Teaching digital literacy in today’s classroom is a bit like picking up a guitar for the first time. It can feel unfamiliar, even daunting. You might worry you’re not playing the right notes, or that someone else could do it better. But here’s the truth: you don’t need to be a master guitarist to teach music, just like you don’t need to be a professional athlete to teach P.E.
In the same way, you don’t need to be an AI expert or a tech wizard to help your students develop digital literacy.
Yes, it’s challenging.
Yes, it’s one more thing in an already overloaded curriculum.
But it’s also one of the most valuable gifts we can give our students—because the world they’re growing up in is shaped by data, algorithms and artificial intelligence.
Whether they’re scrolling on social media, streaming videos or using AI-powered tools in their learning, they’re already interacting with these systems every day. Digital literacy helps them understand how those systems work, ask critical questions and make informed choices.
And the good news? You can start small.
You can start with one lesson.
You can start with just enough knowledge to guide your students without needing to know all the answers yourself.
That’s why the four activities below are designed to be plug-and-play. They’re simple, age-appropriate, and accessible for teachers of all tech confidence levels. One of them is even unplugged—no devices required.
This isn’t about adding pressure.
It’s about offering a way in.
Activity 1: Explore How AI Learns
Focus: Data Literacy, AI Literacy
Time: One Lesson (40–60 minutes)
Resource: CodeGreen Lesson 4 – How AI Learns
(Developed by Microsoft & Munster Technological University)
This ready-to-go lesson helps students understand how AI models are trained using data—and how the quality of that data can lead to biased outcomes. Students walk through a simulated AI training process that clearly shows how systems “learn,” and why that learning can sometimes go wrong.
Teacher Tip: To make the concept of bias really click, intentionally train the model using stereotypical data (e.g: only showing male builders or female teachers). This allows students to see how bias in data leads to biased results—and opens the door for rich discussion about fairness, diversity and the ethical use of AI
Activity 2: How Does Netflix Know What You Like? – Building a Recommendation System
Focus: Data Literacy, Pattern Recognition, Critical Thinking
Time: One to Two Lessons (can be unplugged or digital)
Resource: PUMICE – Cartoon Recommendations
(From the DALI4Us project on AI & data literacy)
In this hands-on activity, students learn how recommendation systems work—just like those on Netflix, YouTube or TikTok. They start by choosing their favourite cartoons or shows and then calculate how similar their tastes are to others in their group.
There’s a real sense of fun and ownership here—students love choosing their favourites, comparing overlaps and seeing how their personal data can be used to generate recommendations. The activity then transitions into a digital extension (optional), where students input their data into a pre-made form and see how a real recommendation engine works across the whole class dataset.
🗣️ Teacher Tip: This lesson can be taught completely unplugged, using cards, paper and group work—making it perfect for classrooms with limited devices.
Bonus: Oide are actively looking for 5th/6th class teachers to be involved in the next stage of the project. Click on the link below to express your interest.
Activity 3: Train an AI to Clean the Ocean
Focus: AI Literacy, Data Literacy, Ethical Thinking
Time: One Lesson (30–45 minutes)
Resource: AI for Oceans – Code.org
This gamified online activity allows students to “train” an AI model to sort fish and rubbish in the ocean. As students provide training data, they see the impact of data quality and bias in real-time, offering a hands-on introduction to key AI concepts. Fun, interactive and no prior knowledge needed.
Teacher Tip: After students train the AI, ask them to reflect: What if the AI had only seen pictures of one kind of fish or one kind of rubbish? This opens up powerful conversations about representation, fairness and who gets included in the data.
Activity 4: The Power of the Prompt
Focus: AI Literacy, Creative Thinking, Prompt Engineering
Time: 30 minutes (or use flexibly over a week)
Resource: Google Arts & Culture – Prompting Activities
Being able to write effective prompts is an essential AI skill. This activity helps students experiment with how small changes in a prompt affect the output of an AI image generator. It builds both creativity and digital understanding and it connects perfectly with writing and language objectives from the PLC.
Teacher Tip: Have students reflect on what made some prompts clearer than others—and what that tells us about communication in a digital age.
Start Small
We are all trying to manage heavy workloads, complex classrooms and high expectations. Adding “AI and data literacy” into the mix might sound daunting—but it doesn’t have to be.
Each of these four activities is plug-and-play, ready for the classroom and designed with real-world teaching in mind. They don’t require extra training, expensive tools or big time commitments. And they can help students build the skills they’ll need to navigate the digital future with confidence and curiousity.
Even choosing just one lesson is a powerful step.
Because preparing our students for tomorrow doesn’t mean doing everything—it means doing something and doing it well.