Session 2 — Patterns Everywhere

Duration: 60 min · Format: live online · Ages: 8–11

Session goal: by the end, students can spot patterns around them, sort things into groups (classify), and predict what comes next.

Before class — prep (5 min)

• Have the two diagrams below ready to share on screen (predict the next shape and sorting into groups).
• Have a small box of mixed objects (toys, blocks, crayons) near you to demo sorting, and ask students to gather a few small objects too.
• Ask students to have paper and a pencil ready.
• Open Quick, Draw! in a tab in case you want to show classifying in action.

Agenda

0:00 · Hook (5 min)

Ask the class to clap this out loud with you: clap – stomp – clap – stomp – clap – …

• "What comes next?" Let them call it out (chat or unmute).
• Reveal: that's a pattern — something that repeats by a rule. Their brain guessed the next part super fast.
• Tell them: that's exactly the AI superpower — and today they become pattern-spotters themselves.

0:05 · Teach — What is a pattern? (12 min)

Explain: a pattern is something that repeats in a way you can predict. Once you know the rule, you can guess what's next.

Share this diagram:

Ask: "Circle, triangle, circle, triangle, circle… what shape comes next?" (Take a few answers — the rule is circle, triangle, repeating.)

Point out that patterns are everywhere:

• Day and night, over and over
• Stripes on a zebra
• The beat in a favourite song
• The days of the week

⚠ Watch for this: students sometimes call any group of things a "pattern." Stress that a pattern must repeat by a rule you can predict — otherwise you can't guess what's next.

0:17 · Teach — Sorting into groups = Classifying (13 min)

Explain: when you put things into groups, you are classifying. AI does this all the time — remember from Session 1 how it sorted pictures into "cat" or "dog"? Those groups are called classes.

Share this diagram:

• To sort, you look for clues: Is it round or pointy? What colour? How big? AI looks for clues too.
• Key point to land: guessing "cat!" is really just sorting a picture into the cat group. Classifying is the AI's #1 job.

⚠ Watch for the mix-up: a pattern is what repeats; classifying is sorting things into groups using clues. They connect (AI spots patterns to decide which group), but they're not the same word.

Ask: "What clues might an AI use to tell a cat from a dog?" (Take 2–3 answers — ear shape, whiskers, nose, size.)

0:30 · Activity (20 min)

Activity 1 — Sorting champion (≈10 min, no computer). Have students grab a box of small things (toys, blocks, crayons) and sort them into 2 or 3 groups. Then have a partner (or you, on shared screen) guess the rule — by colour? by size? by shape?

• Demo first: sort your own box on camera and let students guess your rule.
• Circulate/watch for: rules that don't actually separate the items cleanly — ask "could something belong to both groups?" to sharpen their clue.

Activity 2 — Make a pattern (≈10 min). Have students draw or build a repeating pattern (like triangle, circle, triangle, circle). Then a partner adds the next 3 items.

Debrief: "If your partner found your rule, that's exactly what an AI does — spot the pattern, then predict what comes next."

0:50 · Check for understanding (7 min)

Ask these aloud or drop them in the chat. Answer key (for you):

1. In the shapes picture, what comes next? → A triangle — the rule is circle, triangle, circle, triangle…
2. What do we call sorting things into groups? → Classifying — and the groups are called classes.
3. What clues might an AI use to tell a cat from a dog? → Things like ear shape, whiskers, nose, and size — the AI looks for repeating patterns in the pictures.

0:57 · Wrap-up + homework (3 min)

• Ask one student to finish the sentence: "A pattern is…"
• Homework — Pattern hunter: find 3 patterns at home or outside, and invent one secret pattern to challenge a family member to continue. Bring them to Session 3.

Teaching notes

• Correct this misconception: "any group is a pattern." Reframe — a pattern repeats by a rule you can predict; classifying is sorting with clues.
• Fast finishers (extension): introduce the word features — the clues an AI uses to decide (pointy ears, whiskers, colour); more helpful features → better sorting. Then peek at a neural network: a big team of tiny helpers, each checking one small clue ("pointy ears? yes/no") and voting on the answer. Challenge: pick two animals and write 3 features that tell them apart — exactly what you'd teach an AI.
• Low-tech fallback: if some students have no objects handy, run Activity 1 as a whole class using items on your desk, or have them sort things they can see in their room by colour and size.

Vocabulary

Resources

• Quick, Draw! — watch it classify drawings into groups.
• Code.org — Hour of Code — fun pattern & logic puzzles.
• Teachable Machine — next session students teach it to classify.

Next session

Session 3 — Teach the Computer: students train their very own AI to tell two things apart.