The Big AI Project

Supporting Organisation:

AI Literacy for Year 5-6

Reminder - AI rules - for you

There are some important things that you need to know before you use AI.

AI tools often have age restrictions - many are only for age 13+ or age 18+. Your teacher will help you with what is appropriate for your age.

AI should not be seen as a person - if you want advice speak to someone you trust.

Your school will help you to understand their rules on AI use - you must follow these.

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Effective questioning

Lesson 4

Supporting Organisation:

Last lesson we:

• Learned about bias
• Thought about fairness and stereotypes in what AI creates
• We asked: “Does AI always get things right? Who is missing?”

Recap:

To explore the differences and similarities when talking with a human or when interacting with a machine [AI]�

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02

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To think carefully about what you want from AI and to ask clever questions to get the answers you need

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To understand how the answer you get from AI is affected by the question you put in

Learning Objectives:

Star Words

Clarity

Fact

A Prompt

Data

Machine

Opinion

Clue

Star Words

Clarity

Being clear about exactly what you want and how you ask it.

Fact

True information.

A Prompt

A question that you ask a machine.�

Data

The information that AI uses to generate its answers.

Machine

A device, often electronic that has been designed to do something.

Opinion

A view formed on something.

Clue

The pieces of information that can lead to a solution.

AI Data and Response

Activity 1

Each pair of children sit back to back with a white board per child.

The first child draws a simple object/picture made up of a few shapes on their whiteboard.

They describe this picture to their partner who draws on their whiteboard what is being described.

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After a few minutes the teacher stops the clock and the pair share their pictures.

Discuss - What is the same? What is different? Why might this be?

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AI Data and Response

What do you notice? What is important in your description?

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Imagine if how you describe your picture is the data you are putting into AI and the picture that is drawn by your partner is the AI response…

Class Discussion

Activity 2

A guessing game!

Your teacher will choose someone in the class and secretly tell them the name of a famous person from the list provided.

The rest of the class ask the child questions until they guess who the famous person is.

Choose a few children until 5 minutes is up.

Asking Good Questions

Which questions worked well? Why?

How can we use good questions to get the best information from a person or a machine?

Class Discussion:

Be clear and specific

�❌ Vague: “Tell me about animals.”�✅ Specific: “Tell me three facts about how penguins survive in the cold.”�

Direct the AI to what you want

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❌ General: “Explain the solar system.”�✅ Directed: “Explain the solar system to a Year 6 class in 5 short sentences.”�

Ask for the format you want

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❌ Open: “Tell me about Shakespeare.”�✅ Structured: “Write 5 bullet points about Shakespeare’s life.”�

Give the AI a role or style

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❌ Plain: “What is gravity?”

✅ Creative: “Explain gravity as if you are a space alien teaching children on Earth.”

What is a ‘prompt’?

A prompt is the question or instruction you give to AI. Prompt

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The AI doesn’t know what you want unless you tell it clearly. Clarity

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The better your prompt, the better the answer you’ll get.

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AI is like a helper — it can only do its best if you give it good clues. Clue

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Think: What do I want to know? How do I want it explained? Who is it for?

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Introduction to ‘prompting’

Examples of better prompts:

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Instead of: “Tell me about World War II.”�Try: “Write 5 simple facts about World War II that a 10-year-old can understand.”�

Instead of: “What is photosynthesis?”�Try: “Explain photosynthesis in 3 steps using simple words.”�

Instead of: “Write a story.”�Try: “Write a short story (5 sentences) about a dragon who learns to swim.”

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Introduction to ‘prompting’

Activity 3

Being aware of who or what we are communicating with: AI, Human or both?

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On the next slide are lots of things that you need to do or be aware of when you:

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1. Speak with a human
2. Put a question (a prompt) into a machine such as AI

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Some of them may also be needed for both - can you spot which are which?

A: Need to use please and thank you

AI, a Human or both?

B: Can pass on information that isn’t true

C: Can translate things into over 100 languages

D: Cares what is best for me

E: Can perform a million calculations within seconds

F: Can tell how I’m feeling

G: Can sort through lots of information in a few seconds

H: Can offer advice that I can trust

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I: Can ‘read between the lines’ to know what I really mean

J: Can be a friend

K: Can tell the truth or make things up

L: Can talk in your language

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C:

E:

A: Need to use please and thank you

Answers: AI, a Human or both?

B: Can pass on information that isn’t true

C: Can translate anything into over 100 languages

D: Cares what is best for me

E: Can perform a million calculations within seconds

F: Can tell how I’m feeling

G: Can sort through lots of information in a few seconds

H: Can offer advice that I can trust

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I: Can ‘read between the lines’ to know what I really mean

J: Can be a friend

K: Can tell the truth or make things up

L: Can talk in your language

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Both

Human

AI

AI and Human

Class Discussion:

Can you ask AI a question in the same way as you ask a human?

Should it be different or the same?

Important for us to know!

Q: Why might it not be safe for children and adults to rely on advice or feedback only from AI?

This is one of the most critical concepts in these lessons.

1 in 4 vulnerable children would rather talk to AI for advice than a human already.

The use of AI as a companion is the biggest risk worldwide and is the biggest use of AI by young people.

Human interactions need to be with a human that you can trust.

👍= Confident

👎 = Not sure yet

👋 = Curious

Recap

Let’s remind ourselves - what have we explored today?

We have learned that AI is not the same as a human.

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It is always better to ask a human you trust if you want advice.

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Do you feel confident to ask AI to get what you want?