The AI Revolution is Just Like the Computer Revolution, right? Right?

In partnership with

Good Day!

To all educators, it is important to stay at the forefront of what is new and innovative, especially when it comes to AI. That is why in today’s newsletter we partnered up with The Rundown AI. Grab your brew of choice, and get ready to dive in ☕

Learn how to make AI work for you.

AI breakthroughs happen every day. But where do you learn to actually apply the tech to your work? Join The Rundown — the world’s largest AI newsletter read by over 600,000 early adopters staying ahead of the curve.

1. The Rundown’s expert research team spends all day learning what’s new in AI

2. They send you daily emails on impactful AI tools and how to apply it

3. You learn how to become 2x more productive by leveraging AI

Subscribe with one click.

AI just like computers in the 90s?

Artificial Intelligence is here, and it is moving at a speed most people might not truly grasp yet. We know finding ways to incorporate AI into teaching is important, but how do teachers do that? Although answers may not jump out right away, it was the same for computers in the 90’s. This article, Computers Meet Classroom; Classroom Wins, is an interesting article written by a Stanford professor, Larry Cuban, back in 1992. The key thing he highlights here is how computers have revolutionized business and industry but not quite in the classrooms. As he puts it, he is cautiously optimistic about integrating computers in classrooms and did not see that happening anytime soon in the 1990s. Sure, he had a few misses, but it’s easy to say that in hindsight when we are a quarter of a century into the new millennium and knowing what we know now. 

The juxtaposition we want to make is that we do not know all the implications AI will bring. We are aware of all the not-so-good things generative AI can do, like writing a student’s essay, but that is not to say that there will not be benefits to using this technology. There was a time when many people believed that computers were just for playing games and for hackers, but now a computer (yes, that includes your smartphones) is essential to most people’s livelihood today. 

Dr. Chad Getson, a respected figure in education, shared his insights on the potential of AI in education. As the former superintendent of Phoenix Union High School District and a founding executive director of Arizona Institute for Education and the Economy, his words carry weight. He stated: 

Sal Khan, CEO and founder of Khan Academy speaks with 1A. He discusses their AI chatbot, Khanmigo, and his views on the state of education and AI. If you have some time, give it a listen: The Role of AI in the Classroom. 

Education is an interesting area to be in during this second half of the decade. It is exciting and scary at the same time to be part of it. The great thing is that educators are aware of the implications of AI and that some are working to ensure we integrate AI with the best intentions in supporting our students, teachers, and educational staff.

If you want to stay up-to-date with all the innovation that is going on in AI, be sure to subscribe to our partner for today’s newsletter, The Rundown AI, to ensure you stay at the forefront of AI. 

A really cool science project

When you think of science projects, what do you think of? 

How do volcanoes work? 

How do tornadoes work? 

Maybe something along the lines of experimenting with the Mendelian Inheritance? 

How about creating a device that could completely upend the biomedical device field? 

Grace Sun, a 16-year-old high school student from Lexington, Kentucky, created an organic electric device, or more specifically, organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs), in hopes of making medical implants safer and more effective. She stated that what is being used currently has “performance issues” and “instability in the body. You don’t want some sort of implanted bioelectronic to degrade in your body.” 

This potential medical breakthrough earned her 1st place at the granddaddy of science fairs, the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF). She beat out 2,000 of her fellow peers and won a cash prize of $75,000. 

Sun spent six months working on her project, spending 5 hours at a lab at the University of Kentucky. She had to leave school three hours early to be able to do this, and all her teachers were understanding when she had to request extensions for some of her assignments. 

Sun’s device still has a ways until it’s potentially viable, but she hopes it can be commercialized and widely used within the next two decades.

So, how does your science project compare to what you did in grade school? 

It’s okay. As long as Mom and Dad were proud of you, that is all that matters.

The importance of Mental Health

Mental health is just as important as physical health. May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and as educators, it is important that we take the time to understand our students' feelings.

Mental health should not be stigmatized. It should be something that we acknowledge exists, and everyone, at some point in their lives, has had some type of breakdown in their mental health, with some more severe than others. 

At Norton High School in Norton, Massachusetts, students can be seen walking around with green bandanas, as green is the color that symbolizes Mental Health Awareness Month. Ronnie Goldstein, the Assistant Principal, acknowledges the struggles students have today versus when he was a teenager: 

FOMO. Most of us probably have experienced this as we doom scroll through our preferred social media, seeing friends and acquaintances having the time of their life, doing things, and going on vacations to the Caribbeans, thinking to ourselves, that should be me!

Kids today are bombarded with more information than previous generations because as teenagers, say in the 90s and even early 2000s, it was easy to go to the mall and really enjoy the moments with your friends. Nowadays, you could be at the mall with your friends, but more than likely, you are also on social media checking on your other friends who aren’t there with you, trying to see what they are doing right now. 

It’s easy to tell kids to Get off their phones and go do something else, but how often do we take that advice ourselves? 

Also, for those who have kids, it is really important that you listen to them, not just the words they are saying but how they are acting. The unfortunate reality is that there are kids who don’t look forward to going to school because they are bullied either physically or psychologically by their peers. 

Sammy Teusch was a 10-year-old boy who attended Greenfield Intermediate School in Indiana. He was bullied and harassed by his peers. For anyone who has ever been bullied, you know how this can weigh on your self-esteem. Your self-worth. Especially at such a young age, when you see your classmates either joining in or not saying anything, that can have a detrimental effect on your mental health. Sammy’s bullying went beyond the classroom, where on social media, some of his classmates would lob threats at him and say horrible things about his mother. 

On the morning of May 5th, Sammy’s father walked into his child’s room to find him unresponsive. Sammy, a 10-year-old boy who was in fourth grade, took his own life.

His parents stated that they had contacted the school twenty times over the past year but never received a response. The Superintendent denied that the family had ever submitted a bullying report. An investigation is still ongoing. 

As an educator, whether you are a teacher, administrator, counselor, or lunch personnel - we need to do our best to protect our students and never overlook any signs of bullying if we see it. 

Closing Bell

On this day in 1962…

Marilyn Monroe, in front of 15,000 attendees inside Madison Square Garden, sings “Happy Birthday, Mr. President” accompanied by Jazz Pianist, Hank Jones. And the rest, is history.

If you like what you are reading and know anyone that can benefit from this weekly newsletter, be sure to share this with them. Use your unique link below. (Psss…also, there will be certain rewards depending on how many referrals you have. More on that later down the road 😊)