Best for
Unit 7 foundations, digital-literacy unpacking, pre-bias lessons, and any class that needs to slow down “AI decided” into a visible decision pathway.
Unit 7 Foundations • Years 8-11 • Digital systems • Print-ready
Algorithm Literacy: How AI Makes Decisions
Use this handout to help ākonga see that AI decisions are not magic. They come from inputs, categories, rules, weightings, and human design choices. The goal is clear explanation first, then stronger fairness and ethics judgement later.
Free algorithm scaffold, premium local adaptation
Keep this as the shared explanation frame, then use Te Wānanga if you want a local case study, a younger reading version, or an infographic/report task built around the same model.
- Swap in school software, social media, banking, or job-matching examples.
- Generate junior and senior versions of the same algorithm pathway.
- Turn the explanation into a slide deck, poster, or assessed paragraph.
Kaiako planning snapshot
- Use length: 25-40 minutes for the concept build, or a full period if students apply the model to multiple systems.
- Grouping: Whole-class modelling first, then pairs for the independent analysis section.
- Prep: Choose one familiar algorithmic system students already know from daily life.
- Differentiation: Support learners can complete the pathway and one risk; extension learners can compare two systems.
- Teaching move: Keep reminding students that humans choose the data, categories, success criteria, and thresholds.
Resources already provided
- Algorithm pathway and bias checkpoints
- Plain-language explanation prompts
- System-analysis and safeguard sections
- Teacher-only curriculum companion
What to print: one copy per student or pair. The task is stronger if you also provide a screenshot, short description, or live example of one familiar system.
Ngā Whāinga Akoranga / Learning Intentions
- We are learning how algorithms and AI systems make decisions.
- We are learning where data, rules, and probabilities influence an outcome.
- We are learning why automated decisions still need human oversight and challenge.
Paearu Angitu / Success Criteria
- I can explain the main steps in an algorithmic decision pathway.
- I can identify at least one likely bias or risk point.
- I can suggest one safeguard or human check that would improve the system.
Curriculum integration / Te Marautanga alignment
This handout supports understanding of digital systems, critical explanation, and wider conversation about how automated decisions affect fairness and responsibility.
Algorithm literacy matters because “neutral” systems are still designed
When people say “the algorithm decided”, it can hide the fact that humans chose the categories, the training data, the goals, and the thresholds. Understanding that pathway is the first step toward questioning whether the outcome is actually fair.
1. A simple decision pathway
Input: What information goes in?
Pattern finding: What does the system look for
or compare?
Rule or score: How does it rank, label, or
predict?
Output: What answer, recommendation, or
decision comes out?
Human check: Who should review, question, or
override the result?
2. Bias checkpoints
- Was the training data representative of the people affected?
- Were some people, languages, or situations left out?
- Did the system treat correlation as truth?
- Who decided what “success” means?
- Who gets to challenge the outcome if it is harmful or wrong?
3. Explain one real example
Example system
What input data might it use?
What rule, score, or pattern might it create?
What output or decision comes out?
4. Fairness and safeguard
Where could bias enter this system?
What human safeguard is needed?
Te ao Māori lens
Prompt: If a system affects people, language, identity, or community knowledge, who should hold authority over its use and review?
Teach this tomorrow
Print / share
- This worksheet
- One familiar algorithmic case study or screenshot
Decide before class
- Which example system you want everyone to analyse first
- Whether students will explain the pathway orally, visually, or in writing
Look for by the end
- Students can explain the pathway in plain language
- Students can identify at least one risk and one safeguard clearly
Hononga Marautanga · Curriculum Alignment
Digital Technologies — Hangarau Matihiko
Level 4–5: Understand how digital systems and AI tools work; evaluate the social, cultural, and ethical implications of technology; design and apply computational thinking skills to real problems.
Social Sciences — Tikanga ā-Iwi
Level 3–4: Analyse how technology shapes relationships, power, and identity within communities; evaluate the impacts of digital innovation on society, including effects on Indigenous data sovereignty and cultural representation.
Aronga Mātauranga Māori
In te ao Māori, data and knowledge are not neutral — they carry whakapapa and obligations. Māori Data Sovereignty (Mana Motuhake i ngā Raraunga) holds that Māori have the right to govern, own, and interpret data about themselves and their communities. When digital systems are designed without this understanding, they risk perpetuating colonial patterns of extraction: taking knowledge from communities without accountability or benefit-sharing. The concept of kaitiakitanga extends naturally to the digital realm — guardianship of what is collected, stored, and shared about us is as important as guardianship of land, water, and living knowledge systems.
Ngā Rauemi Tautoko · Support Materials
This handout is designed to be used alongside the broader unit resources available at Te Kete Ako handouts library. Related resources from the same unit are linked in the unit planner. All resources are provided — no additional preparation is required to use this handout in your classroom.
Curriculum alignment
- Reading — Making Meaning: Students will select and use sources of information, processes, and strategies to identify, form, and express ideas across a range of texts.
- Writing — Creating Meaning: Students will select and use sources of information, processes, and strategies to write in a range of text types for a variety of purposes and audiences.