The Boundary Card for Health and Physical Education, Years 1 to 4
Subject adaptation · Years 1–4 · Health and Physical Education · Field-Based STEM · Tony Jones
Young children researching health topics can receive AI answers that sound authoritative. A Boundary Card names what each child must experience or decide for themselves before any tool is used.
1AI Can Help With
2AI Cannot Do
3I Must Show
4Begin the Task
The Strategy
Before any health or PE task begins, give students a three-box card: AI can help me with... / AI cannot... / I must show...
Complete box three as a class first. What physical experience, personal knowledge, or demonstrable skill must the student provide themselves?
Students complete boxes one and two with teacher guidance, naming specifically what AI is and is not suited to help with for this task.
The card travels with submitted work. At reflection, students return to box three: can they show what they committed to?
Year-Band Practice
Years 1–2
Verbal or drawn card with teacher scribing. Box three focus: "I know this because I tried it or felt it." Physical tasks such as balancing, moving, or noticing how your body feels cannot be delegated to any tool.
Years 3–4
Written card, guided by class discussion. Health topics involving personal experience including feelings, body awareness, and hauora belong in boxes two and three. AI can describe symptoms; it cannot know how this student actually feels.
Hauora Note
The taha tinana and taha hinengaro dimensions of hauora require the student's own body and mind. Box three is where these dimensions live. AI output in these areas is always second-hand.
Implementation
Decision Checkpoint
The Boundary Card is most important when the topic involves personal health experience, physical skill, or emotional content. AI can summarise nutrition facts; it cannot describe what hunger feels like to the child in front of you.
Teacher Judgement Note
For sensitive health topics including emotions, relationships, and hauora, ensure box one is genuinely limited. AI-generated personal advice directed at young children is a safeguarding consideration, not only a pedagogical one.
