Security Detective Teams

Quick-Start Guide for Educators

The Big Idea (Read This First)

This isn’t “students use AI to solve a mystery.” It’s students discovering what happens when two different kinds of intelligence work together.

The shift:

Old Framing This Activity
AI is a tool students use AI is a partner with different strengths
Students get answers from AI Students discover what each partner contributes
Human OR AI Human AND AI together

What students should discover (don’t tell them—let them find it):

  • AI excels at: spotting patterns across data, remembering technical details, processing large volumes of information quickly
  • Humans excel at: understanding context, reading social situations, making judgment calls about what matters
  • Together: insights neither could reach alone

The Scenario (2 min)

Mysterious account lockouts at a middle school. Students investigate with an AI partner to figure out what’s happening.

Evidence includes: Login logs, password analysis, social media clues, network data.

The Flow (45 min total)

Phase Time What’s Happening Your Role
1. Human First 10 min Students examine evidence WITHOUT AI Circulate, prompt observation
2. Partnership 15 min Students consult AI as teammate Guide authentic dialogue (not search queries)
3. Synthesis 10 min Teams document what each partner contributed Push for specifics
4. Debrief 10 min Whole-class discussion Surface the distributed cognition insight

Critical Facilitation Moves

During Phase 1 (Human First):

“What do YOU notice before asking anyone else?”

This matters because students need to experience their own pattern-recognition before comparing it to AI’s.

During Phase 2 (Partnership):

“Talk TO your AI partner, not AT it. Ask follow-ups. Disagree if you think it’s wrong.”

Watch for: Students treating AI like Google. Redirect: “Would you talk to a human teammate that way?”

During Phase 3 (Synthesis):

“Be specific: What did YOUR brain do that AI couldn’t? What did AI do that you couldn’t?”

This is where the partnership insight crystallizes.

Materials Needed

Low-resource option: Use the AI Response Cards instead of live AI. The learning works the same way.

The Debrief Questions That Matter

  1. “What did your human brain catch that AI missed?” (Context, social reading, judgment)
  2. “What did AI catch that you missed?” (Patterns, technical connections, speed)
  3. “What did you figure out TOGETHER that neither could alone?” (This is the goal)

If Things Go Wrong

Problem It’s Actually Do This
AI gives wrong answer A teaching moment about verification “Interesting—how would you check that?”
Students over-rely on AI They haven’t discovered AI’s limits yet “What CAN’T AI tell you about this situation?”
Students dismiss AI They haven’t discovered AI’s strengths yet “What’s AI faster at noticing than you?”

From “True Teamwork: Building Human-AI Partnerships” — NICE K12 2025
Dr. Ryan Straight, University of Arizona • ryanstraight@arizona.edu