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AI Literacy Lessons for Grades K-12
By Common Sense Education. Visit AI Literacy Lessons for Grades K-12
Desk research from the maker's own pages. Not yet tried by us. Checked 2026-10-24.
A free collection of short lessons (20 minutes or less) from the nonprofit Common Sense Media for teachers and families. It has 12 foundational media-literacy lessons for grades K-5 (fact or fiction, fact versus opinion, who made this media), 8 AI lessons for grades 6-8 and 11 for grades 9-12 on what AI is, its benefits and risks, chatbots, misinformation and using AI responsibly. Lessons include slides, videos and games a teacher leads with the class.
Our take: A good free starting point for teachers and parents who want to talk about AI with middle and high schoolers; anyone wanting hands-on AI building should pair it with a project-based course.
Checked in a browser
A browser check on 2026-10-25: what loads, the ads and trackers we saw, and what a child meets first. Not a hands-on test.
| Child safety: 4 out of 5 | No ads or chat; a page for teachers with a 'Follow our Instagram' pop-up and links to social media. |
|---|---|
| Data: 3 out of 5 | Amplitude product analytics, Google Tag Manager, Cloudflare analytics, OneTrust and Sentry loaded before the cookie banner was answered. |
| Ease: 3 out of 5 | The lesson list is clear, but a cookie banner and an Instagram pop-up together cover the bottom third of the phone screen. |
| Cost honesty: 5 out of 5 | Free lessons; no price shown. |
What we found
- 11 third-party hosts on 9 sites; 7 cookies, none from a third party.
- 0 ad frames.
- The cookie banner says the site collects 'content viewed, cursor movements, and chats'.
- Each lesson lists a grade and a time (for example Grade K, 20 mins).
From the test: Free AI lessons for teachers with no ads; the first visit loads Amplitude analytics before the cookie banner is answered.
| Ages it suits | grades K-12 (AI-specific lessons start in grade 6) |
|---|---|
| What its terms say about age | General terms apply to users 18+ or to a parent agreeing for a child under 13; Common Sense says it offers no accounts to children under 13. The lessons are teacher-led, so students need no account. (terms) |
| Price | Free. Free; optional free educator account (Oct 2026) |
| Works on | Web |
| Account | No account needed |
| Ads | None |
| In-app purchases | None |
| The AI in it | No AI (lessons about AI) |
What's good
- Free and quick to teach
- Covers chatbots, misinformation and ethics
- Students need no accounts
Watch for
- K-5 lessons are general media literacy, not AI
- Short lessons give an introduction, not depth
- Needs an adult to lead
Data and privacy
Common Sense says it has no accounts for children under 13 and has deleted or anonymized data from past child accounts; educator members give name and email. It uses site analytics for marketing and builds custom ad audiences from contact data to promote its own services. Read the privacy policy.
Does it work?
The maker's own claims only; no study of these lessons found.
In the Big Index
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Where these facts come from
- https://www.commonsense.org/education/collections/ai-literacy-lessons-for-grades-6-12
- https://www.commonsense.org/education/collections/ai-literacy-lessons-for-grades-k-12
- https://www.commonsensemedia.org/about-us/our-mission/site-terms-use
- https://www.commonsensemedia.org/about-us/our-mission/privacy-policy
Prices, terms and features change. Nobody paid to be listed, nothing here is an affiliate link, and Peabody never rates itself. Where we and the maker disagree, the maker's own pages are the ones to trust.