Lesson Plan: “Co-Constructing Classroom Norms for AI Use”
Whether AI tools are permitted on your school devices or strictly blocked, one truth remains clear: your students are already using generative AI.
- Stop reacting to misconduct after it happens
- Avoid playing an endless game of policy enforcement
- Establish proactive, co-constructed AI norms today to set explicit expectations and create a foundation for honest, productive conversations all year long.
In this interactive, 45-minute lesson written by Responsible AI Fellow and Washington CSTA member Denise Thompson, students:
- Evaluate real-world ethical scenarios
- Analyze the risks and benefits of tools from code debuggers to essay generators
- Build a shared classroom agreement that fosters genuine student ownership of responsible technology use.
Aligned directly with CSTA AI standards, this activity challenges students in any content area or classroom to analyze the ethics, risks, and benefits of AI while clarifying classroom-specific restrictions. By evaluating scenarios through “Ethical Filters”—such as risk, fairness, and academic integrity—students develop a nuanced understanding of responsible technology use that extends far beyond the classroom and into everyday life and future professions.
You can find everything that you need to get started including student hand outs, scenario cards and an Acceptable Use Agreement for students here:
- Co-constructing Classroom Norms for AI Use Lesson Plan
- Co-constructing Classroom Norms for AI Use Presentation
Editable Word and PowerPoint versions of these files may also be found in the Google drive folder: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1hUJxxFHlJsCVPxgGPmudzDVgvaSLbJ4n?usp=drive_link
