Artificial Intelligence in K-12

Why is it important for all learners (students, parents, teachers, community members) to become more aware of Artificial Intelligence (AI)? To answer this question I reached out to a series of educators in the Pittsburgh region who are working with K-12 students and educators. I’ll take a look at the work being done at the Readiness Institute (RI) of Penn State, resources and insights from the Birdbrain Technologies company, a spin-off from Carnegie Mellon’s CREATE Lab, and teachers at the Winchester Thurston (WT) School who have developed a course in Machine Learning for High School.

Why is AI important for K-12 students to learn?

According to Bambi Brewer who worked on curricular materials for Birdbrain Technologies:

I think it is important for everyone to learn something about AI because AI systems are making decisions in our world right now, and I think everyone should have the information they need to help us as a society make responsible decisions about what kinds of systems we use and what decisions we do or don’t want them to make.

In my conversation with Lance Lindauer, the Executive Director for PART (Partnership to Advance Responsible Technology), we discussed the importance of AI as a part of digital technology education. Lance believes it’s important for learners to understand how to exert control over their personal agency when using various forms of technology. Also, as technology today is infused into all fields – health, education, manufacturing, transportation – and it’s vital for people to see that technology as something that is not scary, rather it has tremendous benefits when developed and deployed responsibly and ethically. Lance stressed the importance for each person to become an “ambassador” for themselves in a technology economy, and to interact with technology in positive ways to also help benefit one’s community.

Moreover, it’s critical that people understand how to responsibly use that technology. Bambi Brewer extended that idea to algorithms, the mathematical approach to finding patterns that underlies AI:

My goal is to get people talking in an informed way about how we deal with things like the bias that can occur with AI algorithms. Sometimes people see that just because it is technology, it is inherently unbiased, and that just isn’t true. All technology, for better or worse, is the product of the people who create it and embeds their assumptions and biases.

The Birdbrain Technologies website makes the point about looking at AI in the context of addressing questions of curiosity, creative problem solving and real world learning. According to the website:

Deep and joyful learning means digging into questions and issues that make students feel curious and passionate – and artificial intelligence certainly fits the bill!

In a course co-taught by Computer Science Chair David Nassar and Social Studies Chair Michael Naragon, Winchester Thurston students examine the dynamic ways in which social relationships and political policies shape and are shaped by technological changes. This interdisciplinary approach, according to Naragon, allows students “to become citizen-coders who understand the inner workings of A.I., which is often a black box to many.” This understanding helps students exercise greater amounts of agency, which in turn encourages them to become true “ambassadors.” According to David Nassar:

This will enable them to better predict the possible social and political consequences of technological change. Data science is becoming such an essential aspect to digital literacy today; it is critical that students are exposed to the way in which AI and Machine Learning work and are used so that they can employ it themselves when needed, and also vet when it may be misused.

How is AI incorporated into K-12 programs and projects?

For the past two summers Lance Lindauer has spent time with high school students that are part of the Readiness Institute at Penn State. The Readiness Institute runs a five week summer program for upcoming seniors in high school. According to Lance the program tries to provide students with real world needs rooted in emerging-technology trends and data. Lance works with the students to understand the link between AI and digital technology and how it can interact with informing public policy, guide regional strategic decision making and investment, or boost education curriculum. In another school program, PART works with local middle schools and high schools on how to comprehend innovation and various technology topics by facilitating student-centered learning through podcasting. PART is working with local entities like Future Grind and the team at the Saturday Light Brigade (www.slb.org), a Pittsburgh-based multimedia non-profit, to express their point of view. Students not only gain insights into AI and the related technologies, but develop agency.

The Readiness Institute also runs a 4 week Saturday program during the school year as part of the Mark Cuban’s Foundation for AI Bootcamp. According to the RI website: Over the course of four half-days, students learn what AI is and isn’t, where they already interact with AI in their own lives, the ethical implications of AI systems, and much more. The Bootcamp brings local AI experts from universities and local companies to work with the students. The program has four components:

identify AI in the real world
build their own application
discuss AI ethics and bias in data
meet and learn from AI experts

Bambi Brewer created for Birdbrain Technologies a series of free resources that teachers, parents, or learners can tap into. The resources require the use of one of the physical robots – the Finch or Hummingbird – that Birdbrain developed with CMU:

AI RESOURCES FOR THE FINCH ROBOT 2.0:
AI with Finch in Python
AI with Finch in Snap!
AI RESOURCES FOR THE FINCH ROBOT 2.0:
AI with Hummingbird in Snap!

Bambi shared one fun example of how students can gain insights into “image recognition,” one of the byproducts of AI:

“…the funniest example to create was using image recognition to detect different Star Wars characters and control what the robot does based on the character that appears. For example, it plays Darth Vader’s music when it detects the Darth Vader mask.”

David Nassar (left) and Michael Naragon (right) engage in conversation with their students about binary classifiers in their co-taught course, Machine Learning and the Social Implications of A.I., at Winchester Thurston School.

At the Winchester Thurston School, a K-12 independent school in Pittsburgh, high school students are immersed in a course in Machine Learning. The course is a cross-discipline look at the impact of Machine Learning, one of the essential elements of Artificial Intelligence, on society and students’ lives. The topics that the course investigates are not limited, however, to the high school. Students throughout the K-12 program investigate the impact of AI/Machine Learning on their lives. This investigation culminates in a course with an original research project which is overseen by Naragon and Nassar. According to David Nassar who has been working on the course for four years with Michael Naragon:

“We have had students create full-scale research projects exploring how A.I. is used for facial recognition, classification of words used in presidential speeches, classification of hate speech in tweets, making medical diagnoses, and even predicting lifespans. We have had larger discussions on the use of A.I. and machine learning in the criminal justice system, the self-driving car industry, and in advertising. There are so many uses to A.I. and Machine Learning, and each year we seek to find novel ways to let our students explore them.”

Summary:

Artificial Intelligence has gained quite a bit of media coverage, but what we really want is for students, parents, and teachers to understand the role and responsible use for all digital technologies. As Bambi Brewer explains, “ The goal isn’t for advanced CS students to learn how to create the algorithms (even though that is interesting too), it is for anyone to be able to understand what AI is, and what programs that use it can and can’t do well.”

Emma Hance, the program manager and strategic planning specialist for the Readiness Institute states: AI and algorithms are shaped by the individuals who create them, so if we truly want to move toward a more equitable future, we need to have a diverse group of individuals involved at every step in the development process.

Remaking Learning: Hampton School District

Each spring Remake Learning, a regional organization that brings together K-12 education, out-of-school providers, higher education, and community partners, sponsors a series of activities around the Pittsburgh region that showcases kids at play and learning. This year Remake Learning sponsored 175 in-person and virtual events in the Pittsburgh region between May 12-23, 2022. I had a chance to visit the Hampton School District in the northern suburbs of Pittsburgh to see Remake Learning in action.

The tour group started at one of Hampton’s elementary buildings, Central Elementary School. We waited in what the school calls the living room. It’s wonderful to see how schools have placed comfortable furniture in the lobby of buildings to reduce any tension for parents or visitors. Once the group was in place, the building principal, Amy Kern, shared the agenda for our visit.

The artwork behind Amy came from a project with the schools’ first artist in residence. The artist-in-residence worked with teachers and kids on the project. It’s a great example of infusing the arts into the curriculum. The art piece really is the welcoming showcase for the building.

Central Elementary transformed two courtyard areas into incredible learning spaces. Amy Kern and one of her staff members gave a short slide presentation to show how the space became transformed and who were the key players. Hampton has a very strong educational organization that works with local businesses and corporations to raise money. The school also found funding from local foundations and businesses. Today the result is a Nature and Sensory Garden and an Outdoor Learning Lab where just an outdoor garden had been until last year. Hampton tapped into its students, faculty and staff to design the spaces. They also enlisted the assistance of two local businesses who provided the technical support for the construction – Blue Fox Landscape and Lady Fox. The spaces were designed to provide hands-on, project-based, outdoor learning spaces aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards.

It was wonderful to see the kids engaged in a variety of hands-on activities. The young lady on the left is an “Ambassador.” She not only takes people on tours of the garden, but she has been part of the outreach to younger students. The kids on the right are working on a series of STEM (engineering) challenges. The students have to assemble these large building blocks into operational structures working with a team of fellow students.

From Central we jumped back into our vehicles and drove down the road to the Middle School. The Middle School principal, a former math teacher, was challenged by the superintendent to rethink a courtyard area that housed a collection of stuffed animals. The space had no real learning purpose. She reached out to her staff and students and they came up with a design for a Learning Pavilion. She enlisted the help of the Children’s Museum and Carnegie Mellon University’s Entertainment Technology Center. The Learning Pavilion serves the needs of all teachers and students. It’s a modular construction that provides for a variety of group activities. Teachers bring their own manipulatives to the pavilion and then divide their class into working teams. In a future phase a student team will build a hydroponics station where they’ll grow basil that they’ll give to the Pittsburgh Food Bank. The space also incorporates an interactive, augmented reality environment using CMU’s ARCADE system to position the animations, build interactive narratives, or layer content to the real-world environment.

I actually forgot to share our first stop at the middle school. We went into the library where high school students from the AP Research class were available to share their work along with a team of AP Computer Science students who had created Edtech solutions. I had several wonderful conversations with students who did research on topics like Critical Race Theory in Schools and physical training ways to improve the lives of people with Parkinson’s. Each student was incredibly articulate and were well prepared. The Computer Science guys (yes there were no girls) tackled software issues, like the tutoring program at the high school, and a virtual reality setup for weight lifting without the weights.

After lunch we had a chance to visit a variety of classrooms that included a Robotics Studio, Innovation Studio, Print Studio, TV Studio, and the Learning Pavilion. Each space showcased Hampton’s desire for collaborative, interactive, project-based learning. Teachers deploy Human-Centered Design activities to engage students in brainstorming ideas as well as concept building. The furniture allows students to write on the table surfaces so they can creatively share their ideas. Students tap into traditional arts, such as printing, as well as technological tools such as 3-D printers, Hummingbirds, Finch, Sphero, Cosmos and other robotic tools.

My visit to the Hampton School District demonstrated several key points:

Technology is not the solution. It’s a tool that enables and accelerates learning opportunities ;

Effective learning solutions require partnerships with community, parent, and school groups and organizations;
Higher education can play a key role bringing and supporting emerging technologies, such as AR or VR;
Ultimately it’s about the kids. They are not just the audience. They are the creators and evaluators.

The Teachings of Mister Rogers – Part 2

In Part 1 of “The Teachings of Mister Rogers” (https://nlg-consulting.net/2021/11/22/the-teachings-of-mister-rogers-part-1/) we looked at the chapters from Gregg Behr and Ryan Rydzewski’s book, When You Wonder, You’re Learning on Curiosity, Creativity, and Collaborating and the guest experts who joined my Carnegie Mellon Osher class to talk about Fred Rogers as a Learning Scientist. In this post we’ll look at the chapters and class sessions that address Communicating, Learning and Growing, and Connecting.(http://whenyouwonder.org)

Communicating with Bill Isler

Each chapter in the book is filled with great stories about Fred Rogers, examples of episodes and songs that illuminate the theme, contemporary research, and contemporary examples in Pittsburgh of people and projects that manifest the theme today. I was quite fortunate to connect with Bill Isler for my Osher class to share his insights into Fred Rogers as a masterful communicator. Bill served as the CEO of Family Communications, the company that produced the Mister Rogers Neighborhood. He also became the first Executive Director for the Fred Rogers Center, a non-profit that promotes the work of Fred Rogers and contains the archives for much of Fred Roger’s work.

Before I introduce my guest each week I outline some of the themes from the book, When You Wonder, You’re Learning. Deep Listening and Loving Speech were two elements that were part of Fred Roger’s communications approach. According to a quotation from Thich Nhat Hanh in the book:

“When we listen to someone with the intention of helping that person suffer less, that is Deep Listening. When we listen with compassion, we don’t get caught in judgement.”

Bill Isler related a story in the book about Fred Rogers and how he listened and expressed his love with children as well as adults. “When he talked to children, he was always down on one knee. He always got down to eye level….” Fred never wanted to have kids or adults feel that they were inferior to him. He wanted everyone in his audience to feel loved. Moreover, Fred wanted his audience to know that he listened to them. This carried over to letters he received. He literally sent a personal reply to every person who wrote to him. In at least one situation he used a question from a parent’s letter to create a story episode. According to Bill a parent sent a letter and asked Fred for help toilet training her son. Fred used the opportunity to demonstrate on the TV show what toilet training meant and tackled the issue straight-on.

As part of his approach Fred Roger felt it was critical to talk about our feelings in an honest and direct way. Fred always said, “When we talk about our feelings, they become less overwhelming, less upsetting, less scary.”

One of the best examples of a contemporary example of Fred’s style of communications is found in the Reel Teens project in Pittsburgh. In this project high school students create videos that demonstrate Fred’s “Loving Speech” approach. They show empathy and concern for their subjects. They communicate well since they have a Purpose, just as every documentary that Fred created had a special reason behind it. In Chapter 3, Gregg and Ryan share the Reel Teens story about Kung Fu Joe, a local Pittsburgh character who would have likely made his way to Mister Rogers Neighborhood. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLdrzBouUb8&feature=youtu.be)

Bill explained that Fred was a “grateful receiver.” He had an amazing interest in listening to people’s stories. Moreover, he used his personal stories and experiences to create the tales and themes for Mister Rogers Neighborhood. It was never about “I.” Fred was always about “our” or “us” or we.”

One of most memorable moments on the Mister Rogers Neighborhood occurred when Jeff Erlanger, a young boy in a wheelchair, joined Fred for the song, “I Love You.” Bill Isler brought the story up-to-date telling the Osher class about a surprise visit by Jeff at the ceremony when Fred was inducted into the TV Hall of Fame. Fred, just as he always did, knelled down and just shared his love for Jeff after more than 25 years apart. The moment brought tears to people. It was just how Fred acted on stage or in real life. He shared his love for people through everything thing he communicated.

Bill also shared stories about the production of the documentary and the Tom Hanks film, “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.” Fred was leery about anyone making a movie about him. Bill made sure that the documentary and feature length films were of high quality. In the case of the Tom Hanks film Bill related how Fred turned a project that was supposed to be just an article by Tom Junod into a major magazine cover story and subsequent film. Along the way Fred used his amazing communications talent to turn Tom Junod into a believer in the Mister Roger’s mystique. (https://time.com/5733017/a-beautiful-day-in-the-neighborhood-true-story/)

Learning and Growing with Gregg Behr and Ryan Rydzewski

While I had originally hoped to have Gregg and Ryan join me for Week 1 of my Osher class, it turned out quite well to have them join for Week 5. They used the opportunity to address questions about the origin of the book and reviewed some of the highlights in the previous chapters that were highlighted by my previous guest experts.

I started my mini-lecture by using the Driving Question that was the underlying element in When You Wonder, You’re Learning: In what ways were the teachings of Fred Rogers rooted in Learning Science?

Gregg and Ryan in their book highlight the importance of Striving for Fred Rogers. According to Fred, “Life is marked by failures and setbacks and slip ups as much as hard-won satisfactions…. We need to let Children understand that for us , as for them, life is made of striving more than attaining.” It’s not the final product that is often most important. It’s the process, the steps getting there. It’s not just being persistent, but learning from mistakes and failures.

According to Chapter 5 we need to avoid Toxic Anxiety, “If we want kids to stick with something, experts say, we need to take a different approach from the beginning – one that reduces anxiety.” I brought up the findings from Learning Science around Mastery Learning. We want our learners to demonstrate a pattern of success. That doesn’t mean necessarily 100% or even 90%. Sometimes we might make a mistake three times in a row and then “get it.” We demonstrate success two, three, maybe four times. We’ve mastered a concept or skill, but if we used an average we have failed.

Right in line with Fred’s Teachings is the work of Carol Dweck on Growth and Fixed Mindsets. (https://fs.blog/carol-dweck-mindset/) According to Carol Dweck, “Although people may differ… – in their initial talents and aptitudes, interests, or temperaments – everyone can grow and change through application and experience.”

In Chapter 5 Gregg and Ryan highlight the song, “You’ve Got to Do It” where Fred sings, “It’s not easy to keep trying, but it’s the one way to grow. You’ve got to just do it. ” Here is a great example of Striving in order to Learn and Grow.

One of the great local examples of how Fred Roger’s Teachings carry on today is through Remake Learning Days. (https://remakelearningdays.org/) Gregg explained how this annual spring celebration now “billed as ‘the world’s largest open house for the future of teaching and learning” began. At first the Remake Learning Days was an effort in Allegheny County by schools, museums, libraries, after-school programs, and other learning places to showcase what kids could do with technology. Year by year the program grew and today every county in the state of Pennsylvania participates and kids, parents and community members from nineteen other states will join in the celebration of Learning and Growing from May 12-23, 2022.

While I could share my own personal stories, my guests really bring to light their personal connections to Fred Roger’s teachings. Ryan talked about his grandmother and a 1940s photo. His grandmother was the youngest of ten children and her mother did not speak English. She dreamed of becoming a hairdresser. One day she came to school wearing curls she had put in place. The teacher sent a note, “Get a look at Shirley Temple.” This created such anxiety for his grandmother that she never pursued her dream. Ryan’s story demonstrated a Fred Rogers approach where you need to share feelings in an honest and direct in order to learn and grow.

Gregg honed in on Mindsets by telling a story about his soccer coaching experience with his two daughters. He focused on winning and when the team lost their first two games he had to reset his mindset and think about what was needed in practice and the games so the girls enjoyed playing, not just winning. By taking on a Growth Mindset approach he made the game more fun and soon the team was on a winning streak.

Connecting with Larry Berger

For the final class I invited Larry Berger who started his broadcast career at the age of 17 and then at the age of 50 left an environmental engineering position to pursue full-time his passion working with young people and start SLB Productions, a 501c3 company. SLB Productions has gained local and international honors for its innovative approach working with young people using radio production and oral history. (https://slbradio.org/)

Larry and I agreed to focus on “Neighborhoods” for his session. Beginning with the Class Starter I had people think about what neighborhoods meant to them. I used an image of Sampsonia Way on the North Side of Pittsburgh to initiate the Chat Room conversation. People talked about physical elements like buildings as well as psychological needs and most importantly, people. I brought up how this alleyway has become a home for writers, poets, and other artists who come to Pittsburgh through the City of Asylum project. This was a great way to kick off the conversation about the Teachings of Fred Rogers for our last class.

For this class our Driving Question was: In what ways have the teachings of Fred Rogers addressed the needs of neighborhoods? Again Larry and I wanted the Osher class to think about “Connecting” through the Neighborhood lens.

In When You Wonder, You’re Learning there were a number of learning research projects that were highlighted that address the issue of Belonging and Feeling Connected: Spitz research with orphans and Harry Harlow’s research with rhesus monkeys. I also brought back into the conversation one of the key research projects that Gregg Behr and Ryan Rydzewski had highlighted in the previous week conducted by the University of Washington. Here’s a key finding from that research that was highlighted in the book: “Those parents and teachers who had been taught to build stronger relationships outperformed their peers on every measure of well being…”

In every Mister Rogers show, Fred Rogers used his puppets to address feelings. In this case it was feeling not connected or excluded. King Friday plays the role of Fred’s alter ego. He declares, “When I was a young prince, I was not very fine at playing games. So when it came time for people to choose their teams, nobody ever…[selected me].”

To introduce Larry and his work I focused on the theme of Empathy. In When You Wonder, You’re Learning, there’s a wonderful quotation from Larry as he talks about the students in his Youth Express project, “”By the time they put a finished product together, they’re thinking about their projects in ways they never had before. They’re full of so much empathy.”

Larry highlighted how all of his work with kids is built around three key principles that go directly back to Fred Rogers:

Creating Safe Spaces
Working with Trusted Adults
Providing Opportunities to Grow

Larry shared an examples of of Youth Express projects for a local Pittsburgh High School and elementary programs. The process takes time. At first it’s very difficult for both the teachers and the kids, but by using the three principles everyone is successful. In the elementary example Larry and his SLB team were invited to work with 2nd grade teachers around the standard for Persuasive Writing. Larry stepped the class through a series of writing assignments and prompts that kept building on successful communication. In the first stage the young writers wrote a “Mini Bio.” They learned how to record their voices as they read their short personal tales. They moved along a series of steps that led to a Town hall meeting where they connected with their peers. At the final stage each learner had to create a Persuasive Editorial on a subject of personal interest. The process demonstrated the Teachings of Fred Rogers as a contemporary learning activity designed around Psychological Safety, Trusting Relationships, and Personal Growth.

Larry then added another element of research that he incorporates into his programs – Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. SLB Productions make sure that every dimension starting with Physiological needs (nutritious snacks and drinks) to Self Actualization (a final project with true agency expressed) is part of the process.

After sharing additional examples of successful student projects, Larry and I used the Zoom Breakout Rooms to put the class members into virtual neighborhoods where they used a “Quick Story” prompt about childhood memories to have a discussion with their peers. The Osher students loved the opportunity to share their personal stories. Sometimes one person’s story elicited ideas that the student had not thought about before. It was a great way to demonstrate the power of Connecting. As one Osher student shared in the post-course survey, “The activity in the breakout rooms was excellent.”

As we wrapped up the final session Larry shared one last student project that demonstrates how Fred Rogers’s Teachings are still alive today.

Final Thoughts

Even though I was already a teacher by the time Mister Rogers Neighborhood came on the air, I always felt that there was a part of me that belonged in that neighborhood. My Osher students left their impressions in a final survey of the class. Here a few of their thoughts:

What You Learned: “I learned about all of the things that are being done in Pittsburgh to foster creativity. I learned about the background of how Fred Rogers became Mr. Rogers. I learned that it is easier to be a better person by simply changing the mindset. I learned the importance of acknowledging children’s thoughts and feelings and allowing them to share in a safe environment.”

How you now Connect to the teachings of Fred Rogers: “At this time for sure, the need for his particular type of kindness, listening, wisdom really strikes a chord. I wish I had this course earlier in my life, as a Mother of 4 and a speech therapist – his quiet, calm, voice and slow cadence now make so much more sense to me now than it did when my young children watched the show …trying now to remind myself to model some of this with adults as well as children in my life now…”

What You’ll Do with What You Learned: “Share with others the resources mentioned throughout the course. Buy the book for a couple of people in my family circle.”