Problem discovery
Problem discovery means observing and asking rather than assuming. The problem you notice is rarely the one people actually have.
AI for Kids · Class 7 · Module 9 of 9
AI for Community
Look around your neighbourhood. Something there could be better.
8 sessionsSessions 65–72
4 weeksTypical pace
FoundationLevel
Class 7Artificial Intelligence
The big idea
Students identify a genuine local problem, design an AI-supported concept to address it, and pitch it — with attention to who is affected and what could go wrong.
Why it matters
Applying AI to a real community problem makes the technology concrete and the ethics unavoidable.
Unpacked
What you will actually learn
Three core ideas, each taught with worked examples and then practised until it feels obvious.
Solution design
Solution design must ask who is helped, who might be harmed and who is left out entirely.
Pitch and reflection
Pitch and reflection means explaining the problem, the idea, the evidence and the honest limitations in a few minutes.
Did you know?
Design teams often spend longer defining the problem than solving it, because a precisely stated problem is most of the answer.
Common mix-up
“Technology will fix it.” Many community problems are about coordination or trust, where technology helps only at the edges.
Session by session
Your 8-session journey
Sessions 65–72 of the 72-session year, at two one-hour sessions per week.
- 1
Warm-up and big picture
Where this module fits, what you will build, and a hands-on starter that gets everyone curious about problem discovery.
- 2
Problem discovery
Guided teaching on problem discovery, worked through together with the teacher.
- 3
Problem discovery — practice lab
Independent practice, small challenges and one deliberate mistake to diagnose.
- 4
Solution design
Guided teaching on solution design, building directly on the previous two sessions.
- 5
Solution design — practice lab
Applied tasks that combine problem discovery and solution design in one piece of work.
- 6
Pitch and reflection
Pitch and reflection introduced and practised, completing the toolkit needed for the project.
- 7
Project build
Guided build session for the module project: Community-improvement AI concept.
- 8
Test, present and reflect
Finish, test against the checklist, present the work and explain the decisions behind it.
Project lab
Community-improvement AI concept
Every module ends with something the student built themselves and can demonstrate. This is the piece that goes into their portfolio and gets explained out loud at the end of session 72.
Try this at home
Interview three people affected by your chosen problem before designing anything. Their answers will change your idea.
It is finished when
- It works from start to finish without breaking
- You can explain every part of it in your own words
- You tested it and improved at least one thing afterwards
- Someone else used or understood it without your help
By the end of this module
Students finishing Module 9 can:
- Explain and use problem discovery without prompting
- Explain and use solution design without prompting
- Explain and use pitch and reflection without prompting
- Build and finish community-improvement ai concept
- Test your own work and correct what you find
- Talk an adult through what you made and why
Word bank
The vocabulary introduced here, in plain language:
- problem discovery
- Investigating a problem before solving it.
- stakeholder
- Anyone affected by a solution.
- pitch
- A short persuasive presentation of an idea.
Module challenge
Think you have got this?
0 XPLevel 1 · Curious Beginner
6 quick questions drawn from this module — vocabulary, the project you build, and a myth-or-fact round. Every wrong answer explains itself, so a mistake still teaches you something.
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