CBSE Computational Thinking & AI · 2026–27

Class 6 · Artificial Intelligence
Chapter 4 Teaching Pack

Ethics and Digital Responsibility — practical lessons for making careful, fair and safe choices when a digital record can travel.

Complete sample Lesson plan Worksheet + answer key Unplugged activity Project rubric Evidence record
01

Where this chapter sits

Class 6 carries 100 hours across the year: 40 hours Computational Thinking, 20 hours Artificial Intelligence, and 40 hours interdisciplinary projects. The AI component has four chapters; this is the fourth and closes the strand for the year.

#ChapterLearning focusSuggested
1Introduction to Artificial Intelligence and Everyday ExamplesAI in daily life, AI and automation, human and machine abilities, ways machines learn6 periods
2Basic Data ConceptsTypes of data, collection, organisation and representation5 periods
3Simple Pattern Recognition and Decision MakingPatterns, observations, conclusions and reasoned decisions5 periods
4Ethics and Digital ResponsibilityEthical choices, source credit, deceptive messages, privacy, safe sharing and digital footprints4 periods
Assessment note The CBSE framework asks for continuous, project- and activity-based assessment from Class 6, not a single end test. Use the worksheet discussion, activity decisions and project rubric as evidence. A correct rule with no reason is not enough in this chapter; students must explain whom a choice affects and what could happen next.
02

Lesson plan · 4 periods

Period 1 — One action, a longer record

Write this choice on the board: “A group has made a useful chart. May one member upload it under only their own name?” Ask for a verdict, then ask who created the work, who is affected, and what record the upload leaves. Students usually begin with “yes” or “no”; keep asking for the reason.

Build the working meaning from their answers: ethics helps us judge what is fair, responsible and least harmful when using a computer. Digital actions can be saved, copied or forwarded, so the effect may reach people beyond the first screen. This idea connects the whole chapter.

The question to repeat all week Before a digital action, ask: Is it mine to use? Who may receive it? Could it travel further? Who could be helped or harmed?

Period 2 — Using work without taking it

Give pairs a fictional source card with a creator, title and location. One student states an idea from it in new words; the partner writes a short credit naming all three. Then reverse roles. Explain that plagiarism means presenting another person’s words, ideas or work as one’s own. Changing a few words does not remove the need for credit.

A useful credit lets a reader identify the creator and find the source. Credit and permission are different: naming a creator does not cancel the source’s reuse rules. For a school task, students should follow the teacher’s directions and ask when unsure.

Period 3 — Pause, check, tell

Read a fictional message aloud: “Your club account closes in ten minutes. Reply with your password. Do not tell anyone.” Do not open links or demonstrate a fake page. Ask only what students can notice: an unexpected demand, urgency, a request for a secret, and pressure to hide it.

The safe response is to stop, not reply or click, and show the message to a trusted adult such as a parent, guardian or teacher. The adult can help verify the claim through a separate, trusted route and decide whether it should be reported. Pausing works because it interrupts the pressure; it does not prove that every urgent message is false.

Say this plainly Being tricked is not the victim’s fault. Deceptive messages are designed to rush or confuse people. If a student has replied, clicked or shared something, the next step is still to stop and tell a trusted adult. Do not ask the child to solve it alone, and do not shame the disclosure.

Period 4 — Footprints and choices with no easy label

Define a digital footprint as records connected with what a person does online. An active footprint comes from a deliberate action such as posting a comment. A passive footprint is recorded without the person deliberately choosing to publish it, such as a service logging pages viewed. Others may also create records about someone.

Deleting a visible post can reduce access, but it cannot promise that every saved or forwarded copy disappears. Privacy settings reduce who can see something at first; they cannot prevent every recipient from copying it. Finish with the unplugged activity in Section 05, then discuss the final worksheet question. More than one verdict can earn full marks when the safeguards and reasoning are sound.

03

Worksheet

Name:   Class & Section:   Date:

A · Choose the best answer

1A group creates a presentation together. Which action is most ethical?
(a) One student claims all the work(b) List every contributor(c) Hide who made it(d) Post it without asking the group
2Mehul reads an article, changes a few words and submits the ideas without naming the source. This is:
(a) A private footprint(b) Plagiarism(c) Safe sharing(d) A complete credit
3Sana Patel made a diagram called River Map in the class resource folder. Which note gives the most useful credit?
(a) Found online(b) Nice diagram(c) Diagram: Sana Patel, River Map, class resource folder(d) Not mine
4An unexpected message says, “Reply now with your password or lose your account.” What is the safest first response?
(a) Reply quickly(b) Try the link once(c) Forward it to friends(d) Stop and show a trusted adult
5Which is a passive digital footprint?
(a) Posting a poem(b) Sending a comment(c) A learning site logging pages viewed(d) Uploading a drawing

B · Follow the record

6A student deliberately posts their own drawing. Is this active or passive? Give the clue that decides it.
7A weather service records the type of device used, though the student did not choose to publish that detail. Is this active or passive? Explain.
8A classmate shares a group photograph with your name attached without asking. Can it become part of your digital footprint? What should you do?
9Why might removing a post fail to remove every copy of it?
10Riya wants to send a class-event photograph to a closed family group. Another student is visible and has not been asked. Is the privacy setting enough? Explain the next step.

C · Spot, pause and respond

11A message from an unknown account says, “You won. Send your home address in ten minutes, and keep this secret.” Name two warning signs and the safe response.
12Why is “do not reply or click; show a trusted adult” stronger advice than “just block the sender”?
13A message appears to come from a classmate, but its request is unusual. Does that prove the classmate sent it? How can you check safely?
14A friend says, “I replied before I realised the message was deceptive. I am too embarrassed to tell anyone.” Write a safe, kind response to the friend.

D · Explain and decide

15Explain “digital footprint” in your own words. Give one active and one passive example.
16A student notices that two sentences in their unfinished project were copied from a source. What can they do before submitting?
17A stranger in an online game asks for your school name and the route you take home. Decide what to do and give the reason.
18A school club wants to publish winners’ first names and project photographs so families can celebrate. One student says, “Post them”; another says, “Post nothing.” What should the club decide? Defend your judgement using purpose, permission, audience and what may happen after sharing.
04

Answer key & teaching notes

QAnswerWhat to watch for
1(b)Credit must match contribution. Students may also say the group should agree before anything is posted; that strengthens the answer.
2(b)Changing a few words does not make another person’s idea one’s own. A source is still needed.
3(c)A useful credit identifies creator, work and location. Credit does not automatically grant permission to reuse a work.
4(d)The trusted adult is part of the answer, not an optional extra. Do not reward “I would test the link.”
5(c)The service records data while it is used; the student is not deliberately publishing that record.
6ActiveThe deciding clue is the deliberate post. “It is visible” alone does not distinguish active from passive.
7PassiveThe device detail was recorded without a deliberate choice to publish it. Passive does not mean imaginary or harmless.
8Yes; tell a trusted adultThe student can ask a teacher, parent or guardian for help having it removed. Do not imply the child must confront the classmate alone.
9Someone may already have saved, copied or forwarded it.Avoid “nothing can ever be deleted.” The accurate point is that removing the visible original cannot guarantee removal of other copies.
10No; ask before sharingThe closed group reduces the starting audience but cannot prevent forwarding. Riya should ask the other student and a teacher or guardian before posting.
11Any two signs + stop, do not reply, tell a trusted adultSigns include an unknown sender, a prize not entered for, urgency, a home-address request and secrecy. Recognition and safe response earn the marks.
12It avoids further contact and brings in adult help.Blocking may stop one account, but an adult can help verify, protect the child and decide whether to preserve or report the message.
13No; verify separately with adult help.A familiar name or picture is not proof. Full marks for asking a trusted adult and checking with the classmate through a known route, not through the unusual message.
14“It is not your fault. Stop replying and tell a trusted adult now; I can come with you.”Accept different kind wording only if it removes blame and brings in an adult. Shame or secrecy is unsafe.
15Records linked to online activity, with one deliberate and one unnoticed exampleExamples: active—posting a drawing; passive—a site logging pages viewed. Require both the meaning and the distinction.
16Correct the draft and credit the source.They may quote a short passage when the task allows and mark it clearly, or explain the idea freshly and cite it. If reuse rules are unclear, ask the teacher. Catching the mistake before submission is a chance to repair it.
17Do not share; stop contact and tell a trusted adult.School and route details can reveal identity and location. “Give only part of the route” is not safe.
18More than one defensible answerFull marks require a clear verdict supported by all four prompts. A strong conditional “post” requires school and guardian permission, student agreement, the minimum necessary detail and a considered audience. “Do not post” is equally strong if consent is absent or the public record is unnecessary. Reasoning, not the final yes/no, earns the mark.
The discriminating question Q18 separates judgement from rule-matching. Look for a student who weighs benefit against exposure, notices that first names and photographs together reveal more than either alone, and sets conditions rather than claiming one rule fits every case. Do not award full marks for “always share” or “never share” with no reasoning.
05

Unplugged activity · “The Second Audience”

Period 4 · 35 minutes · No devices, no internet and no student’s real personal information.

What you need

Eight sheets of scrap paper, pencils, chalk and the board. This runs with 40–48 students in eight groups; for a larger class, add groups using the same cards.

Prepare fictional record cards

Write one item on each sheet: an original poem; a group-project photograph; a classmate’s funny mistake; a copied diagram with no creator named; a club meeting time; a student’s home address; a message asking for a password; or a drawing with its creator credited. Use invented names only.

How it runs

  1. Give one card to each group. The group writes an intended audience: one friend, family group, whole class or public page.
  2. Pass every card to the next group. That group writes one ordinary way the record might travel further: it could be forwarded, copied, saved or printed. Pass once more.
  3. Return each card to its first group. Students compare the intended audience with the later audiences. No group acts out contacting a stranger or opening a link.
  4. Each group applies four checks: Is it ours to use? Do we have permission? Does it reveal personal information? Would it still be acceptable if it travelled?
  5. The group chooses one label: share as planned, change first, ask a trusted adult, or do not share. It must give a reason. Cards involving secrets, location, coercion or fear must end with a trusted adult taking over.
  6. Hear one clear-cut and two disputed decisions. Record both sides of each dispute before the class agrees on necessary safeguards.
The concept to land The first sharer chooses only the first audience. A digital record can move beyond it. Privacy controls can reduce access, but permission, minimum disclosure and adult help still matter because no setting controls every later copy.
Safeguarding note Keep every card fictional and never ask students to reveal an account, password, message or past mistake. If a child mentions a real unsafe experience, do not investigate it in front of the class. Thank them for telling, move the conversation to a private setting with the appropriate trusted adult, and follow the school’s safeguarding procedure.
06

Project brief & rubric

The project checks whether students can connect ethics, credit, deception, footprints and safe sharing rather than recite five separate definitions.

Brief given to students “Before It Travels” — In a group of three or four, make one A3 decision board for four fictional situations: using someone else’s work, receiving a worrying message, leaving an active or passive footprint, and deciding whether to share a class item. For each, show: what digital record could remain; who may receive it; your decision; the reason; and when a trusted adult must help. Include one situation with two defensible choices and explain the conditions for each. Use no real names, accounts, contact details or messages.
Criterion4 — Exceeds3 — Meets2 — Approaching1 — Beginning
Concept accuracyAcross the four situations, ethics, credit and footprints are each applied correctlyAll four are mostly accurateTwo or three are accurateKey ideas are confused
Recognition and safetyNames several relevant warning signs and a complete adult-supported responseNames a warning sign and a safe adult-supported responseSpots concern but response is incompleteMisses the concern or leaves the child handling it alone
Judgement and reasonsWeighs purpose, permission, audience and onward travel on both sidesGives a sound decision with relevant reasonsGives a decision with one weak reasonGives a rule or verdict without a reason
Communication and creditBoard is clear, concise, original and credits every borrowed sourceBoard is readable and sources are creditedMeaning is uneven or a credit is incompleteBoard is incomplete or borrowed work is uncredited

Suggested: 16 marks total. Score the reasoning students can explain in a short viva, not decorative skill. Retain one marked board from each achievement band available.

07

Evidence record

Keep one completed copy per class for this chapter. Record what students decided and explained, not only that an activity took place.

FieldRecord
School 
Class & section 
Chapter taughtAI Ch. 4 — Ethics and Digital Responsibility
Periods used 
Dates 
Teacher 
Activity conductedThe Second Audience (unplugged sharing-and-footprint decisions)
Assessment usedProject — “Before It Travels”, rubric-scored
Students assessed 
Observed outcome☐ Credits a source   ☐ Spots deception   ☐ Distinguishes footprints   ☐ Defends a sharing decision
Samples retained☐ Decision boards, one per band reached   ☐ Marked worksheets   ☐ Completed rubric   ☐ Photograph of the work (no children or names visible), if school policy permits
Teacher’s note / reteaching needed 
Useful evidence A marked response to Question 18 shows more than a list of safety rules: it records whether a student can balance purpose, permission, audience and onward travel. Note students who still treat a privacy setting as a guarantee or a warning sign as proof.