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ARKAI Readiness Kollective
AI Aware · Grades K-5Module 1

Facilitator guide: What Is AI?

52 minutesReview status: Being checked
Open the lessonsSlide deck (Google Drive)

Materials

  • Picture cards for Step 3: three red apples labeled "apple," three red things labeled "not an apple" (a ball, a strawberry, a tomato), and one green apple with no label.
  • Signs for the Step 2 sort.
  • Paper for drawing.

Lesson steps

  1. 1. Is it smart? (Explainer, 5 min)
  2. 2. How AI learns (Explainer, 7 min)
  3. 3. You are the AI (Activity, 10 min)
  4. 4. The drawing helper (Scenario, 6 min)
  5. 5. Quick check (Quick check, 4 min)
  6. 6. My AI helper (Reflect, 5 min)
  7. 7. Recap (Recap, 3 min)

Timing for a 45-60 minute session

Minutes What happens Format
0-3 Pre-check, read aloud Whole group
3-8 Step 1: “Has a device ever guessed?” Whole group
8-18 Step 2 and the sort as a stand-up game Whole group
18-28 Step 3 Play it: You are the AI Small groups
28-35 Step 4 scenario vote Whole group
35-40 Step 5 quick check Whole group
40-47 Step 6: What ARK thinks, then reflect Individual, then pairs
47-52 Step 7 recap and post-check Whole group

Before you start

  • Every activity is unplugged or led by an adult. Learners do not use AI tools themselves.
  • For grades K-2, skip the Level up box and act out Step 3 with real fruit if you can.
  • For grades 3-5, use the Level up box and ask learners to invent their own “tricky card.”
  • “What ARK thinks” is an opinion. Say so out loud, and let kids disagree.

Discussion prompts

Use the two in Step 6.

Answer notes

Quick check: 1 B, 2 C, 3 B, 4 B. Pre/post: 1 C, 2 B, 3 A. In Step 3, the strawberry and tomato are good tricky cards: red, round, and not apples.

Words to know

artificial intelligence (AI)
A computer program that learns from examples and then makes a guess or a choice.
pattern
Something that repeats, like stripes on a shirt.
training data
The big pile of examples an AI learns from.
robot
A machine that can move and do jobs. Some robots use AI. Many do not.

Workshop quick checks

Learners can answer these on their own phones with no account. Answers count toward ARK's anonymous totals.