Overview

This lesson introduces students to the fundamentals of artificial intelligence and how large language models (LLMs) work. Students will explore how GenAI processes and generates language, and begin connecting that understanding to the implications for their own academic work.

Materials Needed

• Projector/screen for slides or visuals
• Word cards (pre-printed: “love,” “hate,” “hello,” “greetings,” “dog,” “puppy,” “justice,” “fairness,” “king,” “queen,” “man,” “woman”)
• Dice
• Whiteboard and markers
• Instructional video or article (see Instructor Materials)

Preparation

Review the available instructional materials (video or article) in advance and select the one best suited to your class. Pre-print word cards and prepare any slides before class.

Lesson Sequence

Time	Activity	Description
0:00–0:03	Opening Hook	Ask: “How many of you have used ChatGPT or another GenAI chatbot?” Quick poll: “What have you used it for?” (3–4 responses). Pose central question: “How does it actually work? How does it ‘understand’ what you’re asking?”
0:03–0:18	Mini-Lecture	Using your selected instructional material, cover: What is GenAI? What is an LLM? Key concepts. How LLMs are trained.
0:18–0:48	Interactive Activity	Select one activity from the Student Activities. The vector word card exercise with dice is recommended for this session.
0:48–0:51	Debrief	Ask: “So what did we just learn about how LLMs work?” Draw out: words as vectors/positions in space; mathematical relationships between words; real LLMs use thousands of dimensions, not just two.
0:51–0:60	Wrap-Up & Preview	Preview next class: “Next time we’ll explore how transformers and attention mechanisms help LLMs understand context, and we’ll develop our class GenAI use guidelines together.”

Facilitation Notes

The mini-lecture can be delivered using a video, article, or your own slides — use what works best for your class. The vector activity is hands-on and works well to make an abstract concept tangible; don’t rush the debrief, as that’s where the learning consolidates.

Differentiation / Accessibility Suggestions

Students unfamiliar with math concepts may need extra reassurance that the vector activity is conceptual, not computational. Consider pairing students for the activity to reduce anxiety.