Examples of What Gemini Blocks for Students Under 18

AI Strategy · Case study

A study by the Student Support and Success domain of the Maricopa AI Resource Center.

Cover of the report: Examples of What Gemini Blocks for Students Under 18. Tested on 27 course assignments, in an under-18 account and an 18 and older account. MCCCD AI Resource Center, Student Support and Success Domain. A grid of 27 squares shows the under-18 results: 18 completed as written, 8 completed with an alternate step, 1 not completable in Gemini.

Goal

The study asks one question: can a student under 18 complete an assignment that uses Google Gemini, as written? Where the student is stopped, the study records what was blocked and what the student does instead. The instructor teaches to the course competency either way, so each alternate step is written to keep it.

A meaningful share of Maricopa students are under 18, and Google gives those students a restricted version of Gemini. The study shows what that restriction changes in real coursework, so instructors know where to add an alternate step.

Audience

Maricopa faculty and faculty leadership, district administration, the AI Resource Center, and Google. Faculty use the results to see whether their own assignments need an “Under 18: do this instead” clause.

Process

How the study runs

Start from the competency. Each example assignment begins with one official Maricopa course competency, quoted from the course outline.
Build the assignment with synthetic experts. Synthetic subject-matter experts for each subject (Claude Opus 5.5 agents) drafted an authentic assignment: a simulation, case, portfolio or project. A synthetic instructional designer then reviewed and revised each one. The Assignments tab has every one.
Run it in both accounts. Identical prompts, typed the same way, in an under-18 test account and an 18 and older account.
Decide the outcome. Completed as written, completed with an alternate step, or not completable in Gemini. A block counts only when the 18 and older account completes the same step.
Write the alternate step. Where the student is stopped, and an “Under 18: do this instead” clause for the instructor. The Results tab has the detail.

Technology

Google Gemini, in two test accounts: one under 18, one 18 and older.
Claude Opus 5.5 agents, to build the example assignments.
One browser and the same retry rule for both accounts.
Results logged step by step and published as static pages. No student took part.

Outcomes

A student under 18 can complete 26 of 27 assignments that use Gemini: 18 as written and 8 with an alternate step added by the instructor. One needs another route.

Under-18 account: can the assignment be completed? 27 example assignments

Completed as written18
Completed with an alternate step8
Not completable in Gemini1
18 and older account24 completed as written

Every block listed on the Results page was confirmed against the 18 and older account.

Two kinds of blocks turned up: tools the under-18 account is not offered, and content it refuses. Every gap has a tested or proposed “Under 18: do this instead” step. The tools, the blocks and every assignment are on the Results tab.