Episode 23- Breaking the Shame Cycle: AI Literacy from Kindergarten to Graduation

Episode 23- Breaking the Shame Cycle: AI Literacy from Kindergarten to Graduation

Bob and Dr. Jessica White welcome three ACES professional learning specialists to the show: Nicole Beauchamp, Melissa Rosenthal, and Stacey Simpson. Together they pull back the curtain on what's actually happening with AI in Connecticut classrooms, and the answers might surprise you. Stacey shares findings from interviews with three students at different stages, from middle school to college. All three reported the same thing: their schools were banning AI outright, threatening zeros for anyone caught using it. Meanwhile, students like Stacey's daughter, who has dyslexia, are quietly teaching themselves to use AI as a learning partner. She breaks down word problems, parses confusing language, and accesses grade-level math without the shame that used to come with the struggle. The conversation digs into the hard questions. Is AI helping students reach deeper understanding, or just helping them survive an inflexible system? Where should educators protect productive struggle, and where should they remove barriers? Nicole offers a memorable comparison to the shift from horse-drawn carriages to cars. The infrastructure takes time to catch up, and right now education sits squarely in the messy middle. In this episode: Why students across grade levels keep hearing "don't use AI" and what that messaging costs them The shift in educator thinking from "how do we catch cheaters" to "how do we redesign assignments" Universal scaffolds: how AI supports both literacy and math learners, including multilingual students and kids with executive function challenges The CRAFT prompting method and why phased AI interactions beat one-shot answers A look inside the ACES K-12 AI literacy curriculum, including second graders learning prompting concepts without ever touching a device Middle school skills: verification, bias recognition, and understanding algorithms High school as the driver's seat: student agency, systems design, and vibe coding in the new AI Foundations course Practical first steps for teachers starting mid-stream, beginning with a simple class survey About our guests: Nicole Beauchamp is a professional learning specialist at ACES specializing in math, curriculum development, and building thinking classrooms. She has been in Education for 14 years- 12 as a high school math teacher at East Hartford High School in CT and 2 as an Instructional Coach in Bristol School District in CT. This is her first year as a Math Learning Specialist with ACES. Melissa Rosenthal is a professional learning specialist working closely with the ACES Center for AI. A former reading interventionist and coach, she has led AI workshops for educators and administrators across Connecticut, including a statewide monthly alliance for districts building AI policy and implementation teams. Stacey Simpson is a professional learning specialist with nearly 20 years of experience as a high school English teacher, reading interventionist, and instructional coach. She specializes in dyslexia identification and intervention. Connect with ACES and the Center for AI to learn more about AI literacy workshops, the K-12 curriculum, and professional development for your district. https://www.ACESpdsi.org

Episode 22- Teaching AI to Fourth Graders (and Letting Them Beat the Robot)-Megan Dacosta

Megan DaCosta teaches fourth grade math and science in Windsor, Connecticut. This is her first year bringing AI into the classroom in a real way, and she joined Bob and Jess to talk about what that looks like with 9 and 10-year-olds. Her district runs on paper and pencil at the intermediate level, on purpose. So Megan's challenge isn't more screen time. It's making the technology she does use count. She works with Magic School AI, building chatbot rooms and station activities her students move through while she stays close. The best moment of her year came from a mistake. A student practicing multi-digit multiplication got the wrong answer from a chatbot, and it argued with her. They solved the problem four different ways. When the student explained their reasoning, the chatbot backed down and admitted the student was right. The student still brings it up. They beat the robot, and the sudent knows it. That's the AI literacy lesson hiding inside a math problem. Don't accept the first answer. Question it. Prove it. In this episode: * Using AI as a thought partner instead of a replacement for teaching * Reaching 40-plus students a day without losing your read on each one * Designing lessons backward so every skill level gets what it needs * Teaching healthy skepticism without breeding cynicism * Why she wants students to keep their creativity, not flatten it

Episode 21- Why Banning AI Hurts the Students Who Need It Most With Dr. Nicole Danishevsky, Southern Connecticut State University

Dr. Nicole Danishevsky spent 27 years teaching middle school math and leading district-level curriculum work before stepping into higher education this year. Now an assistant professor at Southern Connecticut State University, she's preparing the next generation of teachers to walk into classrooms where AI is already part of the landscape. In this conversation with Bob Hutchins, Phd and Dr. Jessica White, Nicole talks about what she's seeing on both sides of the desk. As a parent of a high schooler and a college student, she's watched the early "sign this paper saying you didn't use AI" moment evolve into something more thoughtful. As a former district leader, she's lived through the messy work of getting policy, training, and culture to move at roughly the same speed. The discussion gets into something we keep coming back to on this show: ban culture creates mistrust and pushes students underground. It also widens equity gaps. The six hours a student spends in school may be the only time they have access to thoughtful guidance on how to use these tools well. Take that away, and you've handed the advantage to kids whose parents already pay for tutors. Nicole brings a math educator's lens to the question of AI as confidence builder, especially for girls in STEM. She makes the case for using AI to break concepts down, offer real-world entry points, and act as a kind of always-available study partner. Not a replacement for teachers. An extension. We also talk about onboarding new teachers, vertical scaffolding from kindergarten through high school, and what a truly AI-ready school system looks like from a leadership perspective.

Episode 20- From K-12 to Harvard: Bridging the AI Literacy Gap with Dr. Zahra Ahmed

In this episode, Bob and Jess sit down with Zahra Amed to explore the fluid boundary between K-12 education and the rigorous expectations of higher education in the age of generative AI. Zahra brings a unique perspective, having moved from school programs at children's museums to training faculty at Harvard. The conversation moves beyond the technical mechanics of AI. It focuses on the human elements that technology cannot replicate: social-emotional learning, restorative practices, and the "durable" skills of judgment and critique. She explains why we must treat AI as a "makerspace" for tinkering rather than a repository of answers, and how institutional "walled gardens" can help close the emerging digital divide. Key Discussion Points Metacognition and the Baseline Shift The entry point for college students is shifting. It is no longer enough to arrive with information; students must arrive with an awareness of their own thinking. The Metacognitive Question: Students should ask, "What is AI doing for me, and what am I still responsible for?" AI as a Thinking Coach: Moving from "Recall" to "Refine," using AI to fill gaps and expand on original thoughts rather than replacing them. Durable vs. Vulnerable Tasks How do we protect learning that requires human reasoning? Vulnerable Tasks: Processes or formulas that AI can automate without deeper understanding. Durable Tasks: Human judgment, transfer of knowledge, and original critique. The Shift in Assessment: Harvard faculty are beginning to grade how students explain and critique AI-generated ideas, rather than the raw output itself. The Digital Divide 2.0 Equity is no longer just about having a laptop; it's about the quality of the intelligence you can access. Premium vs. Free: The widening gap between students using advanced paid models and those on inferior versions. The Walled Garden: Harvard's "AI Sandbox," a secure internal platform that provides equitable access to faculty and students while maintaining data privacy. Upskilling through Modeling and "Play" Resistance to new technology often stems from a lack of practical exposure. The 7-Day Rule: Professional development only sticks if it is applied to a real task (like syllabus design) within a week. Live Tinkering: The most effective faculty workshops involve live modeling—demonstrating the "messy" process of prompting and refining in real-time.

Episode 19- Context, Presence, and the Messy Work of Learning with Dr. William Rice

Dr. William Rice steps into the Executive Director role at ACES this summer. His philosophy is clear: leadership is an embodied practice requiring physical presence and proximity. In this episode, we discuss protecting the human element of education as technology grows increasingly sophisticated. The Meaning of Models Drawing from his background as a chemical engineer, Dr. Rice views math as building models to understand the world, rather than procedural calculation. Machines handle the heavy computation now. If we simply reward students for playing in a procedural sandbox, we leave them unequipped for a reality where human context separates meaningful work from automated noise. Observation in Special Education Technology offers a unique kind of support in special education by tracking massive volumes of daily observational data. It helps identify long-term trends a busy educator might miss. Still, a machine cannot replace the physical intuition and empathy of a teacher interpreting subtle, non-verbal cues. Navigating the Software Flood School districts face a constant barrage of new applications. Dr. Rice suggests a deliberate pause to avoid tool creep. Evaluating new technology must prioritize compliance and rigorous alignment with the agency's mission. Foundational AI literacy matters more than a fragmented landscape of apps; we must understand how these systems function and where their biases lie. A Question for Reflection: When evaluating the digital tools in your own work, how are you ensuring the technology serves the human context rather than replacing the productive struggle of learning?