AI or not?

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In this lesson, students consider the impact of generative AI technology on the information landscape. They start by completing a K-H-W-L chart. Then students take a short quiz featuring AI-generated images and explore tips to determine whether an image is AI-generated. Finally, students will reflect on how AI tools have changed the nature of visual evidence.

Intended for grades 6 and up, this lesson plan includes essential questions, vocabulary, activity slides, procedural directions and ideas for an extension opportunity.

Below is a preview of several lesson elements:

NLP standard 4: Students demonstrate increased critical habits of mind, including effective verification skills and the ability to detect misinformation and faulty evidence.

Essential Questions 

1. How can you tell if something is AI-generated or authentic?
2. How have AI tools changed the ways you evaluate visual evidence for online claims?
3. What problems can arise when people mistake AI content as authentic? What about when they dismiss authentic visuals as AI-generated?

Vocabulary 

• Artificial intelligence: Technology that aims to replicate the way the human mind works to perform a wide variety of tasks, including analyses and comparisons that go beyond what people’s minds can do.
• Generative AI: Layers of powerful algorithms that learn patterns in data and then use this understanding to create new content. These tools are capable of producing text and synthetic images, video and audio.

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