The Questions Students Are Asking About AI: and the Mindsets that help Answer Them

About this episode

Tricia and Jeff discuss AI literacy in K-12 education, addressing student questions and the necessary mindsets for educators.

Tricia and Jeff talk about what AI literacy actually looks like in K-12 — past the policy memos, past the vendor pitches, past the "ban it or adopt it" debate that keeps stalling schools out. They were very excited to receive questions from a student, and they used those as the structure for this conversation. The conversation uses the Shifting Schools BAKE framework as a loose map: Balance, Adaptability, Knowledge-sharing, Empathy. A mindset-first approach for leaders who want to think clearly instead of react fast. What Jeff and Tricia get into: How to explain AI to a 10-year-old without overcomplicating it (and why metaphors help) Where kids still need to struggle on their own — and why productive friction is identity-forming work The first habits to teach when a child gets AI access: check it, don't trust it; notice when your thinking shuts down Whether AI can actually make education more inclusive, and what has to be in place before it does The mistakes schools and parents are making right now: banning instead of teaching, adopting without training, treating AI like an IT rollout instead of a relationship shift Check out the free one-pager…

People in this episode

Hosts: Tricia Friedman, Jeff Utecht

Topics covered

• AI literacy
• K-12 education
• mindset
• student questions
• inclusive education

Keywords

• AI
• education
• K-12
• mindset
• literacy
• students
• teaching

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Shifting Schools, Google

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