Advancing AI Literacy Lessons

You Be the AI – Sorting Emails and Analyzing Patterns

Mathematics | 9-12
Duration: 60 minutes
Author: Sunaja Ajayan, Mathematics Teacher

In this lesson, students take on the role of an AI spam filter to understand how mathematical reasoning drives AI predictions. Working with sample email subject lines, they identify patterns, calculate word frequencies, and determine probabilities to classify emails as spam or inbox. Students then compute error rates and discuss how these metrics influence AI accuracy. Finally, they apply their findings by writing decision rules for a spam filter, reinforcing the connection between math, logic, and algorithmic thinking.

Lesson Plan Series

  1. How AI ‘Thinks’ – Spam Filters and Math Basics
  2. You Be the AI – Sorting Emails and Analyzing Patterns
  3. Can AI Be Fair? Ethics, Bias, and Building Trust

Lesson Objectives

  • Classify email subject lines as spam or inbox based on observed patterns.
  • Calculate frequency counts, conditional probabilities, and error rates from sample data.
  • Apply mathematical reasoning to write decision rules for an AI spam filter.
  • Analyze how changes in data affect AI predictions and accuracy.
  • Reflect on the limitations of math-based decision-making in AI systems.

Essential Questions

  • How does AI use math to make predictions about spam emails?
  • What do frequency counts and probabilities reveal about patterns in data?
  • Why is error rate important for evaluating AI accuracy?
  • How do changes in data influence AI decision-making?
  • Can math alone guarantee that AI systems are fair and accurate?

Digital Resources

Lesson Plan

Activity

Activity Answer Key

Assessment Rubric

Instructional Considerations