AIQ
AIQ
Part of the AI or Not? The Game lesson guide. Teaching a different grade? 🔧 Builder (8–10) · 💻 Hacker (11–14) · ⚡ Architect (15–18)
Gather students where they can see the screen or their own device. Pixel (the Explorer mascot) introduces this lesson as a guessing game, so lean into that energy — this should feel like a party game, not a quiz.
Say, in your own words, close to the app's own line:
"Let's play a guessing game! Some things LOOK smart, but they are NOT smart helpers at all. And some things you'd never guess are smart helpers — but they are! Can you figure out which is which?"
Before opening the app, warm the class up with two objects you can point to right in the room. Hold up a stapler (or draw one) and ask: "Does this stapler learn? Does it get better at stapling the more you use it?" Let a few students answer — the expected, obvious answer is "no, it just does the same thing every time." Then ask about the classroom's music speaker or a tablet: "What about this? Could it be a smart helper?" Kids will guess both ways, which is exactly the uncertainty the lesson wants to create before you give them the real test.
Introduce the one rule they'll use for the whole game, and keep it to a single, simple sentence they can repeat back to you:
"The big question is: does it LEARN? If it always does the exact same thing, it's not a smart helper. If it gets smarter the more it's used, it IS a smart helper."
Have the whole class say "Does it learn?" together once, like a chant. This becomes the refrain you return to for every example in the activity.
You can also give them a tiny bit of "why" without over-explaining it: "A smart helper is like a puppy — the more times it practices something, the better it gets. A stapler is like a rock — it stays exactly the same no matter how many times you use it." This puppy-versus-rock image is optional, but many Explorer-age students latch onto it quickly, and you can reuse it later in the activity when a student gets stuck ("Is this one more like a puppy, or more like a rock?").
Open the lesson and let the app show its three rounds of examples. For this age band, don't try to cover every single item in the app — pick the clearest, most concrete ones per round and let the app fill in the rest as students tap through on their own devices afterward.
Show the calculator and the digital clock first, since these are the two "looks smart but isn't" examples that matter most at this age.
Say: "Here's a calculator. If I type 2 plus 2, what does it say?" (Students: "4!") "If I type it again tomorrow, will it ever say something different, like 5?" (Students: "No!") "Right — it always gives the exact same answer, because it just follows a math rule. So... does it learn?" Let the class answer together: "No!" "So a calculator is NOT a smart helper."
Then introduce the music app example: "Now think about an app that picks songs for you to listen to, and after a while it starts picking songs you really like — even songs you never heard before! Does it learn?" Guide them to "yes" — it noticed what you liked and got better at guessing. "So that music picker IS a smart helper."
Add the digital clock and voice-changer pair for a second round of the same pattern, since repeating the structure with new examples is what actually builds the skill at this age. "A digital clock just counts — tick, tick, tick — always the same way. Puppy or rock?" (Rock.) "A silly voice filter that turns your voice into a robot voice or a monster voice, right while you're talking — does it learn how voices work first? Puppy or rock?" (Puppy — yes, it had to learn a LOT about voices before it could do that trick well.)
Use the email example, since it's the one the quiz will ask about directly. Explain it at the simplest possible level: "You know how a mailbox at home gets junk mail mixed in with real letters? Some email apps are smart helpers that learn which mail is junk and move it away by itself, so you don't have to look at it. The more junk mail it sees, the better it gets at spotting it. Does it learn? Yes! So that's a smart helper too."
Contrast with the LED lightbulb: "A lightbulb that turns on when you flip the switch — does it learn anything new about you? No, it just turns on. Not a smart helper, even though it might be called 'smart' on the box!" This is a good moment to pause and let it sink in, because it's the single trickiest idea in the whole lesson for five-to-seven-year-olds: a box or an ad can say the word "smart," but that word alone doesn't make it a real smart helper. The only way to know for sure is to ask "does it learn?"
This round has the biggest "wow" reactions — use it for energy. Show the smart farming example: "Farmers can fly a little flying robot, called a drone, over their fields, and it looks at the plants from way up high and learns to spot which plants are sick. Does it learn? Yes — surprise, that's a smart helper too!" Then the stapler: "A stapler just pushes a metal staple through paper the same way every single time. Does it learn? No. Not a smart helper — even after using it a hundred times, it still just staples."
If time allows, add the smart-toilet example too, purely for the giggle factor — young students love it and it drives home the "surprise" idea harder than almost anything else in the lesson: "Some toilets — really! — are smart helpers that can check on your health. Silly-sounding, but true. Does it learn? Yes, so it counts!"
Close the guided round with the AI art example, which most students find the most exciting: "Some smart helpers can even make a whole picture just from words you tell it, like 'draw me a dragon eating spaghetti.' It learned how to draw by looking at millions of pictures first. Does it learn? Yes!"
Before handing devices over, do two more "puppy or rock?" examples together as a bridge into the independent round. A phone's battery: "Some phones watch which apps you use in the morning and which ones you use at night, and get better at saving battery just for you. Is that a puppy or a rock?" (Puppy — it learns!) A calculator watch on someone's wrist: "It's just a calculator, but tiny, and worn like a watch. Puppy or rock?" (Rock — same math rule every time, no matter how small or how it's worn.)
After the guided walkthrough, let students tap through the app's own sorting practice round individually or in pairs — this is where they apply "does it learn?" to the remaining examples (auto-DJ, battery saver, calculator watch, smart toilet) without your help, which is the actual point of the lesson. Circulate while they play and, when a student gets one wrong, resist correcting them directly — instead ask "puppy or rock?" and let them re-decide out loud.
Close with a recap in the same chant format you opened with: "What's the big question?" (Class: "Does it learn?") "If yes?" ("Smart helper!") "If no?" ("Just following rules!") Remind students that being a smart helper isn't about looking fancy or new — Pixel found smart helpers hiding in email and on farms, and found "not smart" things that looked totally modern, like a digital clock.
Extension activity — Classroom Smart-Helper Hunt (10–15 minutes): Give each student (or pair) a small sticker or star for every real object in the classroom or their backpack they can correctly sort using the "does it learn?" test. Walk around the room together and test objects out loud: a pencil sharpener, a light switch, a tablet's music app, a printer, a smartwatch if anyone has one. For each, ask the chant question and have the group vote before revealing the answer together. Keep score on the board as "Smart Helpers Found" vs "Just Following Rules Found" — end by counting which list is longer, and ask students why they think that might be (most everyday objects in a classroom are still not AI, which is a true and useful thing for them to notice).
If time allows, finish with a quick drawing prompt: have each student draw one "smart helper" and one "rock" object from the hunt, label each with a big check or X, and hand them in as tiny exit tickets. This gives you a fast, informal read on who has the test solidly versus who needs another round of examples before moving on to the next lesson, and it gives students something concrete for their sticker book.