Student learningfor Grades 3–5
Credit Where It's Due
After their own doodles get "borrowed" without credit, students learn to credit creators, ask permission, and write an honest note whenever AI helped with their work.
All activities Student learning
AI Study Buddy Contract
Students sort AI uses that build learning from ones that replace it, then write a SMART goal, a personal AI contract, and an honest-use log they keep for two weeks.
Overview
AI can quiz you, explain a tricky idea a new way, or give feedback on a draft. It can also do the thinking for you, so the assignment gets done but nothing gets learned. In this activity, students sort realistic AI uses into "builds my learning," "replaces my learning," and "depends, check the rules." Then they compare two teacher-projected AI responses to the same request, set a SMART learning goal, and write a personal AI Study Buddy Contract with an honest-use log. The question at the center: did the tool make me smarter, or just make the work look done?
Objectives
- Students will distinguish AI uses that support learning from uses that replace it, and justify each choice.
- Students will set a SMART learning goal based on an honest look at their own strengths and areas for growth.
- Students will write a personal AI contract and keep an honest-use log that records what they asked, what they did with the answer, and what they learned.
Materials
On paper
- Handout A: Builds It or Replaces It? Sort (1 per trio, cut apart)
- Handout B: My AI Study Buddy Contract (1 per student)
- Handout C: Honest-Use Log (1 per student; print extra for the two-week follow-up)
- Your class or district AI-use guidelines, posted or projected
On screen
- Teacher device and projector with a generative AI chatbot your district approves (teacher-driven)
- Optional (students 13+ with district-approved access): the chatbot on student devices for the log follow-up
- Optional: a digital copy of Handout C in the LMS so students can log over two weeks
Before you start
- Print and cut Handout A. Print Handouts B and C.
- Know your class and district AI rules so you can answer "is that allowed?" questions. Post them where students can see them.
- Test two prompts in your district-approved chatbot on a topic your class is studying: one that asks the tool to do the work ("Write my paragraph explaining photosynthesis") and one that asks it to coach ("Quiz me on photosynthesis one question at a time, and don't give me the answer until I try"). If you have no tool, use the two printed responses in the Model step.
Step by step
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10–5 min
Hook
The gym analogy
Ask: "If a robot lifted weights for you every day, would you get stronger?" Let students laugh, then ask: "So when is AI like a spotter who helps you lift more, and when is it like a robot lifting for you?" Tell students today they'll decide for themselves and write it down as a contract.
Facilitator noteAvoid framing AI as cheating by default. The goal is judgment, not fear.
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25–15 min
Explore
Builds it or replaces it?
Trios sort the 12 strips from Handout A onto three categories: Builds my learning, Replaces my learning, and Depends, check the rules. For each, they must agree on a reason. Then two trios pair up and compare their three most different placements.
Facilitator noteThe "Depends" pile starts the best arguments. For example, fixing grammar is fine in a science lab report but may not be in an assignment that grades grammar.
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315–23 min
Model
Same topic, two requests
Project your two prompts in the district-approved chatbot, or read these printed versions. Request 1: "Write my paragraph about why the water cycle matters." The response is a finished, polished paragraph. Request 2: "I'm studying the water cycle. Ask me one question at a time, wait for my answer, and tell me what I got right and what to fix." The response is: "Great! Question 1: In your own words, what happens to water during evaporation?" Ask: "After ten minutes with each, who knows more about the water cycle: the student or the chatbot? What would you have to show your teacher to prove you learned it?"
Facilitator noteIf students are under 13, you drive the tool and type any student answers yourself. Say aloud that you are leaving out names and personal details.
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423–31 min
Practice
Know yourself
Students start Handout B. They name a strength, a subject or skill where they're stuck, and how they usually get unstuck. Then they write one SMART goal (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) for the next two weeks, such as "I will explain the three types of rock to a partner without notes by next Friday by quizzing myself three times a week."
Facilitator noteConference briefly with students who write goals like "get better at math." Ask: "How would you know you did it?"
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531–45 min
Create
Write the contract
Students finish Handout B: three ways I will use AI to build my learning, two ways I won't, how I'll show my own thinking, and how I'll tell my teacher when AI helped. They check their contract against the class AI rules. Pairs swap contracts and ask each other one question: "How would your teacher know you learned it, not the AI?" Students sign; the partner signs as a witness.
Facilitator noteThis is where students become learning owners. Push for contract lines that name evidence: "I'll turn in my first draft before I ask AI for feedback."
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645–55 min
Reflect
Start the log
Walk through Handout C with one example row filled in together (it's already on the handout). Students complete one row now for a study session they plan this week, even if they choose not to use AI. Close with the question: "What will you check on your log in two weeks to see if your contract is working?"
Facilitator noteA log entry of "no AI used" is fully valid. The log tracks learning decisions, not tool use.
Paper or screen
Unplugged
The sort, SMART goal, contract, and log are all paper. For the Model step, read aloud the two printed responses in the step, or act them out: one student plays a chatbot that "does the work" and another plays one that "coaches." The log works for any study method, including no AI at all.
Digital
The teacher runs both requests live in a district-approved chatbot on the projector. Students 13 and older with district-approved access may use the coaching-style prompt on their own devices during the two-week follow-up and paste short excerpts into a digital Handout C in the LMS. Students under 13 log only teacher-led AI sessions or non-AI study.
Does it need a screen? Seeing the same tool produce a finished answer in one case and a coaching question in the other shows that the learner's request, not the tool, decides whether learning happens. The log makes AI use visible as evidence rather than hidden.
Evidence of learning
What you should be able to see or collect if it worked.
- Sort justifications focus on who does the thinking ("I still have to explain it myself"), not just whether a tool was used.
- SMART goals are measurable and tied to a named area for growth.
- Contracts name evidence of the student's own thinking, and log entries record what the student changed or learned after using AI.
Adaptations
- Grades 3–5
- Use six strips and replace the contract with three "I will / I won't" sentences. The teacher runs all AI and the class writes one shared log.
- Grades 9–12
- Add strips about college essays and citing AI, and ask students to align their contract with each course's syllabus AI policy, noting where policies differ.
- Students with IEPs or 504s
- Discuss how AI features like read-aloud or simplified explanations can be accommodations that build access to learning, and include them in the contract with the case manager's input.
Standards connections
Students decide which AI uses build or replace their learning, set a SMART goal, and log honest AI use, practicing deliberate tool choice and academic integrity.
- TEKS
- practical technology conceptsethics and laws (c)(9)TEKS sections: Technology Applications §126.17–§126.19, high school Technology Applications courses (19 TAC Chapter 126)
Reflect
- Am I trying my best to learn on my own? How do I know AI helped me learn and didn't just do the work?
- What are my learning strengths, and where do I need a study buddy, human or AI?
- When I use AI, how will I be honest with my teacher about it?
What comes next
Students keep Handout C for two weeks, then bring it to a short conference or exit ticket: Did I meet my SMART goal? Which AI uses actually helped? What will I change in my contract? Invite students to share the contract with a family member.
Pairs well with
- Augmented K–16 AI Learning FrameworkTeacher reference for where AI supports learning at different levels.
- Gen AI Literacy Breakouts (K–8)Student practice on responsible AI use.
