Silver Lining for Learning

Some middle school students today can explain how self-driving cars see the world and how ChatGPT knows the meanings of words. We’ll talk with the people behind AI4K12.org and the AI4MiddleSchools.org  curriculum that teaches students how AI works.David Touretzky and Christina Gardner-McCune are among the researchers first formalizing K-12 AI Education as a field of research and practice. What began in 2018 as a question about what K-12 students should know about AI led to organizing the AI4K12 Working Group, composed of K-12 computing teachers, university researchers, industry representatives, and tool developers. AI4K12.org is shaping the fabric of AI Education nationally and internationally. Dave and Christina are now leading a mutli-institutional partnership, AI4MiddleSchools.org,  spanning 8 states and counting, to teach middle school teachers and students how AI works. They are joined by Christi Scarborough, a middle school CTAE (Career, Technical, & Agricultural Education) teacher from Georgia, who began her AI journey as a science teacher in the AI4GA.org research practitioner partnership project, the forerunner of AI4MiddleSchools, funded by NSF. Christi is now leading her school district’s effort to infuse AI across the curriculum, developing AI curriculum, and coaching and teaching new middle school teacher leaders and teachers in the AI4MiddleSchools.org project. Why should middle school kids learn about AI? AI is the new electricity. It powers much of modern technology, so educated adults need to understand how it works. In 2018, the AI4K12 Working Group formulated the Five Big Ideas in AI to make AI understandable to K-12 teachers and students. The Five Big Ideas and their grade band progression charts help people understand where AI shows up in their everyday lives, and the concepts that underlie it. Take for example a robo-taxi. Through exploring Big Idea 1, Perception, students learn about the devices a self-driving car uses to sense the world around it, and grapple with the difference between sensing and perception.  (Perception is the extraction of meaning from raw sensory data, and requires AI.)Big idea 2, Representation and Reasoning, explores how computers represent knowledge as data, and how they use algorithms to operate on that data to solve reasoning problems. A self-driving car, for example, represents the world using a map, and employs search algorithms to reason about the route it will take. Another Big Idea 2 example is how the meanings of words are represented using large lists of numbers called “embeddings” which are created by machine learning algorithms. Neural networks such as ChatGPT use these embeddings for reasoning.How do we teach K-12 students about concepts that until eight years ago were discussed mainly in graduate-level university courses? We find ways to simplify the concepts and connect them to students’ everyday encounters with AI. Reading & ResourcesAI4K12.org - Artificial Intelligence for K-12 (AI4K12) Initiative. Introduces the Five Big Ideas in AI, and national guidelines for teaching AI across four K-12 grade bands. Includes a curated a AI resource directory.AI4GA.org - Artificial Intelligence for Georgia Project - NSF-funded Middle School AI Curriculum and Teacher Professional Development Project.AI4MiddleSchools.org - A multi-state AI teacher capacity building project focused on equipping teachers, schools, and district leaders to teach AI in every middle school and support teachers in a multi-year professional learning community.  The project is building infrastructure to scale through state, regional, and non-profit partnerships.   Dr. David S. Touretzky is a Research Professor of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His current research focus is K-12 AI and robotics education. After founding  AI4K12.org in 2018, Touretzky and his colleagues introduced the Five Big Ideas in AI and developed national guidelines for what children should know about AI and what they should be able to do with it. He and his students have created numerous online learning resources such as Neuron Sandbox, Diffusion Demo, and Word Embedding Demo that promote hands-on experimentation and learning about AI. Touretzky was named a Distinguished Scientist by the Association for Computing Machinery, a Senior Member of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 2022 he shared the AAAI/EAAI Outstanding Educator of the Year award with the three other members of the AI4K12.org Steering Committee.Contact: [email protected] media: #CMUCSD @CSDatCMUWeb: https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst  Dr. Christina Gardner-McCune, University of Florida, Associate Professor Computer ScienceDr. Christina Gardner‑McCune is a trailblazer in K–12 AI education and an Associate Professor of Computer Science at the University of Florida’s Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering. She is a co‑founder and co‑chair of the AI for K–12 Initiative (AI4K12.org), where she co‑led the development of the Five Big Ideas in AI and the national AI guidelines that help students understand, evaluate, and create artificial intelligence technologies. These resources are now shaping AI curricula, standards, and learning pathways around the world.Christina is deeply committed to building AI teacher and student capacity through her AI for Georgia (AI4GA) and AI for Middle Schools scale‑up projects. Working alongside educators, she and her team have co‑developed a middle school AI curriculum and equipped more than 200 teachers and 9,300 students with the foundational skills needed to become AI‑enabled professionals.Dr. Gardner-McCune was recognized as a 2023 CSTA Hero and 2022 AAAI/EAAI Outstanding Educator (shared with the AI4K12 Steering Committee) — honors that celebrate her relentless commitment to inspiring the next generation of AI and computing professionals. Christina isn’t just preparing students and teachers for the future—she’s helping them shape it.Dr. Gardner‑McCune holds a PhD and MS in Computer Science from Georgia Tech and a BS in Computer Engineering from Syracuse University.Contact: [email protected] Media: Instagram - UF CISE Department - @uf_ciseLinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/christina-gardner-mccune/https://www.linkedin.com/school/uf-herbert-wertheim-college-of-engineering/posts/X -  https://x.com/Dr_GMcCune Christi Scarborough, Career, Technical, & Agricultural Education Teacher & Robotics Coach, Veterans Memorial Middle School Christi is a veteran educator with 24 years of classroom experience and currently teaches Computer Science—with a focus on artificial intelligence—to middle school students in the Muscogee County School District in Georgia. Before moving into computer science, she taught science, math, English language arts, and social studies, giving her a uniquely interdisciplinary perspective on how AI can enrich learning across subjects. Although this is her first year formally teaching computer science, Christi has spent the past three years integrating AI concepts into her science curriculum, helping students learn how AI works. Beyond her classroom, Christi coaches teachers and plays an active role in building AI teacher capacity across the country through the AI4MiddleSchools project. She supports educators as they learn to integrate AI into their instruction. She is helping her districts prepare for emerging AI‑focused coursework. Christi is deeply committed to expanding AI education in Georgia and is working toward the adoption of statewide middle school AI standards. She was teacher of a 2025 Teacher of the Year for Muscogee County and a coach of multiple award‑winning FLL and FTC Robotics teams. In 2026, Veterans Memorial had the highest rated FTC Robotics Team for middle schools. Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org

As AI becomes increasingly powerful, concerns are growing about how best to prepare students to think for themselves in an AI-mediated world. How do we help them become thinking, feeling, flourishing, and responsible citizens? How do we equip them for life’s quandaries without telling them what to think or do?This episode will feature Quandary team members who have been thinking about, working on and researching these questions for more than a decade. Quandary, an award-winning, free online game and app played more than 2.5 million times, has been proven through independent research to cultivate important ethical decision-making skills, such as fact vs. opinion discernment, perspective-taking, reflection, and concern for others. The game, set on the fictional planet Braxos, is built around ethical dilemmas with no one right answer. Recently, thanks to a Tools Competition EdTech prize, the team built and researched three game innovations designed for the AI age: a new episode focused on AI ethics; an Episode Builder to create your own dilemmas, characters and setting; and an in-game AI chatbot, designed to deepen reflection and learning. The Silver Lining for Learning conversation will focus on the team’s learnings and questions about preparing students for an even more complex world.Readings and Resources: Quandary websiteQuandary overviewEpisode GuestsLacey J. Hilliard, PhDLacey Hilliard is a developmental scientist and an associate professor in the Psychology Department at Suffolk University in Boston, MA. She studies how children learn about identity, fairness, and social issues. Her research focuses on how families, schools, and media shape children’s understanding of social groups, and how adults can better support children’s positive development. She also collaborates with educators, schools, and community organizations to create and evaluate educational media and tools to help children and adolescents navigate social challenges and ethical questions. She has worked as a researcher with the Quandary team on multiple projects, evaluating student learning and growth alongside game experience in middle schoolers, creating and evaluating supplemental materials for educators, and, recently, learning how newly developed Quandary innovations can foster ethical decision-making in high schoolers. Her work has been published in Child Development, Research in Human Development, Applied Developmental Science, and Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences.Shelly J. LondonShelly London, Quandary founder, is a retired senior corporate executive and foundation president emeritus, as well as an adjunct professor at NYU’s Stern School of Business since 2008, teaching ethics-related courses. She conceived of the idea for Quandary while a fellow in the 2009 inaugural cohort of Harvard University’s Advanced Leadership Initiative.  She has spearheaded the creation of award-winning social impact initiatives that have been proven effective and supported millions, including The Family Dinner Project.org and the Webby-winning Understood.org, a comprehensive digital resource for parents of children with learning and thinking differences. In 2019, she received the Senator Robert Dole Humanitarian Award for service to people with disabilities. She serves on the advisory board of Making Caring Common at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education and on the board of trustees of the American Ballet Theatre, America’s National Ballet Company®.Scot OsterweilScot Osterweil is a research scientist in the MIT Comparative Media Studies Program, and a Creative Consultant to the MIT Education Arcade and the MIT Game Lab. He has designed games in both academic and commercial environments.  Designs include the acclaimed Zoombinis series (math and logic), Vanished: The MIT/Smithsonian Game (environmental science), Labyrinth (math), Kids Survey Network (data and statistics), Caduceus (medicine), and iCue (history).  He is a founder, President, and Creative Director of Learning Games Network (www.learninggamesnetwork.org) where he led the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s Language Learning Initiative (ESL), and where he designed Quandary, named Game of the Year at the 2013 Games for Change festival. He co-authored the book Resonant Games (MIT Press) and served as the play consultant on the Emmy Award winning Amazon TV series Tumbleleaf.   Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org

Beth Zemble, ValuesLab’s literary scholar and curriculum designer, and Ariadna Trapote, its CEO and education innovator, explore what children need beyond knowledge in an AI-shaped world. They discuss stories as moral practice, universal values across cultures, respectful disagreement, ethical decision-making, and how ValuesLab uses technology to help children build character through reflection and repeated choices.

When conflict, displacement, economic challenges, and climate shocks disrupt schooling, maintaining opportunities to learn becomes both urgent and extraordinarily difficult. Technology can help connect learners with teachers, resources, and one another. But what does it take for these approaches to work when electricity is unreliable, connectivity is limited, and communities face ongoing insecurity? Who gains access, and who risks being left further behind?In this episode of Silver Lining for Learning, we discuss the recent report Tech-Enabled Alternative Education for Out-of-School Children and Youth (OOSCY): Evidence from Southeast Asia, alongside our guest's ongoing work on educational technology (EdTech) for Education in Emergencies (EiE). The conversation explores how technology can support alternative pathways to learning, what teachers and learners need to use it meaningfully, and how approaches must adapt across diverse crisis contexts. We’ll consider practical challenges involving infrastructure, language, safety, and teacher support alongside deeper questions about equity and sustainability. How can governments and their partners connect immediate responses with stronger education systems? And how can evidence guide investments that expand access to quality, inclusive learning for those hardest to reach? Watch or listen to this episode and find out.Resources:Tech-Enabled Alternative Education for Out-of-School Children and Youth (OOSCY): Evidence from Southeast Asia. Andrew Swindell and Kate Radford. 2026.EdTech for Education in Emergencies: A Guidance Document for Education Specialists. Kate Radford, Andrea Jetten, Sharanya Ramesh Vasudevan, Amal Hayat, Aime Parfait Emerusenge, Asma Rabi, Laila Friese, and Haani Mazari. 2026.Curated Resource List: Using EdTech in Crisis-Affected Settings . Jennie Taylor and Andrew Swindell. 2026.Citations:***Swindell, A., & Radford, K. (2026). Tech-Enabled Alternative Education for Out-of-School Children and Youth (OOSCY): Evidence from Southeast Asia. EdTech Hub. https://doi.org/10.53832/edtechhub.1191. Available at https://docs.edtechhub.org/lib/63QAD5XV.Radford, K., Jetten, A., Ramesh Vasudevan, S., Hayat, A., Emerusenge, A. P., Rabi, A., Friese, L., & Mazari, H. (2026). EdTech for Education in Emergencies: A Guidance Document for Education Specialists. EdTech Hub. https://doi.org/10.53832/edtechhub.1161. Available at https://docs.edtechhub.org/lib/T22ZEING.Taylor, J., & Swindell, A. (2026). Curated Resource List: Using EdTech in Crisis-Affected Settings. EdTech Hub. https://doi.org/10.53832/edtechhub.1226. Available at https://docs.edtechhub.org/lib/9Z7JTIFN.Episode #279 Guests:Kate Radford has 20+ years of experience in education, technology, and international development. Since 2010, she has specialised in scaling multi-stakeholder innovations to tackle the global learning crisis. At EdTech Hub (see https://edtechhub.org/our-team/), she supports ministries of education and education in emergencies actors develop and evaluate tech-enabled education programmes. She previously founded Can't Wait to Learn, an award-winning EdTech program for children affected by conflict, and has private sector technology and manufacturing experience. Kate has a BA in Germanic Studies and European Politics and a master's degree in developmental studies both from the University of Melbourne. She can be contacted at: [email protected] and at LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kate-radford-9336a1b3/.Andrew Swindell is a Specialist at EdTech Hub (see https://edtechhub.org/our-team/), providing senior-level policy, research, and technical guidance to Ministries of Education and non-governmental partners on technology-enabled learning systems. In this role, he has led multi-country research examining how EdTech can improve outcomes for out-of-school children and youth (OOSCY) across Southeast Asia, and national secondary-level AI curriculum design research for the GPE Tech4Ed initiative in Tajikistan. Andrew holds a PhD in Social Science and Comparative Education from UCLA and has worked in both online and in-person settings across the USA, Bangladesh, Liberia, Thailand, and Myanmar, specializing in emergency and forced migration contexts. He has published on topics like AI, digital literacy, education in emergencies, and curriculum studies in both popular and academic outlets, demonstrating an ability to convey rigorous evidence-based findings and complex ideas in varied formats for different audiences.  He previously taught K-12 in Thailand and Myanmar, and held roles with the U.S. Department of State, UNESCO, and the PAL Network. He can be contacted at [email protected] and at LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/swindellandrew/. Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=W9EAKiYAAAAJ&hl=en Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org

Giselle Byrnes, Massey University’s Provost and a historian of higher education, joins Mark Nichols, an open-learning leader and ICDE president. They explore the Tākina Accord’s vision for inclusive, scalable education, from Indigenous knowledge and lifelong learning to student voice, digital access, quality assurance, and responsible AI. They also examine how policy can support flexible models and meaningful success at giga-scale.

Conversation about the EU Article 50 watermarking mandate and what machine-readable markings mean for detection and transparency. Debate over whether watermarking solves or worsens academic integrity dilemmas. Discussion of credit, authorship, and whether AI can be treated as a co-author. Practical concerns about industry motives, deepfakes, and shifting assessments toward process and authenticity.

Stuart Grauer, founder of The Grauer School and Small Schools Coalition, Clint Davis, creator of Discovery Prep, and Baran Yosef, founder of a humanistic alternative school, discuss the rise of intentionally small, place-based schools. They explore relationship-centered learning, expeditionary project-based approaches, entrepreneurial school design, and how technology can free time for deeper human work.

AI in education seems to be taking center stage in every educational sector and across all age groups and environments. It is increasingly clear that rural schools and the teachers and students within them need a voice related to AI policy, practices, and implementation strategies. In response, FullScale recently conducted a national field scan as part of its Rural AI Strategy Lab to better understand how rural schools and districts approach AI. In fact, there is a new report from FullScale, AI in Rural Schools: What We’re Seeing in Practice. In this episode of Silver Lining for Learning (SLL), we will hear from two partners at FullScale about this report as well as two district leaders who were also involved. Listen to or watch this episode and learn about the scope and intent of the report as well as the key findings and potential future directions. You will also find out what AI adoption means in terms of instructional changes that are taking place today in rural schools in America as well as the coherence, constraints, and different trajectories of AI adoption. Finally, the show will reveal the current role of the "Rural AI Strategy Lab" and what might be on the horizon in the next couple of years. Do not miss this session. Rural AI Strategy Lab “Generative AI is rapidly reshaping conversations across education, with leaders exploring how this technology can expand access, strengthen instruction, and support student learning. Yet rural perspectives—representing more than 40% of U.S. districts—are often less visible in these conversations.” Report: Ham, M., Holland, B., & FullScale Team. (2026). AI in rural schools: What we’re seeing in practice. FullScale. Dr. Megan Benay  Bio: Dr. Megan Benay is a Partner on the Practice and Implementation team at FullScale, where she builds learning networks and field partnerships that turn research into practical tools, including the Rural AI Strategy Lab. Earlier in her career, Megan served as a Program Analyst at the Carnegie Corporation of New York, as Senior National Director of Data & Research and National Director of Inclusive Education at the Great Oaks Foundation, as an education consultant partnering with state education agencies on literacy reform, and as a special education teacher in New York City Public Schools. Her work spans network strategy, data systems, inclusive education, and AI integration in K-12 schools. She holds an EdD in Entrepreneurial Leadership in Education from Johns Hopkins University. Michael Ham Bio: Michael Ham is Partner for Research & Policy at FullScale, where he leads national initiatives focused on school redesign, educational innovation, and system transformation. His work helps states and districts create the conditions for locally responsive models of teaching and learning through research, policy, and implementation support. He has led major initiatives with the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA), and state education agencies nationwide. A former middle school math teacher, Michael brings experience spanning classroom practice, education policy, and systems design. Jessica Gillespie Bio: Jessica Gillespie is the Director of Instructional Improvement–Innovation at Griswold Public Schools. As an ISTE certified EdTech leader, she collaborates with teachers across disciplines in grades K-12 to integrate technology and artificial intelligence in ways that center student learning and engagement. Currently, Jessica’s professional responsibilities include leading curriculum development; new teacher support and mentor training; supporting instruction, assessment, and multi-tiered systems of support; and providing professional learning. In addition to being a former Griswold Public Schools Teacher of the Year, Jessica is also a Modern Classrooms Project Distinguished Educator and Expert Mentor, a Google and SchoolAI certified educator, and CT Impact Educator for her work on blended learning. Jessica is passionate about making teaching more sustainable and about empowering learners through inclusive and authentic experiences. Jason Bell Jason Bell serves as Secondary Supervisor for Polk County Schools in southeast Tennessee, leading instructional innovation, postsecondary readiness, and leadership development. A passionate advocate for rural education, he helps schools leverage emerging technologies to expand opportunities for students and mentors school leaders through the district's teacher leadership program. Jason is a former President and Board member of the National Rural Education Association (NREA). He chairs the NREA Teacher of the Year Committee and serves on the Tennessee Rural Education Association Board of Directors. His work spans artificial intelligence, instructional leadership, workforce readiness, and rural school improvement, with a focus on building sustainable systems in resource-limited districts. Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org

Hosts Reflect with Chris Dede, Yong Zhao, Curt Bonk, Lydia Cao & Punya Mishra Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org

Explore how shifting the role of students from passive beneficiaries to active agents of change is transforming Peru’s educational landscape through a vibrant, self-sustaining ecosystem of over 6,000 young leaders. In a world often focused on individual achievement and competitive rankings, a new paradigm is emerging from Peru: one rooted in solidarity, intergenerational leadership, and “social movement learning.” This episode dives into the journey of moving beyond traditional school boundaries to create an ecosystem where adolescents (ages 13–17) lead initiatives ranging from mental health advocacy and financial education to STEM and public policy. By treating youth not as “tokens” but as legitimate stewards of their communities, this movement has seen 60% of its participants remain active agents of change years later and then become adult allies for the next generations. We discuss the unique challenges of supporting these leaders as they transition into adulthood and how the educational system can adapt to nurture human flourishing. This isn’t just about “student voice”—it’s about a loosely interconnected infrastructure of +300 youth organizations reimagining citizenship for the next decades. About our guests: Astrid Albujar Astrid Albujar’s mission is to aid Latin American development by ensuring all students receive quality education and leadership training so they can drive change in their lives and their communities. She is an Enseña Peru alumna, and has since collaborated with them on research and consulting for leadership programs. She also works with the Latin American Leadership Academy on its leadership bootcamps and is currently a University Programs Analyst at Abroad Peru, a Peruvian NGO that aims to reduce brain drain and reinsert talented Peruvians into key roles in Peru. She is currently pursuing the International and Public Affairs and Economics – Applied Mathematics degree at Brown University.  https://www.linkedin.com/in/astrid-albujar/ Fiorella Chuquihuanga Fiorella seeks to ensure that every person has equal opportunities to become the best version of themselves and, in this way, lead a flourishing life. She is an alumni of Enseña Perú (student leadership program – second cohort) and a third-year student of History and Cultural Management. She has led leadership campaigns in rural schools and is also a volunteer with T’ikary, a youth organization that combines ancestral knowledge and biodiversity, where she applies the knowledge and skills she has gained in her field of study. She is from Peru and is currently residing in Piura, Peru. Franco Mosso Cobián Franco stewards youth movements, so each young person becomes a changemaker without sacrificing their wellbeing or identity. He is a Harvard alumnus, and the co-founder and former CEO of Enseña Perú (2014–2024) from the Teach for All Network, where he co-founded a movement that has impacted thousands. Franco’s work emphasizes “stewardship” of informal and non-formal educational spaces where solidarity replaces competition, and purpose replaces prestige. As a doctoral student at the University of Toronto, he also researches how youth lead and reimagine activism, learning and politics. He is from Peru, currently residing in Toronto, Canada.  https://www.linkedin.com/in/franco-mosso-cobian/ Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org