Session 32: Smartphones & Tablets

At a glance: pupils find their way around an Android phone or tablet, change settings with Quick Settings and the Settings app, install apps safely and judge permissions, save data and storage, share a hotspot, use Maps and the camera, and protect the family's Mobile Money. · Time: 90 minutes (adjust the timings if your period is shorter) · Workbook pages: 6

Learning outcomes

By the end of the session, pupils can:

Use the Android home screen, Quick Settings and the Settings app to change Wi-Fi, mobile data, Bluetooth, display, sound and screen lock settings, and check battery and storage.
Check an app (developer, downloads, reviews, Data safety) before installing it from the official store, and decide whether an app really needs a permission.
Save data and storage, share a hotspot safely, use Maps and the camera, and spot a Mobile Money scam ("wrong transfer" or "you have won").

Before the session

Charge the Hub's phones or tablets. One per pair is ideal; one per four works. Remove or sign out of any personal accounts, MoMo apps and messages first.
Make sure each device can join the Hub Wi-Fi and has Google Maps, the Camera and the Play Store. A Google account is needed to browse the Play Store: use the Hub's learning account, never a pupil's own.
Test the Smartphone Explorer lab on the projector PC and a pupil PC; keep the offline pack on USB.
If you can, connect one phone to the projector (screen casting or a USB-C to HDMI adapter), or be ready to walk round and show it.
Copy the fake "wrong transfer" message from Page 4 onto the board or a slide.
Choose a real place near the Hub for the Maps mission (a market, clinic or school).

Running order

Time	Activity	Workbook	What the mentor does
0–10 min	Typing warm-up	–	Pupils open the typing trainer and do today's 10-minute warm-up. Note anyone who needs help with posture.
10–18 min	A market in your pocket	Page 1	Ask who in the family uses a phone for what. Walk through Figure 32.0 on a real phone: swipe down once, twice, swipe up for the app drawer, Back and Home.
18–30 min	Quick Settings and the Settings race	Page 2	Explain the tiles. Then run the Settings Scavenger Hunt: call out "Find the screen timeout!", "Find the battery percentage!", "Turn on Bluetooth and off again!". First pair to show you wins a point for their team.
30–42 min	Installing apps safely and permissions	Page 3	Show the 4 checks on a real Play Store page. Read the APK warning aloud. Act out Figure 32.2: you are the torch app, pupils shout "Allow" or "Don't allow".
42–52 min	Data, storage and hotspots	Pages 3–4	Sort the data table as a class. Demonstrate turning on a hotspot with a password and joining it from a laptop, then turning it off.
52–60 min	Mobile Money: Scam or Real? game	Page 4	Read out 5 messages or calls; teams hold up ✅ or ❌ and say why. Finish with the Golden MoMo Rules.
60–80 min	Smartphone Explorer lab, then the real device	Page 5	Demonstrate the first lab mission on the projector. Pairs do the lab, then the 6 real-device steps, and fill in the table. Check each pair's Maps result.
80–86 min	Scenarios and review questions	Page 6	Show of hands for each scenario. A team point for every correct "why".
86–90 min	Self-assessment and sign-off	Page 6	Sign off using the evidence below. Ask pupils to delete their camera photos.

Key ideas and how to explain them

A market in your pocket: the home screen is the market entrance; each app is a stall with one job. A smartphone is a real computer (processor, memory, storage) that also makes calls.
Quick Settings vs Settings: Quick Settings are the light switches by the door (on/off in one tap). The Settings app is the full control room. Press and hold a tile to jump from one to the other.
Brand differences: Samsung, Tecno, Infinix and Pixel phones name things differently ("Connections" vs "Network & internet"). Teach pupils to use the search bar at the top of Settings: type "hotspot" or "timeout" and it finds it on any phone.
Screen lock: an unlocked phone is an open door. A 6-digit PIN, pattern or fingerprint; never 1234, 0000 or a birthday.
Official stores only: the Play Store (Android) and App Store (iPhone). The 4 checks: developer, downloads and rating, recent reviews, Data safety. APK files sent in WhatsApp messages are a common way to spread harmful apps.
Permissions: "Does this app need it to do its job?" Maps needs location; a torch does not. Choices: While using the app, Only this time, Don't allow. Change them later in Settings → Apps → (app) → Permissions.
Data vs Wi-Fi: video eats data, text sips it. Data Saver, Wi-Fi-only updates and backups, lower video quality.
Hotspot: the phone becomes a router for a laptop. Always a password, only people you know, watch the bundle, switch it off after.
Mobile Money safety: never share the PIN, the network never asks for it, check the balance yourself in the official menu or app (not from an SMS), and "wrong transfer" and "you have won, pay a fee" stories are scams. Tell a parent and report to the network's official customer service.
iPhone differences: Control Centre (swipe down from the top-right corner; on iPhones with a Home button, swipe up from the bottom), the App Store, Settings → Personal Hotspot. Same ideas, different names.

The 3D lab

Smartphone Explorer is a pretend Android phone on a desk: swipe down for Quick Settings, open Settings, the Play Store, Messages and MoMo (buttons in the side panel, or tap the 3D screen). It has three missions:

Install the real torch app (not the copy), then answer its 3 permission questions wisely. Two "Bright Torch" apps share a name and logo; the 4 checks (developer, downloads and rating, reviews, data safety) show which is real. Then the app asks for the camera (allow: the flash is the torch), contacts and location (don't allow).
Storage is full: free at least 7 GB without losing any photos that aren't backed up. Pupils delete old videos, uninstall an unused game and empty the bin, but they only reach the goal by backing up Grandma's birthday photos first, and that needs Wi-Fi (Quick Settings). Deleting them without a backup loses them, and the pupil must start again.
A “wrong transfer, please send it back” message arrives: check the balance yourself and send nothing. The text comes from an ordinary number, then the same number rings. The official MoMo app shows no GHS 500 ever arrived; the lab ends with the Golden MoMo Rules.

On the projector, demonstrate swiping down for Quick Settings and turning on Wi-Fi, then let pairs do the missions. The hotspot (with a password), aeroplane mode, Bluetooth, battery saver, brightness and screen timeout are there for free exploration. Ask after each mission: "Would you do the same on a real phone?" The real-device steps on Page 5 repeat the same skills with real buttons. If you have no real devices, the lab and a projected phone cover the whole session.

Common mistakes and quick fixes

Pupils often…	Try this
Can't find a setting because their phone looks different	Use the search bar at the top of Settings. "Every phone hides it in a different room, but the search bar knows every room."
Tap "Allow" on every permission to make the pop-up go away	Replay the torch-app role-play: "Would you give your house key to the torch seller?"
Think Wi-Fi and mobile data are the same thing	Turn off Wi-Fi on a projected phone and show the mobile data icon appear. Wi-Fi comes from a router; data comes from the bundle.
Leave the hotspot on with no password	Show the list of connected devices on the hotspot page: "Who are these people using your bundle?"
Believe the "You have received GHS 500" SMS	Ask: "Who sent it, the network's name or an ordinary number? What does the balance say when you check it yourself?"
Delete photos to free space before backing up	Back up first, check the backup, then delete. "Move your things to the new house before you knock down the old one."

When things go wrong

No internet: the lab runs offline. Settings, Quick Settings, storage, battery, permissions and the camera all work without internet; skip the Play Store and Maps steps or show screenshots you prepared.
Not enough devices: groups of 4 with one device, rotating who holds it at every step; the others read the step aloud and fill in the table. Or project one phone and let pupils come up to do one step each.
A device freezes or the power goes: press and hold the power button for about 10 seconds to restart a frozen phone (on some phones, power and volume down together). If the power goes, phones keep working on battery: carry on, and do the Scam or Real? game on paper.
A pupil changes something you didn't want changed: that's fine on Hub devices. Use it as a teaching moment: "How do we change it back?"

Answer key

Your turn (Page 2): he should change the screen timeout, in Settings → Display (Screen timeout). Choose a longer time, such as 1 or 2 minutes.

Lab table (Page 5): answers depend on the device. Look for: a real network name; a battery percentage and storage figures (for example "38 GB used, 26 GB free"); a sensible biggest file type (often photos and videos, or apps); the app's permissions (Maps: usually location; Camera: camera, microphone for video, sometimes location); Google Classroom's developer is Google LLC, with its rating and downloads as shown; a named place and a walking time.

Scenario Decisions (Page 6)

Installing an APK from a WhatsApp "free data" link: Risky.
Checking the developer, reviews and Data safety before installing: Smart.
Reading Mum's MoMo PIN to a caller who says he is from the network: Risky (the network never asks for a PIN).
A hotspot with a password, turned off after use: Smart.
Letting a calculator app read contacts and location: Risky (a calculator does not need them).

Written Review Questions

A lot of data: watching videos (YouTube, TikTok), video calls, app and phone updates, backing up photos and videos. Ways to save: use Wi-Fi, turn on Data Saver, update apps and back up photos on Wi-Fi only, watch videos at a lower quality, turn mobile data off when not needed. (Any two of each.)
He should check his balance himself in the official MoMo menu or app (not trust the SMS or the caller) and send nothing until he has. If no money arrived, it is a scam. He should never share his PIN, and can report the number to the network's customer service. Real wrong transfers can be sorted out by the network, so nobody needs to send money back in a hurry.

Support and stretch

Needs more support: pair them with a confident phone user and give them the jobs "find it" and "read it aloud". Practise only Quick Settings, screen timeout and the 4 app checks.
Finished early: find three ways to save battery on the device (Battery Saver, lower brightness, shorter screen timeout, turning off Bluetooth or the hotspot). Or write a 5-rule "Phone Safety Card" for their family, including the Golden MoMo Rules, to take home.

Evidence for sign-off

The pupil opens Quick Settings and the Settings app and finds at least three named settings without help, completes the Page 5 table, explains why a given permission should or should not be allowed, gets at least 4 of the 5 scenarios right, and explains what to do with a "wrong transfer" call. They have finished the Smartphone Explorer missions.

Safety and wellbeing

Use Hub devices with personal accounts removed. If a pupil uses a parent's phone at home, it must be with permission, and they must not open messages, MoMo, photos or banking apps, or change passwords or the screen lock. Never ask a pupil for a real PIN or password, and never type one in front of the class. No photos of faces without consent; delete practice photos before the devices are put away. Location sharing is only for family, agreed with a parent. Some pupils' families may have lost money to a MoMo scam: keep the tone kind ("scammers are clever, and anyone can be fooled"), and if a pupil is worried about a real message, help them tell a parent.