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Thanks for the suggestion of An Taisce and No Mow May Orla&CJ!
I’ll pass this onto our green school’s team!
Wow CJ this is amazing! Our school has just gotten a plot donated for a school garden. The children were heavily involved in the design in that the older classes all submitted their own design of what it should look like. As works are almost complete and we will be ready to start implementing their suggestions, this activity would be an excellent start to the year! I’ll recommend it to our green school’s coordinator! Thanks so much!
Great reflective piece here CJ. I agree completely about hands on learning and letting the children discover concepts for themselves. When they join the dots and make the connections independently as a learner, it is far more likely to stay with them in terms of the content and the learning experience itself.
I logged into Chat GPT for this task. I knew that I wanted my lesson to be about the accuracy of AI generation and the importance of the ‘input’. I want students to be critical of what they see on the internet; to question its legitimacy instead of blindly accepting it to be the truth. I can see the potential for integration with a lesson like this as before even deciding on a particular topic to explore the concept, you are already covering Well-being and the Primary Language curriculum.
The lesson I have created with the help of AI is below; I feel that by doing the task this way, I have truly applied and demonstrated my learning in terms of the course content. I say this as I started by entering in what I wanted, I was very concise with my input. I evaluated the output and then made the necessary edits to ensure that the lesson is appropriate for my class in every aspect. This has shown me how AI can be used by a time poor teacher genuinely trying their best for the students. Instead of banging my head against the wall by spending hours contemplating how I could best plan, resource and deliver this lesson, I thought about what I wanted to teach, why I wanted to teach it and what I wanted the students to take away at the end of the lesson and let AI do the bulk of the work afterwards. What would have taken me hours, has taken minutes thereby freeing up more time for me to edit, differentiate and ‘jazz’ up the lesson. It allows me to have better lessons with more accurate learning outcomes; it enables me to question what I’m teaching and why and gives me the time to be able to that which is one of the most important things as a teacher. I have often seen a very cool science experiment or activity that I knew the kids would love but couldn’t figure out exactly what said activity would be teaching them. Now I know that instead of trying to research that for hours in order to ensure it is a valuable activity in line with the curriculum, I can ask AI to present me with the relevant research and then make a decision based on the evidence in front of me.My lesson plan:
Lesson Plan: Does AI Always Get It Right?
Class: 3rd Class
Curriculum Areas: Language – English; Wellbeing
Lesson Focus: AI, language, bias and critical evaluation of information
Duration: Approximately 60 minutes
Theme: What we put in can influence what we get out.
________________________________________
1. Rationale
Children encounter information through an increasingly wide range of digital and online sources. Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) provides a useful context through which children can explore an important aspect of language and digital literacy: the language we use can influence the information or response we receive.
Through playful experimentation, children will discover that changing the wording, detail or assumptions within a prompt can change an AI-generated response. They will then consider how this connects to information they encounter online.
The central message of the lesson is:
AI gives us an answer, but that does not mean the answer is automatically correct. We need to think about both the input and the output.
Children will begin to develop the habit of asking:
• What did I ask?
• Was my question clear?
• Did I make assumptions?
• Could my question have been biased?
• What did I get back?
• Does it make sense?
• How could I check it?
________________________________________
2. Curriculum Connections
Language – Primary Language Curriculum
The lesson develops children’s ability to:
• communicate ideas, questions, opinions and explanations clearly;
• listen and respond to the ideas of others;
• use language purposefully for different audiences and situations;
• ask questions and make requests;
• engage with and evaluate information presented in texts;
• use comprehension strategies such as questioning, making connections, clarifying and evaluating information;
• discuss different viewpoints and interpretations of texts.
This connects particularly well with the new Language curriculum’s emphasis on children becoming active, critical and purposeful users of language. The Stage 3 Reading outcomes include developing comprehension through strategies such as questioning, clarifying, determining importance and using background knowledge, while the curriculum also asks children to discuss and evaluate viewpoints and messages.
Wellbeing
The lesson supports children to:
• develop self-awareness and confidence in their own thinking;
• recognise that their thoughts, experiences and assumptions can influence how they interpret information;
• make informed and responsible decisions;
• develop critical thinking and ethical awareness;
• understand their responsibilities when engaging with information and technology;
• recognise that information encountered online can influence how we think and feel.
This reflects the new Wellbeing curriculum’s emphasis on social, emotional and ethical development, self-awareness, life skills, connectedness and children’s ability to make responsible choices.
________________________________________
3. Learning Intentions
We are learning to:
1. understand that the information we give an AI tool can influence the response it produces;
2. understand that the words we choose can contain assumptions or bias;
3. recognise that an AI-generated answer is not automatically true or reliable;
4. use questioning and critical thinking when evaluating information;
5. apply what we learn about AI to information we encounter on the internet.
________________________________________
4. Success Criteria
I can:
• explain what an AI prompt is;
• explain why a clear prompt can produce a more useful response;
• identify when a question contains an assumption;
• identify when wording might influence an answer;
• question whether an AI response is accurate;
• give at least one way I could check information;
• explain why I should not automatically believe something just because it appears online or was produced by AI.
Child-friendly success criteria
I can ask it clearly.
I can spot the assumptions.
I can question the answer.
I can check before I believe.
________________________________________
5. Key Vocabulary
Introduce/display:
AI – Artificial Intelligence
Prompt – the instructions or question we give an AI tool
Input – the information we put into a system
Output – what the system gives back
Bias – when a viewpoint or assumption influences how something is presented
Accurate – correct or free from mistakes
Reliable – something we can reasonably trust
Evidence – information that helps us decide whether something is true
Source – where information comes from
For 3rd Class, the teacher can repeatedly return to the simple language:
INPUT → OUTPUT → CHECK
________________________________________
6. Resources
• Interactive whiteboard/projector
• Two or three prepared AI-generated responses
• Prompt cards
• “AI Detective” recording sheet
• Large paper/chart paper
• Sticky notes
• Optional: access to a generative AI tool for a teacher-led demonstration
Important: The teacher should control any live AI demonstration. Children do not need individual accounts or unsupervised access to a generative AI system.
________________________________________
7. Lesson Sequence
A. Starter – “Would You Trust It?”
Time: 5–8 minutes
Display the following statement:
“AI said it, so it must be true.”
Ask the children to show:
👍 Agree
🤔 Not sure
👎 Disagree
Do not immediately tell them the answer.
Ask:
• Why did you choose that?
• Can a computer make a mistake?
• Can people make mistakes?
• Where do you get information?
• Have you ever seen something online that turned out not to be true?
Establish the key idea:
Something being written down or appearing on a screen does not automatically make it true.
Tell the children:
“Today we are going to become AI detectives. We are going to investigate something very important: what happens when we change the question we give AI.”
________________________________________
8. Activity 1 – Same Topic, Different Prompt
Time: 10 minutes
Tell the children that you are going to ask an AI system two questions about the same topic.
For example:
Prompt A
“Tell me about dogs.”
Prompt B
“Tell me five interesting facts about how dogs help people. Use simple language suitable for a 3rd Class child.”
Display the two responses.
Ask:
• Are the answers the same?
• Which answer is more useful?
• Why?
• What did we change?
• What extra information did we give the AI?
Develop the concept:
The input matters.
Explain:
“AI doesn’t know exactly what we mean unless we give it information. The words we choose help guide the response.”
Create a class anchor chart:
GOOD INPUT
Clear
Specific
Gives useful information
Says what you need
↓
OUTPUT
Could be useful
Could be incomplete
Could contain mistakes
↓
OUR JOB
Read it
Think about it
Question it
Check it
________________________________________
9. Activity 2 – The Question Can Change the Answer
Time: 10–12 minutes
Introduce a more interesting example.
Ask:
Prompt A
“Why are cats better pets than dogs?”
Then ask:
Prompt B
“What are some ways cats and dogs can both make good pets?”
Ask children to compare the responses.
Questions:
• What is different about the questions?
• Did the first question already contain an opinion?
• What does the word “better” assume?
• Did the question give the AI a choice?
• Which question gives us a more balanced answer?
• Could we rewrite the first question?
Children suggest alternatives.
For example:
“What are the similarities and differences between cats and dogs as pets?”
Discuss the important concept:
Sometimes the question itself contains an assumption.
Introduce the word bias:
“Bias can happen when we start with an assumption or a particular point of view. Our words can influence the information we get back.”
Emphasise that having an opinion is not “bad”. The important skill is recognising when our opinion or assumption might influence the information we are asking for.
________________________________________
10. Activity 3 – Become an AI Prompt Detective
Time: 12–15 minutes
Place children in pairs.
Give each pair a prompt card.
Examples:
Card 1
“Why is football the best sport?”
Card 2
“Why are video games bad for children?”
Card 3
“Tell me why summer is better than winter.”
Card 4
“Tell me about the best animal.”
Card 5
“Why should everyone have a dog?”
Card 6
“Tell me some reasons children should read books.”
Children discuss:
1. What is the person asking?
2. What assumption is hiding inside the question?
3. Is the question fair or balanced?
4. How could we improve it?
They rewrite their prompt.
Example
Original:
“Why are video games bad for children?”
Improved:
“What are some possible benefits and disadvantages of playing video games?”
Discuss how the second question allows us to hear more than one viewpoint.
________________________________________
11. Activity 4 – From AI to the Internet
Time: 10 minutes
Now make the connection explicit.
Say:
“We’ve discovered that the question we ask AI can influence the answer we receive. But what happens when we are reading something on the internet?”
Display a fictional online statement:
“Scientists have discovered that children who eat breakfast every day are smarter.”
Ask:
Would you believe it immediately?
Children discuss with a partner.
Introduce the idea that we should become information detectives.
Create a second class checklist:
STOP – THINK – CHECK
🛑 STOP
Don’t believe something just because you saw it online.
🧠 THINK
• Who said it?
• What exactly are they claiming?
• Does it sound reasonable?
• Is there an opinion or assumption?
🔎 CHECK
• Where did the information come from?
• Can I find the same information somewhere reliable?
• Is there evidence?
• Is the information current?
• Does another trustworthy source agree?
Make the connection:
“When we use AI, we need to think carefully about the input and the output.”
“When we use the internet, we need to think carefully about the source and the information.”
________________________________________
12. Plenary – “One Thing I Know Now”
Time: 5 minutes
Give each child a sticky note.
Complete:
“Before I believe something an AI or the internet tells me, I should…”
Possible answers:
• check another source;
• ask questions;
• look at who wrote it;
• see if there is evidence;
• check whether the information is current;
• think about whether the question was biased;
• remember that AI can make mistakes.
Place responses around the class anchor chart.
Finish with:
“AI can be a useful tool, but it is not the person doing the thinking. We are.”
________________________________________
13. Assessment
Assessment for Learning
Throughout the lesson, observe whether children can:
• distinguish between input and output;
• identify changes between two prompts;
• recognise assumptions in questions;
• suggest ways to make a question clearer or more balanced;
• question the reliability of an answer;
• suggest appropriate ways of checking information.
Teacher questioning
Useful questions include:
• “What made you think that?”
• “What information did we give the AI?”
• “What did we leave out?”
• “What assumption is hiding in that question?”
• “Could someone else interpret that differently?”
• “How could we find out if this is true?”
• “What evidence would we need?”
• “Would you trust this information? Why?”
________________________________________
14. Differentiation
Support
Provide sentence starters:
“I think the prompt is ______ because…”
“The question assumes that…”
“I would change the prompt by…”
“I would check this by…”
Use visual cards for:
INPUT → AI → OUTPUT → CHECK
Allow children to work collaboratively.
Extension
Ask children to create their own deliberately biased prompt and then rewrite it as a balanced question.
For example:
Biased: “Why are books better than TV?”
Balanced: “What are some benefits and disadvantages of reading books and watching television?”
Challenge children to explain exactly which words changed the meaning of the question.
________________________________________
15. Key Teacher Message
The lesson should avoid giving children the impression that AI is simply “bad” or that everything produced by AI is false.
Instead, the key understanding should be:
AI can produce useful information, but the quality and usefulness of an output can be influenced by the input, and the output still needs to be evaluated.
And the wider digital-literacy connection is:
The internet is full of information, but finding information is not the same as knowing that information is true.
The child is therefore developing a transferable habit:
ASK → QUESTION → CHECK → DECIDE
________________________________________
16. Possible Follow-Up Lesson
A second lesson could build directly on this one:
“Can We Trust This?” – Fact Checking Online Information
Children could be given three age-appropriate pieces of information:
1. a reliable factual statement;
2. an exaggerated/misleading statement;
3. a completely fictional statement.
Working in groups, they would investigate the source, evidence, language and other available information before deciding how trustworthy each claim is.
This would allow the AI lesson to become the starting point for a broader unit on critical literacy, digital citizenship and responsible participation online.This is a fabulous lesson plan and features excellent resources to keep children of all abilities engaged. I have third class this year and will be saving your lesson so I can alter it to suit them. Thank you!
I have to agree with Carol who mentioned that she felt Microsoft Reading Coach is one of the most beneficial AI applications of the course so far. I have looked into OSMO and Magic School but again, due to the amount of funds needed; it is unlikely that schools would be able to use them; this obviously applies more so to OSMO which is a shame as it looks fantastic.
Before I properly delve into how I would introduce and use Microsoft Reading Coach however, I do have one question for the course administrators following research of MagicSchool AI. A video I watched created by a school district who use it references the translation feature but pointed out that based on a traffic light system created by said district, this is where a teacher needs to check for accuracy. While I completely understand the necessity of teacher overview, since we are not fluent in the additional languages that may feature in our classroom, could anybody recommend how to use the feature appropriately?
With Reading coach, I would also be using it as a weekly lesson due to the fact that our digital devices are timetabled that way. I love the idea of letting the children create a story using AI as it allows them to ‘buy in’ to the premise. I think the analytics of the reading is excellent and gives the teacher a better idea of what to specifically listen out for when listening to their reading. When identifying the specific words that children are having difficulty with, the teacher can create lessons based on those specific spelling patterns to extend and help consolidate learning. Upon researching Reading coach further, I plan to educate myself on Microsoft teams so I can use it in conjunction with the reading coach and get the children to send in audio assignments. We can then use it for self-assessment as the student can listen back on a previous recording of the same passage and pick out areas of achievement and areas which require further improvement.
Hi Tracy, I think your point about taking the pressure off is exactly what children who experience difficulties or self esteem issues need. They begin to participate in learning without fear which in turns leads to full engagement.
Part 1:
I think the example of using Microsoft Co-Pilot as a way of developing descriptive writing is excellent. It could be used similarly for Irish too eg when learning prepositions the children can give the instructions as Gaeilge, when teacher enters them, they have an instant visual of whether they used the correct preposition or not and also allows them to familiarise themselves with the vocabulary of that specific theme eg Bia/Scoil srl.
I will definitely be using it as described for descriptive writing but would like to add some extra detail into how it could be used. I find that a lot of the students have either seen the movies or read the novels we cover already and therefore lack the enthusiasm you might desire for a lesson as a result. I think Co-Pilot could help here. Each student could write a prompt (Before/During/After reading) and then compare/evaluate the images after eg: What did I recall correctly of the story? What little details did I add during reading? What is different about the last image? Upon comparing the before and after picture, what have I learned? What did re-reading the story change about the picture?
Part 2:
I did the 6 bricks course this summer and have gotten a 3 month subscription to Magic School. I look forward to exploring this site more in order to improve teaching and learning in the classroom.
I think Reading Coach will have the most benefit to me this year as there is a wide range of reading ability including children with difficulties due to EAL or SEN. I look forward to being able to customise the passages and the difficulty of the reading as well as the adjusting the post reading activities to suit the individual child. I think this will have the biggest impact on learning as well as each student is challenged appropriately. The high achievers are still engaged with the class task instead of completing unnecessary busy work simply because class sizes and needs are too great for one teacher and the children who are having difficulty are not losing confidence as in their eyes, they are completing the same work as the rest of the class. It is enabling teachers to hand a child a differentiated worksheet but without worrying that they will see immediately that it looks different to that of their peers as they can complete tasks digitally. I love also that they can practice read aloud and get feedback as is something that is very difficult to monitor as often as is needed in the primary school classroom.Hi Barbara,
I’ll be using Microsoft Reading Coach to help with differentiation but look forward to exploring Magic school and Diffit further too.
I love the different AI tools referenced here and am excited to explore them further before using them in the classroom. One way in which I think teaching, learning and assessment can benefit from AI is by using it to provide the children with an opportunity for critical thinking. While I love the idea of using it to give teachers back time and energy so that the same may be channelled in a more beneficial way for the students ie marking, charts, assessment tables, quizzes/lesson feedback, resource creation etc. I think it would be fun to make AI the subject of comparison/critical thinking in the lesson. For example, the students could pick their favourite chapter/topic in one of their books for this year eg the solar system. I would get them to write a list of what they like about the presentation in the book, what they dislike, how it helped/discouraged their learning and then suggest how they would improve it. I’d then model how to use Pictory so they could see AI’s take on the same information. Following this, the children would answer the same prompts as with the original presentation. They would then compare the two, which was better and why? If it was my job to present this information, how would I do it? What would I keep/omit/add? This way, children are using AI but not as a means to create the answer for them but rather, to examine and explore different possibilities whilst ultimately coming to their own conclusion. This way, children are encouraged to critique AI instead of blindly accept it.
Vidnoz and Pictory were tools I had never heard of previously and I am excited to use them in the classroom this year.
Personally, this question is exactly why I wanted to do this course. I want to find efficient ways to manage the ever increasing paperwork demands. The reason behind this is so that as teachers, we can properly show up for the children in the classroom instead of being burned out before 9am has even come around. I would like to explore Mathia X with my class this year as I think the availability of prompts will help negate the learned helplessness which seems to be more prominent every year. In terms of Squirrel AI, I love the concept of the knowledge map and the pre-assessment. I could see this being extremely beneficial before going into a block of literacy or numeracy stations. This programme could be used at the independent station rather than a task that is simply ‘busy’ work that requires correcting but doesn’t actually challenge or progress the students in their learning. Using AI in this way, it is clear to see how beneficial it can be. The teacher can set the tasks and make the necessary edits/changes deemed appropriate beforehand meaning the materials etc have been vetted and the children can work away safely whilst still being engaged and taught in a style that has been tailored to their needs. Using AI in this way, children are no longer remaining stagnant in their learning due to a lack of teachers available for station teaching; this of course being a direct result of understaffing by the Department of Education. Century is the programme I would like to explore further as I love what the programme can do with the data. I will bring this up with our team in September and also ask what changes need to be made in terms of our AUP as a result.
Early detection is key! And when ising the programmes you mentioned, you have tangible data to bring to the SET team or parents which backs up your concerns. When progressing to assessments in terms of an outside professional, this data becomes more valuable.
