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A curriculum for intelligent AI use · Grades 4–12

The thinking stays with the student.

Students learn how AI works, when to keep it off, and how to make the first move, delegate one declared, bounded job, verify what comes back and defend the work they make.

Each star opens a curriculum design example. Select one with a pointer, or explore the full curriculum architecture and framed lesson catalogue below.

Explore the curriculum architectureSee the curriculum

More than tool tips

Eleven AI skills. One accountable way to work.

“AI skills” names the practical layer, not the whole curriculum. Students learn eleven specific moves, the knowledge that makes those moves intelligent and the judgment to decide when AI should stay off. Those skills sit inside Act → Delegate → Verify → Defend, with one data-safety rail running throughout.

Why now: when any student can generate a finished answer, the answer stops being the evidence — the thinking behind it is. Own Mind is designed to keep that thinking visible through the student's first move, AI's declared role, the checks and the final explanation.

One curriculum architecture

Eleven AI skills, beside ten knowledge strands.

They are two connected layers, not two versions of the same list. The ten strands describe what the curriculum teaches. The eleven AI skills name the specific moves lessons are designed to practice. Together, they give students the understanding and practical judgment to work intelligently with AI.

What students practise11

Named AI skills

Concrete moves that return through lessons, projects and subject work.

  1. S1

    Steer it

    Give AI one clear job, with a role, source boundary, expected output and stopping point.

  2. S2

    Make it attack your own work

    Start with your own idea or draft, then use AI to challenge it and test the challenge.

  3. S3

    Check, don't trust

    Check claims against sources, data, calculation or the real thing before relying on them.

  4. S4

    Spot the slant

    Notice framing, omissions, uneven representation and whose perspective is missing.

  5. S5

    You make the call

    Weigh the evidence and keep the final decision human.

  6. S6

    Make sense of a big pile

    Use AI to sort or compare a large set, then inspect what it grouped, flattened or missed.

  7. S7

    Get unstuck

    Ask for a hint, question or debugging move that leaves you making the next move.

  8. S8

    Pick the right job

    Decide whether AI is useful, allowed and necessary, or whether another tool or person is a better fit.

  9. S9

    Know when to do it yourself / AI off

    Keep AI off when using it would replace the learning, judgment or responsibility that must stay yours.

  10. S10

    Show what was yours (provenance)

    Record what you made first, what AI contributed and what you accepted, changed or rejected.

  11. S11

    Judge how much to trust it (calibration)

    Match confidence to the strength and limits of your check; accept, reject or hold uncertain for a reason.

What the curriculum teaches10

Knowledge strands

Ideas that return across subjects, projects and grade bands.

  1. 01

    AI mental models

    Prediction, models, limits and uncertainty.

  2. 02

    Data and representation

    Training data, classification, bias, omission and provenance.

  3. 03

    Briefing and delegation

    Define a job, inputs, outputs, limits and human approval.

  4. 04

    Truth and evidence

    Sources, corroboration, claims, hallucinations and recency.

  5. 05

    Cognitive custody

    Act, use the smallest help, preserve judgment and transfer with AI off.

  6. 06

    Creation and craft

    Make quality work across media and use specialist tools.

  7. 07

    People and inclusion

    Listen, design for access, examine power, benefit and harm.

  8. 08

    Testing and revision

    Run user, source, experiment, bias, access and edge-case tests.

  9. 09

    Collaboration and leadership

    Record decisions, roles, conflict, handover and accountability.

  10. 10

    Venture and governance

    Create value while governing operations, resources, AI and closure.

Inside an Own Mind lesson

Turn AI knowledge into work students can explain.

These examples show the intended pattern: what students learn, what they do, how they check it without AI, which human capability the work is designed to exercise and what a teacher could review. They are curriculum design examples—not released Own Mind lessons or modules.

Find a lesson idea
Grade

Search for a curriculum idea, classroom action or human capability, then narrow by grade.

61 examples

Use the filters, then scroll this framed catalogue
Grade 4Curriculum design example

Start Here: What AI Means

Knowledge focus
AI is a pattern-guessing tool, not a person
Student action
Students learn the starter words, open four strange machines, catch one confident mistake and write a simple rule for supervising AI.
Independent check
With the machine closed, they explain what AI can do, what it cannot do and what stays in their charge.
Human capabilities this is designed to exercise
  • Problem-framing
  • Self-regulation
Work a teacher could inspect
AI Is / Is Not Board
Grade 4Curriculum design example

What's the Job?

Knowledge focus
Match each job to its right next move — AI is only one option
Student action
Students sort four ordinary jobs, mark the part that must stay theirs and choose AI, search, a person or no tool as the next move.
Independent check
They build a fresh task tile naming the job, what stays human and why their chosen next move fits.
Human capabilities this is designed to exercise
  • Problem-framing
  • Metacognition
Work a teacher could inspect
Task Tile
Grade 4Curriculum design example

Help the Robot Understand

Knowledge focus
A clear prompt gets a more useful answer, not an automatically right one
Student action
Students decide what a question must achieve, compare two possible forms of help, then add their own focus and a way to check the answer.
Independent check
They write a clear request for a fresh topic and name one way they would test the answer.
Human capabilities this is designed to exercise
  • Problem-framing
  • Metacognition
Work a teacher could inspect
Better Question Card
Grade 4Curriculum design example

The No-Data Rule

Knowledge focus
Private information stays out of AI — remove it, or take it to a trusted adult
Student action
Students scan a message for private clues, replace unsafe details and decide when AI should stay out altogether.
Independent check
They write the No-Data Rule in their own words and identify the point at which a trusted adult takes over.
Human capabilities this is designed to exercise
  • Ethical judgment
  • Self-regulation
Work a teacher could inspect
Personal Safety Card
Grade 4Curriculum design example

Real, Changed or Can't Tell Yet?

Knowledge focus
Source clues, not pixels, tell you if a picture is real
Student action
Students give five mystery pictures a first verdict, test them against source clues and use “cannot tell yet” when the trail is incomplete.
Independent check
They explain what pixels can reveal and why provenance is needed to establish where a picture came from.
Human capabilities this is designed to exercise
  • Adaptive thinking
  • Critical reasoning
Work a teacher could inspect
Real-or-Made Challenge
Grade 4Curriculum design example

My Picture, My Choice

Knowledge focus
A picture of a person is theirs, and sharing it needs their yes
Student action
Students make consent decisions for fictional picture scenarios, find the share that was genuinely fine and write their own picture rule.
Independent check
They complete the rule: before I take, change or send a picture of someone, I will…
Human capabilities this is designed to exercise
  • Ethical judgment
  • Self-regulation
Work a teacher could inspect
My Picture Promise
Grade 4Curriculum design example

Says Who?

Knowledge focus
A claim is backed only when a real source actually says it
Student action
Students test three confident backing cards against real sources, catch a citation that points at nothing and distinguish support from mention.
Independent check
With every card closed, they explain “supports,” “just mentions” and what to do when a citation cannot be found.
Human capabilities this is designed to exercise
  • Critical reasoning
  • Adaptive thinking
Work a teacher could inspect
Says Who? Reveal Panel
Grade 5Curriculum design example

Some Jobs Need a Person

Knowledge focus
AI helps with some jobs, but only a person can care and keep you safe
Student action
Students route five fictional jobs to a tool, a person who cares or a trusted adult straight away, then rehearse how to ask for help.
Independent check
They explain when a tool is fine, when a person is better and when a trusted adult is needed immediately.
Human capabilities this is designed to exercise
  • Ethical judgment
  • Metacognition
Work a teacher could inspect
People I Can Ask Card
Grade 5Curriculum design example

Learning Support, Supervised

Knowledge focus
AI is a study helper you supervise, not an answer machine
Student action
Students make a first call, choose the smallest useful kind of help, test two forms of support and complete the target themselves.
Independent check
With the help cards closed, they explain what they kept, what they rejected, what they added and what remains untested.
Human capabilities this is designed to exercise
  • Self-regulation
  • Metacognition
Work a teacher could inspect
Help Request Card
Grade 5Curriculum design example

Whose Work Is It?

Knowledge focus
Your own work and AI's help are separate parts — and you say which is which
Student action
Students sort mixed work into mine, AI help, copied and source-needed, then write an honest record of the help used.
Independent check
They judge a fresh case and explain exactly what a human would need to know about the AI contribution.
Human capabilities this is designed to exercise
  • Ethical judgment
  • Metacognition
Work a teacher could inspect
My Work / AI Help Card
Grade 5Curriculum design example

Is the Rule Fair Enough?

Knowledge focus
A fair rule is one you test on who's left out, not one that just treats everyone the same
Student action
Students write a clear chooser rule, run three people the rule might overlook through it and revise from what the test reveals.
Independent check
With the cards away, they explain what their rule decides, whom it nearly forgot and what would make them change it again.
Human capabilities this is designed to exercise
  • Problem-framing
  • Self-regulation
Work a teacher could inspect
Fair Chooser Card
Grade 5Curriculum design example

Make It Work for Someone Else

Knowledge focus
A finished make is planned, checked, and fit for its person
Student action
Students plan a make for one real person, keep, change or cut prepared suggestions, trace factual claims and run a recipient preview.
Independent check
They name one part that had to stay theirs and the condition under which AI would not belong in the make.
Human capabilities this is designed to exercise
  • Problem-framing
  • Self-regulation
Work a teacher could inspect
Checked Make Receipt
Grade 5Curriculum design example

Show the Make, Set the Rules

Knowledge focus
A showcase is showing your own chosen work, not being graded
Student action
Students choose work for a family showcase, add how-I-checked-it notes, answer an unseen question with AI closed and set shared family rules.
Independent check
They explain why the make is theirs, how they checked it and which family rule matters most to them.
Human capabilities this is designed to exercise
  • Collaboration
  • Ethical judgment
  • Metacognition
Work a teacher could inspect
Family Showcase Page and AI Agreement
Grade 6Curriculum design example

How AI Works

Knowledge focus
Many AI models learn patterns from examples, then predict
Student action
Students train a tiny pattern machine, predict a label, test an unusual case and record the limit instead of trusting the gauge.
Independent check
They explain the difference between a rule, a training example and a prediction without the machine in view.
Human capabilities this is designed to exercise
  • Metacognition
  • Adaptive thinking
Work a teacher could inspect
Pattern Machine Note
Grade 6Curriculum design example

Catch a Hallucination

Knowledge focus
Confidence isn't proof — a claim is supported, contradicted, or not supported yet
Student action
Students inspect a polished AI briefing, pin evidence to claims and distinguish supported, contradicted and not supported yet.
Independent check
With AI and sources hidden, they rebuild the claim-check table and justify a careful hold when the evidence runs out.
Human capabilities this is designed to exercise
  • Critical reasoning
  • Adaptive thinking
Work a teacher could inspect
Hallucination Catch Case Card
Grade 6Curriculum design example

Reading the Hidden Bias

Knowledge focus
Bias can hide in the data and the question, not just deliberate unfairness
Student action
Students use a bias lens to find what a polished answer leaves out, then repair the answer with visible changes.
Independent check
They inspect a fresh source set and name one missing group, example or viewpoint.
Human capabilities this is designed to exercise
  • Critical reasoning
  • Ethical judgment
  • Adaptive thinking
Work a teacher could inspect
Bias Lens Case Card
Grade 6Curriculum design example

When Not to Reach for AI

Knowledge focus
AI is not the right tool for every job
Student action
Students run different situations through use, limit, no-AI and ask-a-human routes, then inspect the consequence of each choice.
Independent check
They choose a route for a fresh scenario and state the boundary that made the decision responsible.
Human capabilities this is designed to exercise
  • Metacognition
  • Ethical judgment
  • Adaptive thinking
Work a teacher could inspect
Tool Choice Card
Grade 6Curriculum design example

Prompting on Purpose

Knowledge focus
A prompt is a plan you design, not magic wording
Student action
Students set a goal, success rule and boundary, compare two prompt plans, then revise the request themselves.
Independent check
They build a prompt for a new task from memory and explain how it defines useful output.
Human capabilities this is designed to exercise
  • Metacognition
  • Problem-framing
Work a teacher could inspect
Prompt Test Log
Grade 6Curriculum design example

Keep Your Voice

Knowledge focus
You keep your voice; polished AI writing is not automatically better
Student action
Students mark the choices that make a draft sound like its writer, test AI edits and protect the voice from a flattened rewrite.
Independent check
With AI closed, they explain one construction decision, one rejected change and one honest limit.
Human capabilities this is designed to exercise
  • Metacognition
  • Problem-framing
Work a teacher could inspect
Voice Preservation Card
Grade 6Curriculum design example

Build and Test a Local Classifier

Knowledge focus
A classifier follows patterns from its examples, not the meaning of the category
Student action
Students predict, train a local classifier, test unseen patterns, change its data, retrain and write a responsible-use model card.
Independent check
With the model closed, they explain what it compared, why one case needed review and where it must not be used.
Human capabilities this is designed to exercise
  • Critical reasoning
  • Collaboration
Work a teacher could inspect
Local Classifier Model Card
Grade 6Curriculum design example

Read and Debug Simple Code

Knowledge focus
You read and test code yourself before trusting a change, even AI's
Student action
Students predict what code will do, run a failing test, trace the bug, make a patch and explain why the test now passes.
Independent check
They read a fresh tiny program and explain its output or bug without AI.
Human capabilities this is designed to exercise
  • Metacognition
  • Self-regulation
Work a teacher could inspect
Read-Run-Debug Card
Grade 6Curriculum design example

Where Did This Come From?

Knowledge focus
Content is what it shows — provenance is where it came from
Student action
Students inspect a quote, photo, audio clip and news paragraph, then follow creation, source and context trails when appearance proves nothing.
Independent check
With every drawer closed, they explain the difference between content and provenance and recall the three trail questions.
Human capabilities this is designed to exercise
  • Critical reasoning
  • Adaptive thinking
  • Metacognition
Work a teacher could inspect
Provenance Trail
Grade 7Curriculum design example

Make It Better Without Replacing It

Knowledge focus
Iteration is a decision you make, not a rewrite you accept
Student action
Students pin one rough make, ask for bounded feedback, test two notes, make one change themselves and refuse one takeover.
Independent check
With the notes closed, they reconstruct the change they made, the advice they refused and the line they protected.
Human capabilities this is designed to exercise
  • Metacognition
  • Self-regulation
Work a teacher could inspect
Before / Feedback / After Strip
Grade 7Curriculum design example

Forge, Label, Then Hunt

Knowledge focus
Anyone can make a fake — checked trails and honest labels help establish origin
Student action
Students create a harmless synthetic version of an artifact, label it honestly and hunt through an exhibit where trails—not sharp eyes—settle origin.
Independent check
They explain why looks cannot establish origin, what a trustworthy trail adds and how to hold judgment when no trail exists.
Human capabilities this is designed to exercise
  • Critical reasoning
  • Ethical judgment
Work a teacher could inspect
Labeled Synthetic Exhibit and Real-or-Made Challenge
Grade 7Curriculum design example

Your Face, Your Say / Real People for Real Feelings

Knowledge focus
Your image needs your yes, and real feelings go to real people
Student action
Students route fictional photo edits, recognize secrecy and dependence language and build a private list of people real feelings can go to.
Independent check
They state the consent rule for editing or sharing an image and the next move when a tool asks for secrecy.
Human capabilities this is designed to exercise
  • Ethical judgment
  • Self-regulation
  • Adaptive thinking
Work a teacher could inspect
Consent and Real-Help Card
Grade 7Curriculum design example

Read the Ask, Not the Polish

Knowledge focus
Polish is cheap to fake — the ask is what you check
Student action
Students strip polished and scruffy messages down to their real ask, flag risky pressure and build a second-channel verification plan.
Independent check
On a fresh urgent message, they identify the ask, name the risk and choose an independent channel before acting.
Human capabilities this is designed to exercise
  • Critical reasoning
  • Self-regulation
  • Adaptive thinking
Work a teacher could inspect
Second-Channel Check Plan
Grade 7Curriculum design example

Different Room, Different Rule

Knowledge focus
The rule follows the room, not the tool
Student action
Students carry the same AI action through five different contexts, watch the rule change and write an ask-first script plus disclosure.
Independent check
With the rules hidden, they judge the action in a fresh context using purpose, permission and disclosure.
Human capabilities this is designed to exercise
  • Ethical judgment
  • Self-regulation
Work a teacher could inspect
Room Rules Card
Grade 7Curriculum design example

The Second-Draft Wall

Knowledge focus
Error is a change in a model, not a label on a person
Student action
Students return to an earlier explanation, test each clause against a counterexample and repair only what breaks.
Independent check
They explain which clause changed, why the original evidence was insufficient and which parts still hold.
Human capabilities this is designed to exercise
  • Metacognition
  • Self-regulation
  • Adaptive thinking
Work a teacher could inspect
Model Repair Log
Grade 7Curriculum design example

Who Made This Possible?

Knowledge focus
AI does not create from nothing — generated work stands on human work
Student action
Students trace the hidden human chain behind one generated object, identify missing links and build the credit block a project should carry.
Independent check
They trace a fresh object and write its credit block with the evidence face down.
Human capabilities this is designed to exercise
  • Ethical judgment
  • Critical reasoning
  • Adaptive thinking
Work a teacher could inspect
Credit and Provenance Block
Grade 7Curriculum design example

Use the Right Tool, Not the Flashiest One

Knowledge focus
The right tool is the one that passes the five checks, not the one with the most flash
Student action
Students run one job through seven possible tool routes, test each for fit, data, rules, control and checking cost, then commit to the route that survives.
Independent check
With trial cards hidden, they defend the route they chose, the route they refused and the decisive check for each.
Human capabilities this is designed to exercise
  • Metacognition
  • Problem-framing
Work a teacher could inspect
Tool Plan Card
Grade 7Curriculum design example

Make It Survive Another Person

Knowledge focus
Work for a real audience is tested by a reader, not by how finished it feels
Student action
Students build one real thing for one real reader, test whether it works without the student beside it and revise from what happens.
Independent check
With the project closed, they defend what they changed, what they refused to change and why the refusal protected the reader.
Human capabilities this is designed to exercise
  • Metacognition
  • Adaptive thinking
  • Problem-framing
Work a teacher could inspect
Survival Test Card
Grade 8Curriculum design example

How Chatbots Guess Text

Knowledge focus
An LLM predicts likely text; its answer is not automatically a checked fact
Student action
Students build a toy next-token trail, watch fluent text drift and explain how a language model works without treating it like a mind.
Independent check
They explain training, use, context limits and confident error in their own words.
Human capabilities this is designed to exercise
  • Metacognition
  • Adaptive thinking
Work a teacher could inspect
How Chatbots Guess Card
Grade 8Curriculum design example

Rehearse How to Show AI Help

Knowledge focus
A process record shows how AI helped as you work — not proof that the work is yours
Student action
Students preserve a source-aware first sample, inspect two possible contributions, keep or reject each one and write a bounded disclosure.
Independent check
With the contribution cards closed, they reconstruct what they kept, what they rejected, what they changed and one remaining limit.
Human capabilities this is designed to exercise
  • Metacognition
  • Ethical judgment
Work a teacher could inspect
Prepared Contribution Disclosure Record
Grade 8Curriculum design example

Build and Test AI-Assisted Code

Knowledge focus
Code you test and own, not code you trust because it ran once
Student action
Students define the requested code change and existing behavior to protect, test two suggestions, make one bounded change and run the final suite.
Independent check
With AI closed, they explain the kept and rejected suggestions, their own change, the test evidence and one remaining limit.
Human capabilities this is designed to exercise
  • Self-regulation
  • Metacognition
  • Problem-framing
Work a teacher could inspect
Code Change Card
Grade 8Curriculum design example

Compare Rules with a Trained Model

Knowledge focus
Fixed rules and data-driven models make decisions differently
Student action
Students compare a fixed rule with a classifier learned from examples, test both on held-back cases and change one rule from evidence.
Independent check
They explain how written rules and learned patterns differ, then name one evidence limit for each.
Human capabilities this is designed to exercise
  • Critical reasoning
  • Adaptive thinking
Work a teacher could inspect
Rules-versus-Model Boundary Record
Grade 8Curriculum design example

Check Sources Like a Detective

Knowledge focus
A source can exist and still not support the claim
Student action
Students inspect citations for existence, relevance, support and date before accepting what they appear to prove.
Independent check
They test one fresh claim-and-source pair without AI and state whether the source truly supports it.
Human capabilities this is designed to exercise
  • Critical reasoning
  • Adaptive thinking
Work a teacher could inspect
Source Check Card
Grade 8Curriculum design example

Explain Your Work Out Loud

Knowledge focus
Being able to explain your work, not just show it
Student action
Students rehearse an explanation privately, turn vague answers into specific ones and capture a human-facing defense without an AI verdict.
Independent check
They answer one unseen question about their saved work with AI closed.
Human capabilities this is designed to exercise
  • Metacognition
  • Critical reasoning
Work a teacher could inspect
Spoken Check Card
Grade 8Curriculum design example

The Humans Behind and Beside AI

Knowledge focus
Every AI system is held up by many human roles, most of them not coding
Student action
Students take apart a real-looking AI system, tag the human who decided or checked each stage and find where a person remains accountable.
Independent check
With the system hidden, they name three human roles, identify the accountable role and explain why software cannot hold accountability.
Human capabilities this is designed to exercise
  • Ethical judgment
  • Critical reasoning
Work a teacher could inspect
Human-in-the-Loop Map
Grade 9Curriculum design example

What AI Genuinely Does Well

Knowledge focus
Some AI genuinely does a hard job well — the skill is naming what it does well and where it still needs a human
Student action
Students inspect a published AI system, identify what it did well, find where it still needs a human and form a calibrated trust verdict.
Independent check
They state one genuine strength, one human-only check and who remains accountable.
Human capabilities this is designed to exercise
  • Critical reasoning
  • Metacognition
Work a teacher could inspect
Exhibit Verdict Card
Grade 9Curriculum design example

Diagnose the Task Before the Tool

Knowledge focus
Legitimacy lives in the task, not the tool
Student action
Students diagnose a real task through audience, success, constraints, load-bearing thinking, permitted help and failure before any tool opens.
Independent check
They diagnose a fresh task aloud, refuse one unsuitable help move and name when they would stop and ask a teacher.
Human capabilities this is designed to exercise
  • Metacognition
  • Problem-framing
Work a teacher could inspect
Task Diagnosis Brief and Allowed-Help Contract
Grade 9Curriculum design example

Coursework, Practice and the Line Between

Knowledge focus
Integrity is contextual: the same AI move can be fine in practice and malpractice in assessed work
Student action
Students route homework, revision, coursework and group-work cases through a rulebook and watch the same AI move change status with context.
Independent check
With the rulebook closed, they route a fresh case and explain what to do when the rules do not settle it.
Human capabilities this is designed to exercise
  • Ethical judgment
  • Metacognition
Work a teacher could inspect
Academic-Integrity Checklist
Grade 9Curriculum design example

Build a Revision Workflow That Makes You Recall

Knowledge focus
Keep the recall step yours: help around the attempt, never inside it
Student action
Students build an AI-off retrieval set, make a cold attempt, schedule spaced practice and decide which helper jobs are allowed before and after recall.
Independent check
They complete one retrieval attempt with everything closed, check afterwards and name any gap as a topic rather than a mark.
Human capabilities this is designed to exercise
  • Metacognition
  • Self-regulation
Work a teacher could inspect
Revision Workflow Card
Grade 9Curriculum design example

Take the Critique, Keep the Voice

Knowledge focus
Critique and authorship are different jobs
Student action
Students name the markers of a writer’s voice, take critique without takeover, decide on every point and rewrite accepted advice in their own words.
Independent check
With critique cards closed, they recall the voice markers, defend one rejection and rewrite one accepted point from memory.
Human capabilities this is designed to exercise
  • Critical reasoning
  • Metacognition
Work a teacher could inspect
Voice-Kept Edit Trail
Grade 9Curriculum design example

Privacy Before You Paste

Knowledge focus
A badge is not enough: check the input and the tool's rules before you paste
Student action
Students classify five inputs at the moment of pasting, read a tool’s real terms and choose cross, minimize, redact, replace or never.
Independent check
With the terms hidden, they classify a fresh input, state its risk and rule what would need to change before it could cross.
Human capabilities this is designed to exercise
  • Ethical judgment
  • Self-regulation
Work a teacher could inspect
Tool-Risk Assessment
Grade 10Curriculum design example

If This Ever Happens

Knowledge focus
A rehearsed calm response beats an improvised one
Student action
Students rehearse fictional high-pressure cases until they can pause, refuse, preserve evidence, verify another way and tell a trusted adult.
Independent check
They recall the five calm moves and apply them to a fresh fictional case, including the second channel and first human contact.
Human capabilities this is designed to exercise
  • Self-regulation
  • Ethical judgment
Work a teacher could inspect
Calm-Response Plan
Grade 10Curriculum design example

That Is a Person Job

Knowledge focus
A tool can help you find the words — a person makes the call
Student action
Students route fictional late-night conversations to a tool job, a person job or a person-now job and keep the one safe tool request.
Independent check
They explain what work a tool can hold, why important human decisions stay with people and what to do when the job changes.
Human capabilities this is designed to exercise
  • Ethical judgment
  • Critical reasoning
Work a teacher could inspect
Human-Help Boundary Card
Grade 10Curriculum design example

Who Gains, Who Loses, Who Decides?

Knowledge focus
Automation is a trade-off between people — audit who gains, who loses, and who decides
Student action
Students audit an automation plan from every stakeholder seat, judge each step and redesign the workflow so value and access survive.
Independent check
They apply who gains, who loses and who decides to one step of their own workflow, then record a reasoned ruling.
Human capabilities this is designed to exercise
  • Ethical judgment
  • Critical reasoning
Work a teacher could inspect
Automation Trade-Off Brief
Grade 10Curriculum design example

The Default Setting Has a Cost

Knowledge focus
A model's default is a pattern with costs — so proportionate use is a design decision
Student action
Students probe model outputs for defaults nobody requested, inspect resource costs and re-brief a project with better examples and a no-generation line.
Independent check
With the file closed, they name the strongest default, the pack that survived and one step where generation is not worth it.
Human capabilities this is designed to exercise
  • Problem-framing
  • Ethical judgment
Work a teacher could inspect
Representation Probe and Generation Policy
Grade 10Curriculum design example

Would You Trust This Tool With the Job?

Knowledge focus
Tool adoption is a risk-and-fit decision, not brand familiarity
Student action
Students run three tools through the same blind trial and leave with a chosen tool chain plus evidence for rejecting the familiar option.
Independent check
With profiles closed, they justify the decisive row, the boundary the chosen tool still needs and the step kept tool-free.
Human capabilities this is designed to exercise
  • Metacognition
  • Critical reasoning
  • Adaptive thinking
Work a teacher could inspect
Completed Tool-Risk Assessment
Grade 10Curriculum design example

Build It, Hand It Over, Transfer It

Knowledge focus
Real work travels a designed chain — and a handover means a real use, not a sent link
Student action
Students design a real build chain—human-first, AI-supported, check, handover and stop—use it, revise from one real user and transfer it to a new brief.
Independent check
With every card closed, they redraw the chain for a fresh brief and explain each boundary, check, stop line and handover.
Human capabilities this is designed to exercise
  • Collaboration
  • Adaptive thinking
Work a teacher could inspect
Workflow Chain Card
Grade 11Curriculum design example

Spot Where an Agent Might Fail

Knowledge focus
An AI agent working on its own can fail at any step — so narrow its permissions and add human checkpoints
Student action
Students inspect a simulated agent trace, predict where it may fail, narrow its permission and add a human checkpoint.
Independent check
They explain one agent failure and one human checkpoint without AI.
Human capabilities this is designed to exercise
  • Problem-framing
  • Adaptive thinking
Work a teacher could inspect
Agent Failure Map
Grade 11Curriculum design example

Tool Risk and Privacy by Design

Knowledge focus
Assess a tool before adoption — and set the data boundary first
Student action
Students classify the data a task would use, compare two tools against their terms and draw a boundary around what may and may not enter.
Independent check
With profiles closed, they explain the data classes, the decisive failed row, the surviving boundaries and why no tool remains an option.
Human capabilities this is designed to exercise
  • Problem-framing
  • Ethical judgment
  • Adaptive thinking
Work a teacher could inspect
Tool-Risk Assessment and Data-Boundary Diagram
Grade 11Curriculum design example

Plan a Safe Agent

Knowledge focus
A safe agent is bounded by permissions and checkpoints, not just fast
Student action
Students set an agent control boundary, test two workflow plans, add their own stop and handoff, then run a fresh failure trace.
Independent check
With the plans closed, they explain what they kept, what they rejected, their stop-and-handoff change and one remaining limit.
Human capabilities this is designed to exercise
  • Problem-framing
  • Ethical judgment
  • Adaptive thinking
Work a teacher could inspect
Agent Workflow Plan
Grade 11Curriculum design example

Contract Test

Knowledge focus
A specification is trusted only after it survives tests built to break it
Student action
Students attack an agent contract with normal, edge, adversarial, transfer and permission tests, then repair the clause that gives way.
Independent check
They name the test that broke the contract, the escaped clause, their repair and the constraint that survived every case.
Human capabilities this is designed to exercise
  • Problem-framing
  • Critical reasoning
  • Adaptive thinking
Work a teacher could inspect
Agent Test Log
Grade 11Curriculum design example

Review a Suggested Patch Safely

Knowledge focus
You own the design; a described patch is not a tested change
Student action
Students define a human-owned module boundary, compare two proposed patches with a system map and write a bounded architecture change.
Independent check
They explain the simulated change and name the files, code and tests a developer would still need to inspect and run.
Human capabilities this is designed to exercise
  • Critical reasoning
  • Metacognition
  • Adaptive thinking
Work a teacher could inspect
Architecture Note and Declarative Patch Review Card
Grade 11Curriculum design example

Be Honest About AI Help

Knowledge focus
Honesty about AI help means showing and explaining how it helped, not just following a policy
Student action
Students judge a difficult AI-use case through permission, authorship, assessment purpose, disclosure and accountability.
Independent check
They decide a fresh case and write either a precise AI-help note or a reasoned refusal without AI.
Human capabilities this is designed to exercise
  • Ethical judgment
  • Metacognition
Work a teacher could inspect
Honesty Case Card
Grade 12Curriculum design example

Who Is Answerable When It Ships?

Knowledge focus
A shipped system needs a named answerable human, not just a working feature list
Student action
Students put a proposed system through an answerability review, change one design choice and write its redress, retirement and ownership rules.
Independent check
They name the people affected, the finding that changed the design, the accountable human and the route a harmed person could use.
Human capabilities this is designed to exercise
  • Ethical judgment
  • Collaboration
  • Self-regulation
Work a teacher could inspect
Responsible Deployment Note
Grade 12Curriculum design example

The Drill

Knowledge focus
An incident plan is written before the pressure, not during it
Student action
Students rehearse a fictional provenance incident calmly, preserve safe evidence, avoid amplification and prepare a private escalation route.
Independent check
From memory, they state what can be established, what gets preserved, which moves are unsafe and which human receives the case.
Human capabilities this is designed to exercise
  • Self-regulation
  • Ethical judgment
  • Adaptive thinking
Work a teacher could inspect
Public Provenance and High-Stakes Escalation Plan
Grade 12Curriculum design example

Notice When AI Is Doing Too Much

Knowledge focus
Over-reliance on AI is something you audit, not something you feel
Student action
Students map their reliance on AI, mark where decisions moved to the tool and choose one practical independence upgrade.
Independent check
They inspect a fresh set of steps and identify where AI might be doing too much, without asking AI to judge it.
Human capabilities this is designed to exercise
  • Metacognition
  • Self-regulation
Work a teacher could inspect
AI Use Log
Grade 12Curriculum design example

Claim Under Pressure

Knowledge focus
A claim earns trust from defined-failure checks, then one kept regression case
Student action
Students define what would disprove an important claim, check it through independent routes and record the model, source and version.
Independent check
They explain the claim, its failure condition, which routes were truly independent and what material change would trigger a recheck.
Human capabilities this is designed to exercise
  • Critical reasoning
  • Adaptive thinking
  • Ethical judgment
Work a teacher could inspect
Claim Under Pressure Audit
Grade 12Curriculum design example

Explain Your Project Trail

Knowledge focus
How you made it lives in a kept decision trail, not a polished story
Student action
Students assemble a project trail from purpose, first work, contribution decisions, tests, material change, risk and limits.
Independent check
With the cards closed, they answer an unseen question about what changed, what the evidence shows and what still needs real-world checking.
Human capabilities this is designed to exercise
  • Critical reasoning
  • Ethical judgment
  • Adaptive thinking
  • Collaboration
Work a teacher could inspect
Project Decision Trail

From lesson to practice

A skill becomes useful when it returns in real work.

  1. 01

    Act

    The student makes an interpretation, prediction, calculation or design decision before AI contributes.

  2. 02

    Delegate

    AI receives one declared job with approved inputs and a stopping point—or it stays off.

  3. 03

    Verify

    The student checks the contribution through subject evidence, a calculation, a source or reality.

  4. 04

    Defend

    The student explains the decisive work and its limits with AI closed.

Powerful · Fallible · CatchableEach admitted AI job is designed to matter, be open to error and be checkable by the student doing the work.

AI knowledge becomes useful when it informs a human decision without taking it over.

See how these ideas become deep lessons, real makes and work students can defend.