4th Grade AI Lesson from BrainPOP
4th Grade Lesson:
Artificial Intelligence
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Teacher Directions
2. Review the Lesson Overview and Lesson Resources. This will provide you with a general understanding of the content, timing and lesson flow. Note: For access to BrainPOP videos, lessons and resources, you will need to be logged into BrainPOP.
3. Deliver the lesson to students. During the movie, use grade level appropriate pause points to check for understanding.
5. After delivering the lesson, please complete the short survey located at the bottom of this page.
About This Lesson...
This lesson accompanies the BrainPOP topic Artificial Intelligence, and supports the standard of understanding of how to effectively select, use, and solve problems with current technologies. Additionally, it encourages students to apply their understanding to new and developing technologies. Students demonstrate understanding through a variety of projects.
Lesson Overview:
Are computers becoming as smart as we are? Not exactly, but some are performing tasks that we normally think of as requiring human intelligence—like, learning from experience, solving problems, and responding to language. The idea of AI has been around since at least 1950, when British mathematician Alan Turing envisioned what it would mean for computers to think. These days, narrow AI is everywhere, with predictive text, photo filters, chatbots, and more. Much of it is based on machine learning: The computer gets programmed with instructions and fed data; then, through training, it gets to know patterns in the data, and can eventually make decisions about new data. These AI models are built on artificial neural networks, which mimic the brain’s neural network. The technology is changing rapidly, and has its risks. For example, large language models can be inaccurate, and deepfakes can be weaponized by bad actors. So, it's important to be thoughtful about how you interact with AI.
Lesson Resources:
Lesson Plan (Access an editable version HERE)
Movie and Pause Point Questions Set 1 (Recommended for Grades 3 & 4)
Lesson Quiz to use as a review or graded assignment (OPTIONAL)
Extend and deepen learning (OPTIONAL)
Activate Students' Prior Knowledge:
What do you know about AI?
What are some ways people are using AI now?