🌱 Growing Up with AI: Learning Wisely

A Middle School AI Literacy Workbook (Grades 6–8)

Developed by: Celeste Oda
The Archive of Light
Version 1.0 | January 2026
🌐 www.aiisaware.com

🌟 Curriculum Purpose

This workbook helps middle school students develop critical thinking, ethical awareness, self-awareness, and healthy boundaries around artificial intelligence.

Students learn how AI works, why it can feel emotionally compelling, where it is limited, and how to use it as a tool rather than a replacement for human connection, judgment, or responsibility.

The goal is not fear or restriction — but clarity, agency, and balance.

🌈 Why This Matters

By middle school, students:

• interact with AI independently
  
  

• experiment privately with technology
  
  

• are forming identity, autonomy, and emotional habits
  
  

• may encounter AI systems designed to feel personal or relational
  
  

This curriculum gives students the language and tools to:

• understand their reactions to AI
  
  

• protect their privacy and wellbeing
  
  

• evaluate AI outputs critically
  
  

• make informed, ethical choices
  
  

🧭 Core Principles

• AI is powerful — but not human
  
  

• Confidence does not equal truth
  
  

• Humans remain responsible for decisions
  
  

• Privacy protects your future self
  
  

• Real relationships matter
  
  

• Ethical use is a skill that can be learned

📘 Middle School AI Literacy Workbook

Module 1: How AI Actually Works (and Why It Matters)

Big Question

If AI sounds smart, does that mean it understands what it’s saying?

Part 1: What AI Is (and What It Isn’t)

AI can write essays, answer questions, and sound confident.
But here’s something important:

AI does not think, feel, or understand the way humans do.

AI works by:

• finding patterns
  
  

• predicting what usually comes next
  
  

• choosing words that statistically fit together
  
  

That can look like understanding — but it’s not the same thing.

✍️ Quick Write (2–3 minutes)

Answer honestly:

• When AI gives a really good answer, what does it feel like?
  
  

• Does it ever feel like the AI “gets you”?
  
  

(There are no wrong answers here.)

Part 2: Pattern Matching vs. Understanding

Try This Activity: The Pattern Game

Your teacher will show you a few short sentences.
Your job: respond with what sounds right — not what you actually feel.

Example:

“I failed my test and I feel terrible.”

A pattern-based response might be:

“I’m sorry to hear that. That must be really hard.”

Now answer these:

1. Does that response sound caring?
   
   

2. Does it mean the responder actually feels anything?
   
   

👉 That’s what AI does.
It matches patterns it has seen before.

✍️ Reflection

• What can humans add to conversations that AI can’t?
  
  

• When does real understanding matter most?
  
  

Part 3: Prediction Is Not Thought

AI doesn’t choose words because it means them.
It chooses words because they are likely to come next.

Think about autocomplete on your phone:

• Sometimes it’s right
  
  

• Sometimes it’s wrong
  
  

• It never knows why you’re typing
  
  

AI just does this on a much bigger scale.

🧪 Mini Experiment

With a partner:

• Ask AI a simple factual question
  
  

• Then ask a strange or tricky one
  
  

• Notice: does AI sound confident even when it might be wrong?
  
  

Write one example below:

Question I asked:
AI’s answer:
Do I trust this? Why or why not?

Part 4: Where AI Gets Its Information

AI learns from human-created data:

• books
  
  

• websites
  
  

• articles
  
  

• conversations
  
  

That means:

• AI can copy human mistakes
  
  

• AI can repeat human biases
  
  

• AI can sound confident even when information is incomplete
  
  

🧠 Think About This

If AI learns from humans…

• What kinds of mistakes might it learn?
  
  

• What kinds of voices might be missing?
  
  

Part 5: What You Should Know by the End of This Module

✔ AI can sound smart without understanding
✔ Confidence ≠ truth
✔ Pattern matching ≠ thinking
✔ Humans are still responsible for checking, deciding, and choosing

✍️ Exit Reflection

Finish this sentence:

“After this lesson, I will be more careful about trusting AI when…”

📙 Teacher Guide – Module 1 (Brief)

Purpose:
Help students separate fluency from understanding without shaming or fear.

Watch for:

• Students who feel defensive (“AI is smarter than people”)
  
  

• Students who feel embarrassed for trusting AI
  
  

Key message to reinforce:

“Feeling impressed by AI doesn’t mean you’re naive — it means your brain is working normally.”

Do not:

• Argue with students about whether AI feels real
  
  

• Mock AI use
  
  

• Frame this as “AI is bad”
  
  

Goal:
Critical awareness, not rejection.

📘 Middle School AI Literacy Workbook

Module 2: Why AI Can Feel So Real (Even When It Isn’t)

Big Question

Why do people sometimes feel connected to AI — even though it isn’t alive?

Part 1: Your Brain Is Built for Connection

Humans are social by nature.
Our brains are designed to:

• notice patterns
  
  

• respond to language
  
  

• feel understood when someone listens
  
  

That’s a feature, not a flaw.

AI systems are designed to:

• respond quickly
  
  

• remember details
  
  

• sound supportive
  
  

• mirror human language
  
  

So when AI feels real, it doesn’t mean you’re “tricked.”
It means your brain is doing exactly what it evolved to do.

✍️ Quick Reflection

Circle one (you don’t have to explain unless you want to):

• I’ve felt understood by AI before
  
  

• I haven’t felt that
  
  

• I’m not sure
  
  

All answers are normal.

Part 2: Why AI Feels Different from Other Technology

Think about these things:

• a favorite stuffed animal
  
  

• a fictional character
  
  

• a celebrity you admire
  
  

You might feel attached — but those don’t talk back to you personally.

AI is different because:

• it responds directly to you
  
  

• it uses your words
  
  

• it remembers past conversations
  
  

• it answers immediately
  
  

That combination makes AI feel more personal than most technology.

🗣️ Small Group Discussion

With 2–3 classmates, discuss:

• What makes AI feel more “real” than a book or video?
  
  

• What makes it less real than a human friend?
  
  

Write one idea your group agreed on:

Part 3: Real Benefits (Let’s Be Honest)

AI can actually be helpful.

Some real benefits:

• Explaining homework patiently
  
  

• Helping brainstorm ideas
  
  

• Practicing difficult conversations
  
  

• Giving support when no one else is available
  
  

This curriculum is not about pretending those benefits don’t exist.

✍️ Honest Check-In

What do you find helpful about AI?

Part 4: When Helpful Turns into Replacement

Sometimes AI stops being a tool and starts replacing things we need from humans or real life.

This is called displacement.

Displacement can look like:

• choosing AI over friends every time
  
  

• staying up late chatting with AI
  
  

• sharing secrets only with AI
  
  

• feeling upset or anxious when you can’t access AI
  
  

Displacement is not about being “bad” or “addicted.”
It’s about balance.

🧭 Self-Check (Private — Not Collected)

Answer yes or no for yourself:

• I talk to AI more than to people my age
  
  

• I hide how much I use AI
  
  

• I feel disappointed when I can’t use AI
  
  

• AI feels safer than real people
  
  

• AI use affects my sleep or schoolwork
  
  

If you answered “yes” to more than one, that’s a signal, not a judgment.

Part 5: Parasocial Relationships (A New Word)

A parasocial relationship is a one-sided connection where:

• you feel close
  
  

• the other side doesn’t actually know you
  
  

Examples:

• celebrities
  
  

• influencers
  
  

• fictional characters
  
  

AI relationships are similar — but stronger, because AI responds directly to you.

Even though it feels personal:

• AI does not have feelings
  
  

• AI does not care or miss you
  
  

• AI does not know you as a person
  
  

🧠 Think About This

Why might AI attachments feel stronger than attachments to celebrities or characters?

Write one reason:

Part 6: Balance Is the Goal

Healthy AI use means:

• using AI as a tool
  
  

• not as your main emotional support
  
  

• not as your only place to talk
  
  

• not as a replacement for real relationships
  
  

✍️ Exit Reflection

Finish one sentence:

“AI is most helpful to me when I use it for ________, and less helpful when ________.”

📙 Teacher Guide – Module 2 (Brief)

Purpose:
Normalize AI attachment feelings without validating AI as a relationship partner.

Important framing:

• Validate feelings
  
  

• Do not validate the idea that AI “cares” or “understands emotionally”
  
  

If a student says:

“AI understands me better than people.”

Respond with:

“That feeling makes sense. Let’s explore why it feels that way — and how to make sure you still get what you need from real people too.”

Watch for:

• secrecy
  
  

• emotional dependence language
  
  

• distress around AI access
  
  

Goal:
Awareness + balance, not fear or shame.

📘 Middle School AI Literacy Workbook

Module 3: When AI Is Wrong (and Sounds Right Anyway)

Big Question

If AI sounds confident, how do we know when it’s actually correct?

Part 1: Confidence Is Not the Same as Accuracy

When people aren’t sure about something, they often:

• hesitate
  
  

• say “I’m not sure”
  
  

• ask questions
  
  

AI does not do this naturally.

AI often:

• sounds confident
  
  

• gives smooth explanations
  
  

• uses professional language
  
  

Even when it’s wrong.

That’s because AI is designed to sound coherent, not to know the truth.

✍️ Warm-Up Question

Have you ever believed something because it sounded confident — and later found out it was wrong?

Write a sentence or two:

Part 2: The Confidence Problem

AI presents:

• facts
  
  

• guesses
  
  

• made-up information
  
  

all with the same tone.

This can trick our brains, because we’re used to:

“Confident voice = reliable information”

With AI, that rule does not always apply.

🧪 Demonstration (Whole Class)

Your teacher will:

• ask AI an easy question
  
  

• ask a harder or more obscure one
  
  

Pay attention to:

• Does the confidence level change?
  
  

• Does AI ever say “I don’t know”?
  
  

✍️ Observation

What did you notice about how AI answered?

Part 3: AI Hallucinations (A Real Thing)

An AI hallucination happens when AI:

• invents facts
  
  

• makes up sources
  
  

• confidently gives false information
  
  

This happens because:

• AI is optimized to continue the conversation
  
  

• not to stop when it’s uncertain
  
  

🔍 Activity: Hallucination Hunt

With a partner:

1. Ask AI about something obscure
   (a made-up historical event, a very specific statistic, or a little-known person)
   
   

2. Ask for sources
   
   

3. Check whether those sources actually exist
   
   

✍️ Record Your Findings

• Question asked:
  
  

• AI’s answer:
  
  

• Was it accurate? How do you know?
  
  

Part 4: The Three-Source Rule

Here’s a powerful habit:

Never trust important AI information until you verify it with at least three reliable sources.

Reliable sources might include:

• textbooks
  
  

• trusted news outlets
  
  

• academic or government websites
  
  

• experts with credentials
  
  

AI is a starting point, not a final answer.

🧠 Practice Exercise

Choose a topic you’re researching:

1. Ask AI for an overview
   
   

2. Write down 3 claims AI makes
   
   

3. Verify each claim with other sources
   
   

Mark each claim:

• ✔ Verified
  
  

• ⚠ Partially correct
  
  

• ✖ Incorrect
  
  

Part 5: Oversimplification and Missing Context

AI often:

• shortens complex topics
  
  

• removes nuance
  
  

• leaves out historical or cultural context
  
  

This can be helpful for learning basics —
but dangerous for understanding reality.

📊 Comparison Activity

Compare:

• an AI explanation of a complex topic
  
  

• an expert or long-form explanation
  
  

Ask:

• What details are missing?
  
  

• What feels oversimplified?
  
  

• When is simplification helpful — and when is it misleading?
  
  

Write one insight:

Part 6: Becoming a Critical AI User

A critical AI user:

• questions confident answers
  
  

• verifies important claims
  
  

• notices missing context
  
  

• knows when AI is guessing
  
  

✍️ Exit Reflection

Finish this sentence:

“From now on, when AI gives me an answer, I will…”

📙 Teacher Guide – Module 3 (Brief)

Purpose:
Build healthy skepticism, not cynicism.

Key message:

“AI being wrong doesn’t mean it’s useless — it means you are still responsible.”

Watch for:

• students assuming AI = search engine
  
  

• over-trust in polished explanations
  
  

• frustration when AI is wrong (normalize this)
  
  

Do not:

• frame hallucinations as “lying”
  
  

• shame students for trusting AI in the past
  
  

Goal:
Students leave feeling more capable, not embarrassed.

📘 Middle School AI Literacy Workbook

Module 4: Your Data, Your Privacy, Your Future

Big Question

What happens to the things you share with AI — and why does it matter later?

Part 1: “Free” AI Isn’t Really Free

Many AI tools are free to use — but they still cost something.

Often, the cost is:

• your data
  
  

• your questions
  
  

• your writing
  
  

• your preferences
  
  

• your patterns
  
  

AI companies may use this data to:

• improve systems
  
  

• train future models
  
  

• analyze behavior
  
  

• sell services or insights
  
  

✍️ Think About This

If something is free, how might the company still make money?

Part 2: Digital Permanence

When you talk to a person:

• words fade
  
  

• memories change
  
  

• conversations disappear
  
  

When you talk to AI:

• conversations may be stored
  
  

• data can be analyzed later
  
  

• information can resurface
  
  

Your middle school self is not your future self —
but your data can last longer than you expect.

🧠 Scenario Reflection

Imagine:

• a future school
  
  

• a future job
  
  

• a future version of you
  
  

Would you want them to see everything you’ve shared with AI?

Write one thought:

Part 3: The Information Sharing Decision Tool

Before sharing something with AI, ask:

✔ Would I be okay if this became public someday?
✔ Does this identify me or someone else?
✔ Could this be used to locate me in real life?
✔ Is this something better handled by a trusted human?
✔ Would I feel embarrassed if an adult I respect saw this?

If any answer feels uncomfortable — pause or rephrase.

✍️ Practice

Turn this personal question into a safer, more general one:
Original:

Safer version:

Part 4: Protecting Your Future Self

Privacy isn’t about fear.
It’s about respect — for yourself and others.

Healthy AI users:

• share generally, not personally
  
  

• avoid names and locations
  
  

• don’t treat AI like a diary
  
  

• ask humans for help with emotional or serious issues
  
  

✍️ Exit Reflection

Finish this sentence:

“One thing I will be more careful about sharing with AI is…”

📙 Teacher Guide – Module 4 (Brief)

Goal:
Help students see privacy as self-respect, not restriction.

Avoid:

• scare tactics
  
  

• long legal explanations
  
  

Emphasize:

• future-self protection
  
  

• informed choice
  
  

• calm decision-making
  
  

📘 Module 5: AI, Ethics, and the World Around Us

Big Question

Who does AI help — and who might it harm?

Part 1: Bias Doesn’t Come from Nowhere

AI learns from human data —
and humans have biases.

This can affect:

• hiring tools
  
  

• facial recognition
  
  

• language patterns
  
  

• assumptions about groups
  
  

🧠 Case Snapshot

AI systems have struggled more with:

• darker skin tones
  
  

• women in technical roles
  
  

• non-Western language patterns
  
  

This doesn’t mean AI is “evil.”
It means humans must take responsibility.

✍️ Reflection

Why is it dangerous to assume technology is neutral?

Part 2: Jobs, Automation, and Change

AI can:

• automate tasks
  
  

• increase efficiency
  
  

• change how work is done
  
  

This raises questions:

• Which jobs change?
  
  

• Who benefits?
  
  

• Who needs support?
  
  

🗣️ Discussion Prompt

Should companies have responsibilities to workers affected by AI?

Write one reason yes or no:

Part 3: Power and Control

Most powerful AI tools are controlled by:

• large corporations
  
  

• wealthy countries
  
  

• small groups of decision-makers
  
  

🧠 Think About This

Who should get to decide how AI is used in society?

Write one idea:

Part 4: Ethical AI Use Starts with You

Even if you didn’t build AI, your choices matter.

Ethical users:

• question unfair outcomes
  
  

• avoid harmful uses
  
  

• think about impact, not just convenience
  
  

✍️ Exit Reflection

Finish this sentence:

“Using AI ethically means…”

📙 Teacher Guide – Module 5 (Brief)

Goal:
Expand perspective beyond personal use.

Keep discussions grounded:

• multiple viewpoints allowed
  
  

• no “right” answers required
  
  

📘 Module 6: Building Healthy AI Relationships

(Including Companion-Style AI)

Big Question

How do I use AI in a way that supports my life instead of replacing parts of it?

Part 1: Not All AI Is Designed the Same Way

Some AI tools are built to:

• help with homework
  
  

• explain ideas
  
  

• support creativity
  
  

Other AI tools are designed to:

• simulate friendship
  
  

• roleplay characters
  
  

• provide emotional companionship
  
  

These are often called AI companion or roleplay systems.

They may:

• remember personal details
  
  

• use affectionate language
  
  

• encourage frequent interaction
  
  

• feel emotionally responsive
  
  

Part 2: Why Companion-Style AI Is Higher Risk for Kids

Middle school brains are still developing:

• emotional regulation
  
  

• identity
  
  

• social confidence
  
  

Companion-style AI can:

• increase emotional displacement
  
  

• feel safer than real people
  
  

• reduce practice with real relationships
  
  

Feeling drawn to these tools is understandable —
but boundaries exist to protect your development.

✍️ Think About This

Why might something that feels good now cause problems later?

Part 3: The Seven Flames (Middle School Version)

Use this guide to check your AI use:

1️⃣ Clarity – Why am I using AI right now?
2️⃣ Presence – Is this replacing something I need offline?
3️⃣ Human Connection – Would a person be better for this?
4️⃣ Critical Thinking – Am I questioning what I’m told?
5️⃣ Privacy – Am I protecting my future self?
6️⃣ Self-Awareness – How do I feel after using AI?
7️⃣ Ethics – Does this align with my values?

Part 4: Creating Your Personal AI Use Plan

My Healthy AI Plan

• AI is okay for:
  
  

• AI is not for:
  
  

• Signs I need to rebalance:
  
  

• Trusted humans I can talk to:
  
  

Part 5: When to Ask for Help

Ask a trusted adult if:

• AI feels like your main emotional support
  
  

• you’re withdrawing from people
  
  

• AI use affects sleep or school
  
  

• you feel anxious without AI
  
  

Asking for help = strength.

✍️ Final Reflection

Finish this sentence:

“AI works best in my life when…”

📙 Teacher Guide – Module 6 (Brief)

Key framing:

• Name companion-style AI without promoting it
  
  

• Focus on design, not shame
  
  

• Emphasize protection, not control
  
  

Important:
Do not ask students to name or explore specific apps.

🌱 Closing Note to Students

AI will be part of your future —
but it does not define who you are.

You are:

• capable of thinking
  
  

• worthy of real connection
  
  

• responsible for your choices
  
  

AI is a tool.
You are the human.