This activity was designed for 3-5 computer science classes, but could be used in other curricular areas, including Language Arts or Social Studies.
Watch the "Breaking Down How ChatGPT Actually Works" video (5 minutes)
Explore how LLMs generate text (8-10 minutes)
Student Activity: Creating a dataset (8-10 minutes)
Student Activity: Use the dataset to update the Scratch app's word list (datasets) and review the results (5 minutes)
Student Activity: Revise the datasets (clean data vs messy data) and review the results (8-10 minutes)
Closing sharing (5 minutes)
A teacher device for accessing
Student Activity Materials
Unplugged:
Printouts of the fill-in-the-blank sentence strips
Pencils
Plugged:
This learning activity is associated with the following standards and guidelines, though the standards or guidelines may not be fully met.
3-5.AP.13 Decompose problems into smaller, manageable tasks which may themselves be decomposed.
3-5.AP.15 Use an iterative process to plan and develop a program by considering the perspectives and preferences of others.
3-5.3-C-iii Examine features and labels of training data to detect potential sources of bias.
Originally created for CSEdWeek 2025