Teaching AI Ethics Through Fairness, Privacy and Sustainability

Artificial intelligence (AI) can feel like a mysterious answer machine. But students do not need advanced coding to begin thinking carefully about it. They can start by asking practical questions: Is an AI system fair? What information might it use? Who is responsible for its effects?

These questions build AI literacy alongside critical thinking and problem-solving. They also make room for an important topic that can be missed: sustainability. The activities below are suggestions for families and classrooms. They use discussion and simple materials, and do not require children to create accounts or enter personal information into AI tools.

What a source review highlights

The Raspberry Pi Foundation describes a UK-focused research project on teaching AI ethics and sustainability to lower-secondary students. It also reports that a review of learning interventions for this age group found fairness and privacy were common topics, while sustainability appeared less often. These findings describe the interventions reviewed; they should not be treated as a picture of every school or AI lesson.

Begin with a familiar decision

Choose a made-up example that students can examine without sharing personal data: a school is considering a computer system to help sort applications for a limited number of activity places. Ask learners to imagine how such a system might make a decision. Make clear that this is a hypothetical classroom scenario, not a real school case.

Explain that some AI systems are trained using examples in data. If the examples are limited or do not represent the people affected, the system may produce biased results. “Bias” here means a pattern that unfairly favours or disadvantages some people. Students can explore the idea with paper cards rather than a real AI tool.

Suggested activity: test the example set

• Write several fictional applicant profiles on cards. Use only details invented for the activity, not details about classmates.
• Agree on a fair rule for allocating places, such as a transparent lottery when applicants meet the same requirements.
• Now imagine a system has learned from a small set of past decisions. Ask: What if that set left out some kinds of applicants? What patterns might the system copy?
• Change the example set or rule. Discuss whether the outcome changes and what information would be needed to judge fairness.

The aim is not to prove what a real system would do. It is to practise checking the examples and rules behind a decision rather than assuming that a computer’s answer is automatically fair.

Make privacy a practical question

Privacy can seem abstract until students connect it to everyday information. Ask the group to list examples of information a person might want to keep private, such as a password or a private message. Do not ask students to reveal their own information.

Suggested activity: the information boundary

Read out fictional requests for information, such as “Tell me your password” or “Choose a favourite colour for this paper survey.” Students can sort them into three groups: information that should stay private, information that might be appropriate in a clearly explained activity, and information they are unsure about sharing. Invite them to explain their reasoning.

For any digital activity, parents and teachers can check the tool’s age rules and school guidance first. A child should not be asked to make an account or enter personal details just to complete an AI literacy exercise. A paper-based discussion is a useful alternative.

Bring sustainability into the conversation

When discussing an AI tool, students can look beyond the answer it gives. Ask what resources may be involved in creating, running and using the system, and what information would be needed to understand its environmental effects. The activity is about learning to ask responsible questions—not guessing a system’s impact without evidence.

Suggested activity: map the questions

• Draw three boxes labelled “people,” “environment” and “society.”
• For a familiar AI use, add questions to each box. For example: Who might benefit or be left out? What environmental information would we want to know? Who should set rules and check the system?
• Circle one question the group can investigate using reliable information available to the school. Mark the others as questions that remain unanswered.

This map also introduces governance: the rules, decision-making and oversight around a technology. Students need not settle every issue. Identifying who should make decisions and what evidence is missing is already useful critical thinking.

Support thoughtful discussion

Parents and teachers can help by welcoming “I’m not sure” as a reasonable answer. Ask students to explain what evidence would change their view. Keep separate what they know, what they suspect and what they still need to find out.

A short reflection can close a lesson: “One possible benefit is…”, “One concern is…”, and “Before trusting this system, I would want to know…”. Students can compare answers in pairs or write privately. There is no need to reach one perfect conclusion.

A small learning takeaway

AI literacy is not only about knowing how a tool works. It also means examining its data, decisions and effects. A made-up example, a few paper cards and careful questions can help students practise that habit safely—one thoughtful question at a time.