Teacher-only planning companion for Algorithm Literacy: How AI Makes Decisions. Use it to keep algorithm explanation grounded in design choices, fairness, and visible human responsibility.
The key move here is demystification. Students should leave seeing an algorithm as a designed system made by people, not as a neutral black box that deserves automatic trust.
Explore perspectives, use evidence to form conclusions, and share ideas: Compare systems, map decisions, present new solutions.
The pathway and analysis sections help students map how the system makes decisions, then explain what that means for users and affected communities.
Te Mātaiaho Social Studies `TM-SS-3-D1`.
Systems shape how people and groups organise themselves: Rights, responsibilities, power, fairness.
Bias checkpoints and safeguard prompts make clear that algorithmic systems can organise opportunities and risks in unfair ways if left unchallenged.
Te Mātaiaho Social Studies `TM-SS-3-U1`.
Students interpret evidence, identify implicit perspectives, and build justified conclusions about what a system or text is doing.
After mapping the pathway, ask students to explain where human assumptions enter and what consequences follow if those assumptions are wrong or narrow.
Useful bridge into bias, ethics, and report-writing tasks.
Ministry of Education. (2007). The New Zealand Curriculum. Learning Media.
Ministry of Education. (2021). Te Mātaiaho: The Refreshed New Zealand Curriculum. Ministry of Education.
Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand. (2021). Tātaiako: Cultural Competencies for Teachers of Māori Learners. Teaching Council.
This curriculum companion is informed by mātauranga Māori — the holistic body of Māori knowledge, values, and practices. Kaiako are encouraged to draw connections between the content and tikanga, whanaungatanga, and students's turangawaewae (place and belonging). Te Tiriti o Waitangi principles of partnership, participation, and protection should shape how this material is introduced and discussed in the classroom.