Your feed feels personal, like it genuinely knows you. That’s not an accident, it’s AI, constantly learning what keeps you watching. In this challenge, you’ll investigate what’s actually happening behind the scroll.
Explain what’s genuinely happening behind your feed, and why it feels so personal.
By the end of this challenge, you’ll produce one real, finished piece explaining how a social media feed actually decides what to show you. Every step feeds into your final piece.
The Shape of This Challenge
Discover
✏️ ️ Light, curious
Explore
️ Focused, rising
Create
✏️ Deep, the peak
Reflect
️ Calm, close
Discover
Step 1
What Does Your Feed Already Know?
✏️ Paper first
We are learning tonotice what a feed already seems to know about us.
Example: a feed might already show you more of a topic right after you watch just one video about it.
Your task: Grab paper and write down 2 things your own feed seems to already know about you, based on what it shows you.
4 to 6 minutes.
I canname something a feed seems to already know about me.
→ This becomes part of your evidence in Step 5
Critical ThinkingDigital Citizenship
Step 2
How Would It Know That?
️ Talk it through
We are learning tounderstand that a feed learns from behaviour, not from being told.Your task: Talk with a partner: your feed doesn’t ask you what you like, so how does it know? What do you think it’s actually paying attention to?
4 to 6 minutes.
I canexplain that a feed learns from what I do, not what I say.
→ This becomes part of your evidence in Step 5
CommunicationCritical Thinking
Explore
Step 3
How Does a Real Platform Actually Do This?
Dig deeper with AI, or ️ reason it out
We are learning tofind and understand how a real platform’s recommendation system genuinely works.Choose your track:
Quick track: Write 2 sentences guessing what signals you think a video app might use to decide what to show you next.
Dig deeper: Open an AI tool and paste this prompt exactly: “In simple terms, how does a social media app’s recommendation system decide what to show someone next? Explain it in 3 sentences.” Write down what you find.
5 to 8 minutes for the quick track, 8 to 10 minutes if you dig deeper.
I canexplain, in simple terms, how a feed genuinely decides what to show.
→ This becomes part of your evidence in Step 5
ResearchAI-Assisted Research
Step 4
Is That Genuinely a Problem?
️ Hands-on reasoning
We are learning tothink critically about whether a personalised feed is genuinely good, bad, or both.Your task: Write one genuine upside and one genuine downside of a feed that learns exactly what keeps you watching.
4 to 6 minutes.
I canname one genuine upside and one genuine downside of feed personalisation.
→ This becomes part of your evidence in Step 5
Critical ThinkingDigital Citizenship
✨
Create
Step 5
Make Your Case
✏️ Plan on paper, then make it
We are learning toturn everything we’ve found into one finished piece of real communication.
Example: a video might open with ‘Your feed isn’t reading your mind, here’s what it’s actually doing.’
Before you touch a device: plan your opening line on paper. Then choose ONE format: Blog post (200 to 300 words, around 25 min), Presentation (2 to 3 slides, around 25 min), Poster (one page, 30 to 40 words, around 25 min), or Video (30 to 60 seconds, around 30 min).
Blog post
200 to 300 words
around 25 minutes
Presentation
2 to 3 slides, 20 to 25 words per slide max
around 25 minutes
Poster
one page, roughly 30 to 40 words total
around 25 minutes
Video
30 to 60 seconds
around 30 minutes
25 to 30 minutes, depending on the format you choose.
I cancombine research and my own reasoning into one finished piece explaining how feeds genuinely work.
Content CreationAI Literacy
Step 6
Reflect, Apply, Look Forward
️ Talk, quietly and calmly
We are learning toconnect what we just learned to our own life and future.Your task: Talk through these with someone, or yourself. Reflect: Does this change how you think about your own feed? Apply: Would you change anything about how you use social media, knowing this? Look forward: What’s one question you still have about how these systems work?
3 to 5 minutes. This is the wind-down.
I canconnect feed literacy to my own future digital habits.
To notice what a feed already seems to know about us
To understand that a feed learns from our own behaviour
To research how a real platform's recommendation system works
To explain a feed's real logic in plain language
Digital Skills
AI Literacy, Digital Citizenship, Critical Thinking
Meta Skills
AI Literacy, AI-Assisted Research, Communication, Content Creation, Critical Thinking, Digital Citizenship, Reflection, Research
Why This Matters
Understanding that your feed is a genuine AI system learning from your behaviour, not reading your mind, is real AI and digital literacy that helps you use these platforms more knowingly.
Success Looks Like
I can name something my feed seems to already know about me
I can explain that a feed learns from what I do, not what I say
I can find or explain how a real platform genuinely recommends content
I can explain a feed's logic clearly, in my own words
Evidence and Presentation Options
Blog post (200 to 300 words), Presentation (2 to 3 slides, 20 to 25 words per slide max), Poster (one page, roughly 30 to 40 words total), Video (30 to 60 seconds)
Next steps
Notice for one week what your feed shows you right after you watch or like something new.
Tools and Links
Any AI tool for the dig deeper option in Step 3.
DexAI Study Partner
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To notice what a feed already seems to know about us
To understand that a feed learns from our own behaviour
To research how a real platform's recommendation system works
To explain a feed's real logic in plain language
Digital Skills
AI Literacy, Digital Citizenship, Critical Thinking
Meta Skills
AI Literacy, AI-Assisted Research, Communication, Content Creation, Critical Thinking, Digital Citizenship, Reflection, Research
Why This Matters
Understanding that your feed is a genuine AI system learning from your behaviour, not reading your mind, is real AI and digital literacy that helps you use these platforms more knowingly.
Success Looks Like
I can name something my feed seems to already know about me
I can explain that a feed learns from what I do, not what I say
I can find or explain how a real platform genuinely recommends content
I can explain a feed's logic clearly, in my own words
Evidence and Presentation Options
Blog post (200 to 300 words), Presentation (2 to 3 slides, 20 to 25 words per slide max), Poster (one page, roughly 30 to 40 words total), Video (30 to 60 seconds)
Next steps
Notice for one week what your feed shows you right after you watch or like something new.
Age, Stage and Prior Learning: S1-S3. No prior AI knowledge needed.
Before You Start: No specific materials needed beyond a device for the dig deeper option in Step 3.
How to Open This: "Your feed feels like it genuinely knows you. That's not an accident, it's AI. Today we're figuring out what's actually happening behind the scroll."
Scheduling: Roughly 30 to 35 minutes total, natural pause point after Step 4.
If a Pupil Gets Stuck: If a pupil struggles to think of an example in Step 1, prompt with a specific platform they likely use and ask what it recommends.
For Fast Finishers: Ask fast finishers to think of one way a feed could be designed to show more variety, not just more of the same.
Marking Guidance: Judge Step 5 against: a genuine example of feed personalisation, an explanation of how it learns, and the pupil's own reasoning.
