- Time40 minutes
- Preparationunder 10 minutes
- Class sizemade for 50 to 60
- Needsno screens, no devices, no logins, no photocopies
You need: a ₹10 coin or any note to hold up; one copy of this lesson plan for yourself; the blackboard and chalk. Each child needs only a notebook or school diary and a pencil. Nothing is printed or photocopied for the children. Children stay at their benches and talk only with their bench partner, the child sitting next to them.
Teacher's note read once, 3 minutes
- Children of every faith are in this class. The words of this lesson are for all of them. The quiet reflection is for everyone. The short prayer after it is optional: use it or leave it out, as suits your class.
- Don't make AI sound like a monster. AI is useful. The question is always: what will I do with it?
- Pope Leo XIV wrote a letter to the whole world about AI in May 2026, called Magnifica Humanitas ("Magnificent Humanity"). He says technology is not "inherently evil," but warns that it is "never neutral": it takes on the character of the people who make and use it (no. 9). This lesson teaches that idea at a child's level.
- Carlo Acutis (1991–2006) was a boy from Milan, Italy. He loved football, his friends, his pets and computers, and he cared for poor people in his neighbourhood. Catholics honour him as a saint (declared in 2025). In the story he is simply Carlo, a boy any child can learn from.
1 Opening 2 minutes
Hold up the coin or note. Say:
"Imagine you are walking to school and you find ₹1,000 on the road. Nobody is around. What will you do?"
Let 3 or 4 children answer. Don't judge any answer yet. Say: "Hold on to your answer. We will come back to it."
2 Story: The Boy and the Computer 10 minutes
Read aloud slowly:
There was once a boy in Italy named Carlo. Carlo loved football and played it with his friends. He had many friends, and he stood up for classmates who were teased. He loved his dogs and cats. He often shared his pocket money and food with poor people who lived near his home. Carlo also loved computers. He read thick computer books and taught himself to write code, the secret language that tells a computer what to do.
Soon Carlo was so good that grown-ups asked him for help with their computers. He could make websites. He could make little films. He could have made almost anything.
Carlo also loved video games. One day he invited friends home to play. At first everyone had fun. But after hours of playing, his friends became angry and upset, and some went home in tears. Carlo was shocked. He saw that the games had started to control his friends. So he made a rule for himself: only one hour of games a week. Nobody forced him. He chose it, because he did not want to become a slave to a game. He wanted time for his friends, his family and the people who needed him.
Then Carlo had an idea. "I know how to build websites. What if I use this gift to share something good with others?" His faith was the thing Carlo loved most. So, when he was about 14, he built a website to share it with people all over the world. People in many countries still visit his work today.
Carlo used to say that everyone is born as an original, but many people end up as photocopies. He did not want to be a photocopy. He wanted to use his gifts in his own way, for good.
Carlo died when he was only 15, after a short illness. But the good he did with his computer is still helping people.
Then say:
"The same code Carlo used could have been used to cheat, to trick people or to hurt someone. Think of a knife. In a surgeon's hand, a knife saves a life. In a criminal's hand, the same knife hurts someone. The knife is the same. What is different?"
Let children answer: the person, the heart. Then say:
"Now think about a spear. Long ago, people made spears for hunting and fighting, so that they could survive. A spear was made for that job. No surgeon ever used a spear to heal someone. Its purpose was decided by the person who made it, before anyone held it. Now think about the people who make things today. Some games and apps are made to keep you playing and scrolling for as long as possible, like the games that took control of Carlo's friends. The makers put that inside. So a tool carries two hearts: the heart of the person who makes it, and the heart of the person who uses it. We need good hearts in the people who make AI, and good hearts in us when we use it."
3 The Question 6 minutes
Go back to the ₹1,000. Ask:
- "What did your answer about the ₹1,000 show about you?" Every answer shows a value: honesty, kindness, fear, wanting.
- Then, slowly: "Now imagine you have just found AI. It can write, draw, answer questions and talk to you. What will you do with it?"
- Follow-up: "Who decides whether AI does good or bad: the AI, the people who make it, or the person using it?" Help them see it is the makers and the users, never the machine.
Write on the board: A tool carries the heart of the people who make it and the people who use it.
4 Activity: Good Heart Choices 15 minutes
Children stay at their benches. There are no groups and no cards to hand out. Do these four steps for each of the five situations below, about 2 minutes for each:
- Read the situation aloud, slowly, twice.
- Bench partners talk quietly: "What would a careless heart do? What would a good heart do?" (1 minute)
- Ask two pairs to tell the class what they said.
- Ask for a show of hands: "Who would choose the good heart?" Say the good-heart choice in one line and move to the next situation.
The five situations the teacher reads them aloud
- You have a story to write for homework. AI can write the whole story for you in five seconds. Your teacher will never know.
- A friend wants to use an app to make a funny fake photo of a classmate and send it to everyone.
- You ask AI a question for your project. You notice that its answer is wrong.
- Your little cousin wants to chat with an AI on the phone all evening instead of playing with you.
- Your grandmother's birthday is tomorrow. You could use AI to make her a card, or make one yourself, or do both.
For the last 4 minutes, each child draws a heart in their own notebook and writes inside it one good-heart choice they will make with a phone, a computer or AI. While they draw, write the Family Corner (below) on the board. Close the activity by saying:
"Notice that in every situation, the AI was the same. Only the heart was different. And when you are not sure what a good heart would do, ask a grown-up you trust. Asking for help is a strong thing to do, not a weak thing."
5 Quiet Reflection and Optional Prayer 4 minutes
Say: "Let us be still. Close your eyes if you like, and put your hand on your heart."
Quiet reflection (for everyone): "Think of one gift you have, maybe drawing, helping, talking or making people laugh. Think of one good thing you can do with it this week. Keep it in your heart." Pause for 30 seconds.
Optional prayer (use it or leave it out): "Dear God, thank you for making each of us an original. Help us use our gifts, our phones, our computers and AI with good and honest hearts. When we don't know what to do, help us to ask for help. Amen."
6 Closing and Family Corner 3 minutes
Children copy the Family Corner from the board into their notebook or school diary and take it home for a parent to sign. Nothing is printed or sent to parents. Say: "Tonight, ask someone at home the ₹1,000 question, and listen to their answer."
Family Corner the teacher writes this on the board; children copy it
Today in class we learned: A tool carries the heart of the people who make it and the people who use it. We heard about Carlo Acutis.
Ask each other: "If you found ₹1,000 on the road, what would you do?" Then: "What should we use AI for in our family, and what should we not use it for?"
Our family promise this week (choose one and write it down):
- One meal together with no phones
- One hour of play or talk with no screens
- We will check AI's answers before we believe them
Date: ____________ Signed by a grown-up: ____________
Family page: https://www.remainhuman.in/f/S5-1
Written by Blaise D'Souza with the help of AI, and checked by people. That is what this module teaches.