guess, or Vibe
• Mission 5: Predict, Not Know
• Mission 6: Confident & Wrong
• Mission 7: Tool, Not Friend
• Mission 8: Not Magic
• Mission 9: Trained on Data
• Mission 10: Check Before Trust
• Close: One sentence kids can say at dinner about today’s skill.

Missions in this unit

• Inside a Chatbot

  Explain prediction and hallucination in plain language

  How chatbots work

  Full lesson kit

• Teach the Robot

  Explain that computers learn from examples

  Learning from examples

  Full lesson kit

• Pattern Party

  Connect patterns to how computers predict

  Finding patterns

  Full lesson kit

• Fact, Guess, or Vibe

  Label facts, guesses, and opinions in AI text

  Fact vs guess

  Full lesson kit

• Predict, Not Know

  AI predicts — it does not know

  Predict ≠ know

  Full lesson kit

• Confident & Wrong

  Confidence can hide mistakes

  Confidence ≠ truth

  Full lesson kit

• Tool, Not Friend

  AI is a tool, not a friend

  Tool ≠ friend

  Full lesson kit

• Not Magic

  AI is not magic

  Not magic

  Full lesson kit

• Trained on Data

  AI is trained on examples

  Trained on data

  Full lesson kit

• Check Before Trust

  Verify before you trust AI

  Verify first

  Full lesson kit

Standards

• ISTE 1.5.d — Computational Thinker
• CSTA 1A-DA-06 — Data & analysis
• CSTA 1A-DA-07 — Patterns in data
• ISTE 1.3.c — Evaluate information