Overview 

This expanded lesson gives students a deeper foundation in how GenAI works, moving from basic concepts through vectors, attention mechanisms, and text prediction. Students analyze GenAI’s strengths and limitations and begin forming their own informed perspectives on appropriate GenAI use in academic work.

Materials Needed

• Projector/screen
• Word cards — Set 1: “love,” “hate,” “hello,” “greetings,” “dog,” “puppy,” “justice,” “fairness,” “king,” “queen,” “man,” “woman”
• Sentence cards for attention activity (prepare 2–3 sets): “The” / “bank” / “by” / “the” / “river” / “has” / “steep” / “slopes”
• Index cards or slips for strengths/weaknesses activity
• Whiteboard and markers
• Dice
• Instructional video or article (see Instructor Materials)
• Two short paragraphs on the same topic (one human-written, one AI-generated) — displayed on screen for opening hook

Preparation 

Prepare or locate the two opening paragraphs (human-written vs. AI-generated) in advance. Pre-print all word and sentence cards. Select two Student Activities to use in Part 2. Review Instructor Materials for facilitation guidance on the attention mechanism activity.

Lesson Sequence

Time	Activity	Description
0:00–0:04	Opening Hook	Display two short paragraphs: one human-written, one AI-generated. “Which one do you think is written by GenAI? Why?” Take quick votes and 2–3 explanations. Reveal answer.
0:04–0:20	Mini-Lecture	Using your selected instructional material, cover: What is AI? What is an LLM? Key concepts. How LLMs are trained.
0:20–1:20	Interactive Activities	Select two activities from the Student Activities. Use one vector activity and one attention/transformer activity for the strongest conceptual arc.
1:20–1:27	Synthesis	Review on board: Vectors → words as mathematical relationships; Attention/Transformers → understanding context; Prediction → generating text by choosing probable next words. Ask: “So what does this mean for using GenAI in college?”
1:27–1:30	Preview & Exit Ticket	Assign reading/viewing for next class [instructor to specify]. Exit ticket: (1) “In your own words, explain ONE way LLMs process language.” (2) “Name ONE thing GenAI is good at for academic work and ONE thing it’s not good at — and explain why based on how it works.”

Facilitation Notes 

The opening hook works well even if students guess wrong — either outcome leads to good discussion about what cues we use to identify AI-generated text. For Part 2, the vector activity and the attention mechanism activity together create a strong conceptual sequence; avoid using two activities of the same type. The exit ticket is optional but recommended as a low-stakes check for understanding.

Follow-Up for Next Class

• Debrief the reading/viewing assignment
• Co-create class GenAI use guidelines based on student understanding
• Deeper dive into bias, privacy, and academic integrity
• Practice: productive vs. unproductive GenAI interactions

Differentiation / Accessibility Suggestions 

Index cards for the exit ticket give students who are reluctant to speak a low-pressure way to demonstrate understanding. The sentence card activity can be done in pairs or small groups for students who benefit from collaborative processing.