The decision is already here.
Purpose: Move from abstract opinions about AI to a specific public decision.
Students: read NYC policy, distinguish types of AI use, map what is decided and what remains open, and write a first position.
Output: a one-sentence decision statement, open questions, and a stakeholder map.
Exit question: What is the most important decision NYC still has to make?
Evidence, interests, and lived experience.
Purpose: Test assumptions against the experience of people affected.
Students: read, observe, and conduct or analyze stakeholder interviews. They track each conversation and its quote permissions.
Output: page 1 of the Evidence Contribution Record and a set of evidence IDs.
Exit question: Whose experience changes how you understand the problem?
Find the pattern.
Purpose: Turn notes into traceable claims without turning everything into an essay.
Students: use the governance rubric, connect findings to evidence IDs, preserve disagreement, and name missing voices.
Output: a completed score snapshot and page 2 of the Evidence Contribution Record.
Exit question: What does the evidence support, challenge, or leave unanswered?
Contribute and demonstrate.
Purpose: Add documented learning to the shared civic record and invite a real response.
Students: complete the Findings and Recommendation handout, submit it with their evidence, and present through a small local demonstration.
Output: one documented contribution, one public question, and a recorded audience response.
Exit question: What should happen next, what remains uncertain, and who needs to hear this evidence?
One cycle, many demonstrations.
This does not depend on one large conference. Classroom exchanges, school events, CBO gatherings, neighborhood conversations, and online presentations can all be documented and added to the Community Learning Ledger. Groups contribute evidence before they are invited to present.
Want a deeper investigation?
Extend the core to eight to twelve weeks through student-led interviews, comparative policy research, approved-tool testing, community deliberation, prototype design, and publication.