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The Labubu Problem: Learning from the Past to Shape the Future
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Hello Reader! Discussions about Artificial Intelligence in schools continue to percolate. So, as Gary Stager is on-the-road leading Learning Adventures workshops, we thought you might be interested in some learner-centered views on AI. But first — It’s not too late to register for this week’s Learning Adventures workshops in Pittsburgh (November 6) and Chicago (November 7)! AI, Schools, and the Labubu ProblemIn this provocative essay, Gary Stager lends a historical perspective to illuminate how schools’ are repeating the same old mistake of technology implementation — this time with AI. https://reggio.constructingmodernknowledge.com/labubu Thinking in an AI-Augmented World | Askwith Education Forum featuring Professor Howard GardnerOur friend, Harvard Professor Howard Gardner, participates in a thoughtful discussion on the future of learning and education in the age of AI. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LMW0hUtBwo CMK’s Roots: Logo, Piaget, and AIGary Stager describes how Constructing Modern Knowledge, including our June institute in Reggio Emilia are the descendants of Logo, Piaget, and the early objectives of the artificial intelligence research community. https://stager.tv/?p=7545 Podcast: What’s Worth Making? with Professor Hal AbelsonHal Abelson, the legendary MIT Computer Science professor, creator of the Open Courseware movement and MIT App Inventor, recalls his days as an MIT graduate student during the early 1970s in the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. Dr. Abelson discusses artificial intelligence’s roots in Piaget, learning, and how he and his contemporaries always believed that computers are for children. Abelson also offers a vision for the future of education centered around making with bits and atoms. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/chalk-radio/id1497545103?i=1000657143425 Happy 70th Birthday Artificial Intelligence!In 1955, the term “Artificial Intelligence” was coined in a conference proposal. https://stanford.io/2WJJJGN Exploring Creative AI with Ken KahnKen Kahn, author of The Learner’s Apprentice: AI and the Amplification of Human Creativity, has been hard at work finding ingenious ways to learn and make things with generative AI. Follow Ken on LinkedIn, Facebook, Threads, or BlueSky for a steady stream of interesting explorations! Here are just two of his recent musings: 👉 Co-creating an app that even a small child could use to create collages of AI-generated images. Follow the creative process and try the app for yourself on this Google Doc. 👉 This exploration was designed for a workshop Ken will be leading at the 17th International Conference on Technology in Mathematics Teaching. The idea is to encourage teachers to create, and have their students create, web-based interactive chatbot-aided mathematical explorations. Follow Ken as he uses generative AI to explore Pythagoras' Theorem and the distribution of primes by making interactive apps you can try for yourself. Several teachers have shared that they are using Ken's book as curriculum for students exploring AI as a way to create apps, models, and simulations. There are hundreds of examples in the book of creative uses of AI. (If you would like information about a volume purchase for your class, just reply to this email.) Hope you had a Happy Halloween! 🎃👻🍬🦇💀🧡 Sylvia Martinez & Gary Stager |
Constructing Modern Knowledge
Join us for news, resources, and events for creative, progressive educators
Dear Reader, You’re on our mailing list because you’ve shown an interest in learning through making, tinkering, and invention—and likely understand the power of project-based learning. You probably have an interest in computing and emerging technology too. But not every educator has experienced that “aha!” moment yet. That’s why we’ve created something new: Learning Adventures, a one-day professional development experience inspired by Constructing Modern Knowledge—but designed for any...
Reader, there's something here for you! This newsletter is chock full of Project-Based Learning resources, planning concepts, professional development events, and much much more. We hope you enjoy diving in! The Learning Adventures Workshop Tour Begins November 1st! If PBL is the goal, the question is — How do you get there? How do you sustain student engagement in sophisticated project-based learning? How do you organize curriculum and shape the classroom environment? Dr. Gary Stager has...
Yes, Reader, you're invited — Learn with Us in Reggio Emilia, June 15-19, 2026! Based on the success of last Spring’s institute, The Language of Computation - Constructing Modern Knowledge in Reggio Emilia, we have been invited by Fondazione Reggio Children to host another event next June. The courage, creativity, and wisdom of the educators who took a chance on us and met in Reggio last April has inspired us to offer a bigger and better learning adventure in June. The institute program is...