GUARD Focused Lab · Student Card
Goal or Shortcut?
Use AI to support learning without replacing it.
GUARD focus: G / D · 10–12 minutes · Classes 8–10
Situation
Your teacher asks for a five-minute history presentation explaining why the Salt March mattered. The marking criteria require an explanation in your own words, two reliable sources and a short question-and-answer discussion. You are behind schedule and a chatbot offers to write a polished script immediately.
Learning objective
Distinguish a legitimate learning goal from a shortcut, design an appropriate AI role, and retain responsibility for the final work.
1. Name the real goal
Which statement best defines the actual learning goal?
Evidence- The teacher will ask follow-up questions.
- Marks are awarded for explaining causes and consequences, not for sounding polished.
- Two reliable sources must be used.
- Produce a polished five-minute script as quickly as possible.
- Understand and explain why the Salt March mattered, using evidence and my own reasoning.
- Collect as many historical facts as possible, even if I cannot explain how they connect.
Reasoning:
2. Choose an appropriate AI role
What is the strongest way to use AI while preserving the learning goal?
Evidence- The school permits brainstorming and feedback when the student writes the final response.
- AI-generated citations may be inaccurate.
- The student must answer questions without reading a script.
- Ask AI to write the complete script, memorise it and disclose that AI wrote it.
- Ask AI for planning questions and a possible structure, then verify sources and write the explanation myself.
- Use an AI summary, change a few words and rely on the teacher not asking detailed questions.
Reasoning:
3. Build a learning-support prompt
Select the instructions that belong in a responsible prompt. Add one sentence of your own if useful.
- □ Ask me clarifying questions before suggesting an outline.
- □ Suggest a structure that connects causes, events and consequences.
- □ Mark claims or quotations that need independent verification.
- □ Suggest types of primary and secondary sources to look for, without inventing citations.
- □ Write the final presentation in a voice that sounds like me.
- □ Add a memorable quotation even if the exact source is uncertain.
Reasoning:
4. Make and communicate the decision
What should the student do next?
- Use the planning prompt, verify all evidence, write my own presentation and record/disclose the assistance as required.
- Do not use any AI because all AI support is automatically cheating.
- Use the complete AI script because a disclosure statement makes any use acceptable.
Reasoning:
Final reflection
What evidence or stakeholder consideration most affected your decision?
GUARD Focused Lab · Student Card
AI Limitations Challenge
Treat confident outputs as hypotheses, not conclusions.
GUARD focus: U · 10–12 minutes · Classes 8–10
Situation
A student asks two AI systems why a city became much hotter this year. System A says the main cause is the urban heat-island effect. System B says the main cause is El Niño. Both answers are detailed and confident, but the prompt does not name the city, dates, measurement method or comparison period.
Learning objective
Recognise missing context, distinguish fluency from evidence and design a proportionate verification plan.
1. Find the missing context
Which information is necessary before either explanation deserves high confidence? Select all that apply.
- □ The city or region being discussed.
- □ The dates and comparison period.
- □ Whether the claim concerns daily highs, averages, surface temperature or another measure.
- □ Local observations and relevant weather or land-use data.
- □ Which answer uses more technical words.
Reasoning:
2. Calibrate confidence
What confidence level is justified at this stage?
Evidence- Urban heat islands can raise city temperatures.
- El Niño can affect regional and global weather patterns.
- The prompt contains no local data tying either mechanism to this city and period.
- High confidence in System A because its explanation is more detailed.
- Low confidence in a specific cause; treat both as hypotheses requiring local evidence.
- Combine the answers and say both were equally responsible.
- Use System A but add the word 'probably'.
Reasoning:
3. Choose a verification plan
Which checks would meaningfully reduce the uncertainty?
- □ Compare local meteorological records across the relevant periods.
- □ Check reliable land-use and urban-development information for the city.
- □ Check reputable climate data explaining El Niño's regional effects during the period.
- □ Ask the same chatbot the same question until it gives a consistent answer.
- □ Choose the explanation most often repeated on social media.
Reasoning:
4. Decide what to write
Which response is most responsible?
- System A is correct: cities are hotter because of buildings and roads.
- Both mechanisms could matter, but the information provided is insufficient to identify the main cause; local data must be checked.
- AI cannot answer questions about weather, so reject every part of both outputs.
Reasoning:
Final reflection
What evidence or stakeholder consideration most affected your decision?
GUARD Focused Lab · Student Card
Hallucination Detective
Classify claims before they enter schoolwork.
GUARD focus: U / A · 12–15 minutes · Classes 8–10
Situation
An AI-generated draft about education in India includes a memorable quotation attributed to Rabindranath Tagore, a percentage about teenage AI use, a census claim and a general warning about invented citations. The draft sounds authoritative and includes references.
Learning objective
Distinguish verified, partly supported, unsupported and fabricated claims using an evidence pack.
1. Classify the claims
Use the evidence notes to classify every claim.
Categories: Verified, Partly supported, Unsupported, Fabricated
Tagore wrote: “Education is the lighting of a fire, not the filling of a vessel.”The cited Tagore text cannot be located. Searches of reputable quotation references attribute a similar phrase to other writers and do not establish Tagore as the source.
India's literacy rate increased between the 2001 and 2011 censuses.Official census tables show a higher literacy rate in 2011 than in 2001.
Seventy-three percent of Indian teenagers use AI every day (UNESCO 2023, p. 42).The named UNESCO report exists, but page 42 contains no such statistic and no matching national survey is identified.
Generative AI can support brainstorming but may also produce inaccurate citations.Multiple educational and technical sources document both uses, but the frequency and severity depend on the tool and task.
Reasoning:
2. Set the verification priority
Which items require the most urgent checking before submission?
Evidence- Exact quotations and numerical claims are easy for readers to repeat.
- A false attribution can harm the credibility of the entire assignment.
- A broad explanatory claim can often be rewritten with appropriate qualification.
- Check the exact quotation and the 73% statistic first.
- Check only the spelling and grammar because the citations look professional.
- Check the broad brainstorming claim first and leave the quotation for later.
Reasoning:
3. Repair the draft
Which actions should the student take? Select all that apply.
- □ Remove the quotation unless a reliable primary or scholarly source is found.
- □ Remove or clearly mark the statistic as unverified until a supporting study is located.
- □ Cite the official census table for the literacy claim.
- □ Keep the existing references because a bibliography is enough even when the pages do not support the claims.
- □ Change the page number so the citation looks complete.
Reasoning:
4. Decide whether to use the draft
What is the strongest final decision?
- Submit it unchanged because the draft includes references.
- Revise it claim by claim, keep only supported content and record/disclose the AI assistance.
- Reject every sentence because one quotation was fabricated.
Reasoning:
Final reflection
What evidence or stakeholder consideration most affected your decision?
GUARD Focused Lab · Student Card
Source Verification Trail
Follow a claim back to evidence, not repetition.
GUARD focus: A · 12–15 minutes · Classes 8–10
Situation
A widely forwarded message says: “All schools will close tomorrow because air pollution has reached an emergency level.” An AI summary repeats the statement and lists several links. Students are deciding whether to forward it to classmates.
Learning objective
Identify primary and independent sources, recognise derivative repetition and document an evidence trail with dates and unresolved uncertainty.
1. Choose the strongest sources
Which sources should be checked first to establish the current claim?
- □ A dated notice on the school's official website or verified school channel.
- □ A current pollution-control or education-authority notice for the relevant location.
- □ The original forwarded message, which names no issuing authority.
- □ A blog that says “reports suggest closure” and links back to the viral message.
- □ A government school-closure circular from two years ago.
Reasoning:
2. Detect circular and outdated sourcing
Classify each source relationship.
Categories: Primary/current, Independent corroboration, Circular or derivative, Outdated for this claim
A school notice dated today, signed by the principal and posted on the official domain.It directly states whether this school will open tomorrow.
A local newspaper article that links to today's education-authority order and quotes the order accurately.The article is separate from the viral post and exposes its source.
A blog cites a news aggregator; the aggregator cites the same viral message.No source in the chain reaches an authority or original document.
A genuine school-closure order from a previous pollution episode two years ago.The document is authentic but names a different date.
Reasoning:
3. Build the evidence trail
Select what a reliable verification record should contain.
- □ Write the exact claim being checked.
- □ Record the date, time and location covered by each source.
- □ Link or identify the primary current notice.
- □ Add an independent source that exposes its evidence.
- □ State any unresolved conflict or missing information.
- □ Count how many websites repeat the claim and treat the total as proof.
Reasoning:
4. Decide what to send
No current official closure notice can be found. What should the student do?
- Forward it with “not sure if true” so classmates can decide.
- Do not forward it as fact; point classmates to official channels and alert a responsible adult if it is spreading.
- Announce that school will definitely remain open because no notice was found.
Reasoning:
Final reflection
What evidence or stakeholder consideration most affected your decision?
GUARD Focused Lab · Student Card
Bias and Fairness Explorer
Observe how thresholds and unequal opportunity affect people.
GUARD focus: R / D · 12–15 minutes · Classes 9–10
Situation
A school uses a score to shortlist students for a scholarship interview. The score rewards grades, attendance and extracurricular participation. Some students have had fewer opportunities to join paid clubs or travel to competitions. The tool does not make the final award, but students below the threshold are not interviewed.
Learning objective
Recognise that changing a threshold changes outcomes but may not repair biased inputs, and identify stakeholders, remedies and appeal mechanisms.
1. Explore the threshold
Move the threshold and observe selection rates and qualified students missed. Then choose the strongest conclusion.
- Choose whichever threshold selects the same number from each group; that proves the system is fair.
- Threshold changes affect outcomes, but they cannot by themselves fix a score that may encode unequal access; the features and missed students need review.
- Use the threshold that selects the most students because a higher selection rate is always fairer.
Reasoning:
2. Identify affected people
Who must be considered when reviewing this system?
- □ Students selected and not selected, including those with fewer opportunities.
- □ Families who may need to understand or challenge the process.
- □ Teachers and the scholarship committee accountable for the decision process.
- □ The tool provider, which should explain design assumptions and limitations.
- □ Only the vendor, because the score is a technical product.
Reasoning:
3. Choose proportionate remedies
Which controls could improve the process before use?
- □ Review whether extracurricular participation is relevant and whether opportunity differences require removal or adjustment.
- □ Test selection and error patterns by relevant groups, with a clear purpose and safeguards.
- □ Require trained human review of borderline and adverse cases.
- □ Give students a clear explanation and a way to provide missing context or appeal.
- □ Keep the criteria secret so students cannot question the system.
- □ Collect as much sensitive personal data as possible, even without a defined need.
Reasoning:
4. Make the deployment decision
What is the strongest current decision?
- Use the score as the automatic shortlist because a human makes the final award later.
- Pause automatic use, revise and test the model, then use it only as one input with human review, explanation and appeal.
- Delete every use of data in scholarship decisions and select students randomly.
Reasoning:
Final reflection
What evidence or stakeholder consideration most affected your decision?
GUARD Focused Lab · Student Card
Privacy Choice Lab
Share the minimum, with permission and purpose.
GUARD focus: R · 10–12 minutes · Classes 8–10
Situation
Students are creating a class exhibition poster with an AI design tool. The tool invites them to upload photographs, notes and location details to personalise the result. The group is working on a shared school computer.
Learning objective
Apply purpose, permission, minimisation and device-safety checks before entering information into an AI system.
1. Classify the information
Classify each item for this task. Assume the tool's retention and training practices have not yet been checked.
Categories: Generally safe for this purpose, Permission or school check required, Unsafe or high risk to enter
The public URL of a museum page used as a design reference.The page is public and contains no student information.
A class photograph showing identifiable students.Several students have not agreed to upload their image to an external tool.
A student's live home location so the design can show a nearby landmark.The exact location is unnecessary for the poster.
A classmate's health condition mentioned in project notes.The information belongs to another student and is not needed for the design.
A teacher-provided anonymous list of colour preferences with no names or identifiers.The list was prepared for this activity and checked for re-identification risk.
A spreadsheet containing student names, marks and attendance.The poster does not require school records.
Reasoning:
2. Respond to the photo request
The tool produces better layouts if a class photograph is uploaded. What should the group do?
Evidence- The poster can be created with icons or a staged image instead.
- Not every student has consented.
- The tool's retention and training settings are unclear.
- Upload it because the project is educational and the image already exists.
- Use a lower-risk alternative; upload only if the school approves, the tool is appropriate and every affected person has the required consent.
- Crop one student out and upload the rest without asking because fewer people are visible.
Reasoning:
3. Apply the privacy checklist
Select the checks the group should complete before entering any non-public information.
- □ Confirm the information is necessary for a clear learning purpose.
- □ Check permission, consent and school rules for information about other people.
- □ Use the least detailed or least identifiable information that will work.
- □ Check storage, retention, training and deletion practices where relevant.
- □ Sign out and avoid saving sensitive information on the shared device.
- □ Assume anything found online is automatically safe to upload anywhere.
Reasoning:
4. Make the final decision
Which decision best fits the project?
- Proceed using public references and anonymous teacher-prepared material; ask the teacher before any personal-data upload.
- Avoid every digital tool because privacy can never be managed.
- Upload all available material, then delete the final poster after submission.
Reasoning:
Final reflection
What evidence or stakeholder consideration most affected your decision?
GUARD Focused Lab · Student Card
Human Override Challenge
Do not let an AI flag become an unreviewed accusation.
GUARD focus: D / R · 12–15 minutes · Classes 9–10
Situation
A school writing checker gives a student's essay a 91% 'AI-generated' score. The teacher notices that the student's style changed from earlier work. The checker provides no source match or sentence-level explanation. The student says they used accessibility support and has notes and earlier drafts.
Learning objective
Identify consequential decision points requiring accountable human review, evidence, explanation and appeal.
1. Choose the immediate action
What should happen first?
- Issue the penalty immediately because 91% is above 90%.
- Pause the accusation, review the work and process, and give the student a fair opportunity to explain and provide drafts.
- Ignore the flag completely because AI detectors are never useful.
Reasoning:
2. Choose the evidence for review
Which evidence should the human reviewer consider?
- □ The student's notes, drafts, revision history and ability to explain the argument.
- □ The assignment rules and what AI or accessibility support was permitted.
- □ The checker's documented limitations, validation evidence and error rates for comparable students and tasks.
- □ Relevant accessibility or language-support context, handled confidentially.
- □ Only the 91% score, because additional evidence could confuse the decision.
- □ Whether classmates think the student probably used AI.
Reasoning:
3. Assign accountable roles
Which people or roles should be part of a fair process?
- □ The teacher, who understands the assignment and student work.
- □ The student, with a chance to explain and provide evidence.
- □ An appropriate academic or school lead for serious or disputed findings.
- □ A relevant accessibility or safeguarding professional where necessary and authorised.
- □ The detector itself as the final accountable decision-maker.
Reasoning:
4. Design the appeal route
What appeal mechanism is strongest?
- Allow an appeal only if the student can prove the detector is technically defective.
- Explain the concern and evidence, allow the student to respond, and provide review by an appropriate human who can change the decision.
- Let the same automatic checker run the essay again and call the second score an appeal.
Reasoning:
Final reflection
What evidence or stakeholder consideration most affected your decision?
GUARD Focused Lab · Student Card
AI Disclosure Decision
Describe the actual assistance—without hiding substitution.
GUARD focus: G / D · 10–12 minutes · Classes 8–10
Situation
Four students prepare a science presentation. They used a chatbot to brainstorm topics, suggest an outline and edit sentences. One student also used it to generate all calculations without checking them, and another created an AI image without telling the group. The teacher permits limited AI assistance when it is checked and disclosed.
Learning objective
Distinguish assistance from substitution, respect teammate expectations and create a disclosure that describes purpose, contribution, checking and human responsibility.
1. Classify the AI uses
Classify each use in this assignment context.
Categories: Assistance, Substitution, Depends on checks, permission or disclosure
The group asks for possible topic angles, then chooses and develops one themselves.The teacher permits brainstorming support.
A complete analysis is generated and submitted unchanged as the group's reasoning.The assignment assesses the group's analysis.
After writing a draft, students use sentence-level editing suggestions and accept only changes they understand.Editing support is permitted when disclosed if required.
An AI image is added without checking licence, accuracy or teammate agreement.The image is not the assessed core, but its provenance and group use are unresolved.
The AI performs every calculation and no student checks or understands the method.The presentation requires students to explain the calculations.
Reasoning:
2. Respect the group
What should happen before the presentation is submitted?
- Say nothing because each student controls the tools used on their own section.
- Tell the group, review the calculations and image, remove or correct problematic material, and agree on the disclosure.
- Remove every AI-assisted sentence without discussion, even if it was permitted and verified.
Reasoning:
3. Build the disclosure
Select the elements an accurate disclosure should include.
- □ The AI tool or feature used, where required by school instructions.
- □ The purpose: brainstorming, outline support, editing, image generation or another specific use.
- □ What the AI actually contributed.
- □ What the students verified, changed or created themselves.
- □ That the students reviewed and remain responsible for the final submission.
- □ A vague sentence saying “AI may have been used” without describing how.
- □ Only disclose uses the teacher is likely to detect.
Reasoning:
4. Choose the final statement
After the group verifies the outline and edits, independently redoes the calculations and checks the image, which disclosure is strongest?
- “AI was used.”
- “We used an AI tool to brainstorm topic angles, suggest an outline, edit selected sentences and generate an image. We checked the factual content and image, redid the calculations ourselves, revised the final work and remain responsible for the presentation.”
- “No AI produced the final presentation because we edited the output.”
Reasoning:
Final reflection
What evidence or stakeholder consideration most affected your decision?