MetaPet School
The seven session cards
One sequence. Seven teacher-led sessions of 15–20 minutes for Years 3–6.
These cards are generated from the same source the app runs from, so the
sequence here and the sequence a teacher sees on screen cannot drift apart.
Every card carries one learning intention, one teacher introduction, one
interactive activity, one optional movement moment, one reflection question,
one visible stopping point and light evidence. There is no marking queue.
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Session 1: Meet the System
Time: 15 minutes
Learning intention: I can explain that a digital system takes an input and changes what it shows.
Teacher introduction: Open with one idea only: this is a system, not a video. It waits for something from us, then it changes. Everything else in the sequence builds on that one sentence.
What students do: Watch the companion, give it one input, and say what changed.
Movement moment (optional): Stand up and copy the companion's movement once, then sit back down.
Reflection question: "What changed after your input, and how do you know?"
Light evidence: One spoken sentence per pair: "I did ___ and the system showed ___."
Stopping point: Session One ends after the class has named one change. Nothing carries over.
Best-fit use case: Digital Technologies mini-lesson
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Session 2: Read the Signals
Time: 15 minutes
Learning intention: I can read the signals a system shows and say what they might mean.
Teacher introduction: Signals are guesses, not facts. Ask students to say what a signal might mean and what else it could mean. This is also where classroom feelings-and-settling language belongs: naming a signal, then choosing a calm response.
What students do: Look at the companion's signals, name one, and choose a settling action.
Movement moment (optional): Three slow breaths together before choosing the settling action.
Reflection question: "What is one other thing that signal could have meant?"
Light evidence: One reflection line linking a signal to a helpful response.
Stopping point: Session Two ends after each pair has named one signal and one response.
Best-fit use case: Wellbeing session
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Session 3: One Identity, Many Representations
Time: 20 minutes
Learning intention: I can explain that one thing can be shown in more than one way and still be the same thing.
Teacher introduction: Show the same companion as a picture, as a word and as a number. Students often assume a different display means a different thing. Naming that mistake out loud is the lesson.
What students do: Compare two views of the same companion and find what stayed the same.
Movement moment (optional): Point to the screen with one hand and to your own drawing with the other when they show the same thing.
Reflection question: "What stayed the same in both views, even though they looked different?"
Light evidence: One partner explanation naming a shared feature across two representations.
Stopping point: Session Three ends once the class has agreed on one thing that stayed the same.
Best-fit use case: Digital Technologies mini-lesson
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Session 4: Choices and Algorithms
Time: 20 minutes
Learning intention: I can describe a simple if–then rule and predict what it will do.
Teacher introduction: Predict first, then act. When a sequence goes badly, reset and try a different order — recovering is part of the method, never a punishment. That reset is the feedback loop students are learning to see.
What students do: Predict what one action will do, try it, then reset and try a different order.
Movement moment (optional): Act out the if–then rule as a class: hands up for "if", step forward for "then".
Reflection question: "Which order worked better, and what makes you say that?"
Light evidence: One short input → change → result note per pair.
Stopping point: Session Four ends after the class compares two orders. The demonstration resets.
Best-fit use case: STEM block
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Session 5: Privacy and Responsible Design
Time: 20 minutes
Learning intention: I can decide what a system should and should not keep, and give a reason.
Teacher introduction: Keep this concrete. Students sort real examples into keep, ask first and never. The point is that someone chose — systems do not decide on their own what to remember.
What students do: Sort what a system should keep, should ask about, and should never keep.
Movement moment (optional): Move to a corner of the room for keep, ask first or never, then explain your corner.
Reflection question: "Who should get to decide what a system remembers about you?"
Light evidence: One design rule per group, in the students' own words.
Stopping point: Session Five ends after each group states one rule they would give a designer.
Best-fit use case: Digital citizenship lesson
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Session 6: Design a Better Feature
Time: 20 minutes
Learning intention: I can design one change to a feature and explain who it helps.
Teacher introduction: One change only. The constraint is the teaching: students have to justify a single choice rather than list ten. Ask who it helps and who it might not.
What students do: Change one part of the design and say who your change helps.
Movement moment (optional): Swap seats with a partner and explain their design back to them.
Reflection question: "Who does your change help, and who might it not help?"
Light evidence: One design choice with one stated reason.
Stopping point: Session Six ends when every student has named one change and one person it helps.
Best-fit use case: STEM block
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Session 7: Test, Reflect and Improve
Time: 20 minutes
Learning intention: I can test an idea, notice a pattern across the sequence, and explain my thinking.
Teacher introduction: This closes the sequence. Students look back across all seven sessions for something that happened more than once, then say what they would do differently. Finishing is the goal; being right is not.
What students do: Test one idea, find a pattern from earlier sessions, and explain it.
Movement moment (optional): Stand in a line from "I am sure" to "I am still thinking" and say why you stood there.
Reflection question: "What pattern did you notice, and what would you try next time?"
Light evidence: One pattern statement with one supporting example.
Stopping point: Session Seven ends the sequence. The class has finished; nothing is left open.
Best-fit use case: STEM block
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Running less than the full sequence
The sequence is designed to run in order, but it does not have to run all at once.
Session One alone. A complete, self-contained taster. Nothing is left open.
Sessions 1–3. Systems, signals and representation, without the design work.
Sessions 1, 2 and 5. The shortest route to a digital-responsibility conversation.
Full sequence. Sessions 1–7 across two to three weeks.
Stopping early is a legitimate outcome, not an incomplete one. Each session ends at a visible stopping point.