Practical AI Literacy Series

The Right Tool for the Job is an inquiry-based, reflective lesson to teach students (youth or adult learners) how to evaluate and select AI tools based on the specific needs of a task or research question. Through a case study involving a researcher, the lesson introduces users to differences in output quality between models and prompt styles. It emphasizes developing precision in prompting, understanding model strengths and limitations, and making informed choices when tool access is limited.

In this interactive lesson, students explore responsible AI use through a group sorting game. They categorize real-world scenarios as “Use AI,” “Use With Caution,” or “Don’t Use AI,” debate gray areas, and co-create a class AI Use Policy based on shared principles. The lesson builds critical thinking, ethical awareness, and student agency in shaping AI use in their learning.

This document offers 20 AI ethics scenarios modeled on classic ethical dilemmas but adapted for AI decision-making in education, law, medicine, business, and society. Each scenario challenges students to engage in critical reflection, dialogue, evidence analysis, and debate before determining how to use AI output. The key lesson is that AI should be a partner, not an unquestioned authority.

In this lesson, students collaborate with an AI (like ChatGPT) to co-write short stories. They will engage in creative writing with AI as a partner, then analyze how the AI made decisions about tone, plot, language, and character development. This experience supports critical and creative literacy, while deepening students' understanding of how AI “thinks” and generates content.