Goto

Collaborating Authors

 K-12 Education


I Believe in one God, and It's Not a Computer

Mother Jones

How the data center boom plunged one small Pennsylvania town into chaos. Valley View Estates is set to be surrounded by data centers. Get your news from a source that's not owned and controlled by oligarchs. "I don't like to see anyone upset," said Nick Farris of Provident Real Estate Advisors. He was sitting in the front of a crowd of roughly 150 inside Valley View High School's auditorium in Archbald, a town of about 7,500, huddled between two mountain ranges in Pennsylvania's Lackawanna Valley. Farris was there to represent the developer for Project Scott, one of many data center campuses coming to town. "I think that this is the best data center site in this area of the country, by far." The audience had been fairly quiet, bundled in thick coats against the late January cold. But as Farris spoke about data centers as a boon for communities, they began to laugh, drawing a rebuke from town officials. "What about the children?" someone shouted from the crowd. The children were watching from the walls; long banners of Valley View Performing Arts students hanging around the auditorium like championship pennants. Project Scott and four other data facilities will sit just a few thousand feet from the middle and high schools. He was referring to Lockheed Martin's 350,000-square-foot Missiles and Fire Control facility directly next to the high school, parts of which are highly contaminated . "That sucks too!" another attendee yelled back.


Gamified math. Video read-alouds. Why parents are saying no to screens in class

Los Angeles Times

Things to Do in L.A. Kate Brody's 7-year-old son plays at home in North Hollywood on March 14. This is read by an automated voice. Please report any issues or inconsistencies here . Early childhood experts say excessive screen time displaces hands-on learning and peer interaction critical to development. At least 11 states have considered legislation limiting technology in the classroom this year.


AIhub coffee corner: AI, kids, and the future – "generation AI"

AIHub

This month we tackle the topic of young people and what AI tools mean for their future. Joining the conversation this time are: Sanmay Das (Virginia Tech), Tom Dietterich (Oregon State University), Sabine Hauert (University of Bristol), Michael Littman (Brown University), and Ella Scallan (AIhub). As AI tools have become ubiquitous, we've seen growing concern and increasing coverage about how the use of such tools from a formative age might affect children. What do you think the impact will be and what skills might young people need to navigate this AI world? I met up with a bunch of high school friends when I was last in Switzerland and they were all wondering what their kids should study. They were wondering if they should do social science, seeing as AI tools have become adept at many tasks, such as coding, writing, art, etc. I think that we need social sciences, but that we also need people who know the technology and who can continue developing it. I say they should continue doing whatever they're interested in and those jobs will evolve and they'll look different, but there will still be a whole wealth of different types of jobs.


Schools are using AI counselors to track students' mental health. Is it safe?

The Guardian

'You can't replace human connection, human judgment,' warns Sarah Caliboso-Soto, a licensed clinical social worker. 'You can't replace human connection, human judgment,' warns Sarah Caliboso-Soto, a licensed clinical social worker. Schools are using AI counselors to track students' mental health. As hundreds of schools implement an automated monitoring tool, educators say that students can find talking to a chatbot'more natural' than confiding in a human The alert came around 7pm. Brittani Phillips checked her phone. A middle school counselor in Putnam county, Florida, Phillips receives messages from an artificial intelligence-enabled therapy platform that students use during nonschool hours.






Scalable Early Childhood Reading Performance Prediction

Neural Information Processing Systems

Currently, students are identified as needing additional educational support using a'wait-to-fail' approach, i.e., waiting until a child has not made expected gains in reading before there is a reevaluation of their instructional needs.