Tag: students

Black, Latino & Low-Income Kids Felt Better Doing Remote School During COVID

group of people taking photo — Photo by Rebecca Zaal on Pexels.com

The dominant story about COVID-era school closures has been simple: remote learning hurt kids’ mental health. And for many, that’s true. National data show American teens reported more loneliness and more suicidal thoughts between 2019 and 2023, with isolation during lockdown often cited as the culprit.

But a new study complicates that narrative. Researchers analyzed survey data from more than 6,000 middle schoolers during the 2020–21 school year and found a striking divide:

White and higher-income students were significantly happier and less stressed when attending school in person.
Black, Latino, and low-income students often reported the opposite—feeling less stressed and sometimes even happier when learning remotely.

In other words, remote school wasn’t universally worse. For some groups, it offered a reprieve from stressful in-person school environments, from health risks during the pandemic, or from inequities baked into the classroom experience.

The findings don’t suggest remote school is “better” overall. Academic setbacks during closures were real and disproportionately hurt the very students who sometimes felt mentally healthier at home. Instead, the study is a reminder that school isn’t a neutral space. How students experience it depends deeply on race, income, and environment.

As the researchers note, it’s not enough to flatten the pandemic into a single story of harm. Different groups of students experienced it differently—and will need different supports moving forward. If schools want to be places where all kids can thrive, they’ll need to reckon with why in-person learning left some students more stressed than staying home.

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Democratizing AI in Education: David Wiley’s Vision of Generative Textbooks

David Wiley is experimenting with what he calls “generative textbooks” — a mashup of OER (open educational resources) and generative AI. His core idea is:

What if anyone who can create an open textbook could also create an AI-powered, interactive learning tool without writing code?

From Open Content to Open AI-Driven Learning

For decades, Wiley has championed open education resources (OER)—teaching and learning materials freely available to adapt and share under open licenses like Creative Commons. With generative AI now in the mix, Wiley sees a unique opportunity to merge the participatory spirit of OER with the dynamic adaptability of language models.

The result? A new kind of learning tool that feels less like a dusty PDF and more like a responsive learning app—crafted by educators, powered by AI, and free for students to use.

The Anatomy of a Generative Textbook

Wiley’s prototype isn’t just a fancy textbook—it’s a modular, no-code authoring system for AI-powered learning. Here’s how it works:

Learning Objectives: Short, focused statements about what learners should master.
Topic Summaries: Context-rich summaries intended for the AI—not students—to ground the model’s responses in accuracy.
Activities: Learning interactions like flashcards, quizzes, or explanations.
Book-Level Prompt Stub: A template that sets tone, personality, response format (e.g., Markdown), and overall voice.

To build a generative textbook with ten chapters, an author creates:

One book-level prompt stub
Ten learning objectives (one per chapter)
Ten concise topic summaries
Various activity templates aligned with each chapter

A student then picks a topic and an activity. The system stitches together the right bits into a prompt and feeds it to a language model—generating a live, tailored learning activity.

Open Source, Open Models, Open Access

True to his roots, Wiley made the tool open source and prioritized support for open-weight models—AI models whose architectures and weights are freely available. His prototype initially sent prompts to a model hosted via the Groq API, making it easy to swap in different open models—or even ones students host locally.

Yet here’s the catch: even open models cost money to operate via API. And according to Wiley, most educators he consulted were less concerned with “open” and more with “free for students.”

A Clever—and Simple—Solution

Wiley’s creative workaround: instead of pushing the AI prompt through the API, the tool now simply copies the student’s prompt to their clipboard and directs them to whatever AI interface they prefer (e.g., ChatGPT, Gemini, a school-supported model). Students just paste and run it themselves.

There’s elegance in that simplicity:

No cost per token—students use models they already have access to.
Quality-first—they can choose the best proprietary models, not just open ones.
Flexibility—works with institution-licensed models or free-tier access.

Of course, there are trade-offs:

The experience feels disjointed (copy/paste instead of seamless).
Analytics and usage data are much harder to capture.
Learners’ privacy depends on the model they pick—schools and developers can’t guarantee it.

A Prototype, Not a Finished Product

Wiley is clear: this is a tech demonstration, not a polished learning platform. The real magic comes from well-crafted inputs—clear objectives, accurate summaries, and effective activities. Garbage in, garbage out, especially with generative AI.

As it stands, generative textbooks aren’t ready to replace traditional textbooks—but they can serve as innovative supplements, offering dynamic learning experiences beyond static content.

The Bigger Picture: Where OER Meets GenAI

Wiley’s vision reflects a deeper shift in education: blending open pedagogy with responsive AI-driven learning. It’s not just about access; it’s about giving educators and learners the ability to co-create, remix, and personalize knowledge in real time.

Broader research echoes this trend: scholars explore how generative AI can support the co-creation, updating, and customizing of learning materials while urging care around authenticity and synthesis.

Related Innovations in Open AI for Education

VTutor: An open-source SDK that brings animated AI agents to life with real-time feedback and expressive avatars—promising deeper human-AI interaction.
AI-University (AI‑U): A framework that fine-tunes open-source LLMs using lecture videos, notes, and textbooks, offering tailored course alignment and traceable output to learning materials.
GAIDE: A toolkit that empowers educators to use generative AI for curriculum development, grounded in pedagogical theory and aimed at improving content quality and educator efficiency.

Final Thoughts

David Wiley’s generative textbooks project is less about launching a product and more about launching possibilities. It’s a thought experiment turned demonstration: what if creating powerful, AI-powered learning experiences were as easy as drafting a few sentences?

In this vision:

Educators become prompt architects.
Students become active participants, selecting how they engage.
Learning becomes dynamic, authorable, and—critically—free to access.

That’s the open promise of generative textbooks. It may be rough around the edges now, but the implication is bold: a future where learning tools evolve with educators and learners—rather than being fixed in print.

Bonus reading & resources:

What are OER and open educational practices?
Explore Wiley’s earlier thinking on prompt-based textbooks
The VTutor project, AI‑U framework, and GAIDE toolkit showcase related innovation.

Steve Wozniak Never Sold Out

I gave all my Apple wealth away because wealth and power are not what I live for. I have a lot of fun and happiness. I funded a lot of important museums and arts groups in San Jose, the city of my birth, and they named a street after me for being good. I now speak publicly and have risen to the top. I have no idea how much I have but after speaking for 20 years it might be $10M plus a couple of homes. I never look for any type of tax dodge. I earn money from my labor and pay something like 55% combined tax on it. I am the happiest person ever. Life to me was never about accomplishment, but about Happiness, which is Smiles minus Frowns. I developed these philosophies when I was 18-20 years old and I never sold out.

– Steve Wozniak via Slashdot

Teaching the Unmappable: Why Color Defies Easy Charts

For centuries, scientists, artists, and philosophers have tried to pin down a “perfect” way to map color. But here’s the problem: color isn’t just physics, and it isn’t just perception—it’s both. Try to squeeze it into a neat geometric model, and you’ll quickly realize it refuses to stay put.

That’s what makes French video essayist Alessandro Roussel’s latest ScienceClic piece so fascinating for educators. He takes us from Isaac Newton’s prism experiments all the way to modern models of hue, brightness, and saturation. Along the way, he shows why there isn’t just one map of color, but many. Each communicates something different about how humans experience this slippery phenomenon.

So what’s the classroom connection?

In art: Students can compare different models of color—Newton’s circle, Munsell’s tree, the modern RGB cube—and reflect on how each changes the way we think about mixing, matching, or designing with color.
In science: Teachers can use these models to illustrate how physics collides with perception. Why do two people see the “same” red differently? How does light wavelength interact with the human eye and brain?
In interdisciplinary projects: Color mapping opens doors to conversations about how humans create systems to explain the unexplainable. It’s a perfect bridge between STEM and the humanities.

And then comes the kicker for students who think we’ve “solved” everything already: scientists recently managed to engineer a new, so-called impossible color called ‘olo’—a shade outside the traditional visible spectrum.

It’s a reminder that color isn’t just a solved equation or a finished wheel. It’s a living, shifting puzzle that still invites curiosity, wonder, and experimentation.

Imagine giving your students that as a challenge: If color can’t be mapped perfectly, what’s your best attempt?

Can an App Cure Math Anxiety? Duolingo Thinks So.

Most of us have heard (or said) the phrase: “I’m just not a math person.”
Duolingo—the same company that made millions of people practice Spanish while waiting in line at Starbucks—is on a mission to change that story.

You probably know Duolingo as the language app with the slightly unhinged green owl who won’t let you forget your streak. But since 2022, Duolingo has been quietly building something new: a math course. And just like its approach to languages, the company believes it can make math more approachable, less intimidating, and maybe even fun.

Why Math? Why Now?

According to Samantha Siegel, the engineer leading Duolingo’s math push, the choice to focus on 3rd grade and up wasn’t random. Around that age, kids hit fractions—and that’s where things start to go sideways for a lot of learners. Fractions are a gateway. Struggle there, and the rest of math often feels like a foreign language.

Duolingo’s idea: treat math like a language. Build fluency through small, repeatable practice. Create low-stakes games. Give immediate feedback. And—most importantly—reduce the anxiety that creeps in when kids (and adults) start believing math is beyond them.

How It Works

If you’ve ever tapped your way through Spanish verbs or French phrases, the math experience feels familiar—but with some clever twists:

Dynamic problems: Lessons refresh with new numbers every time, so you’re not memorizing answers—you’re actually practicing.
Interactive input: Instead of multiple choice, you might drag the corners of a rectangle to measure area, or handwrite a fraction into the screen.
Visual learning: Geometry isn’t just explained; it’s something you manipulate on the screen.

In other words, the app tries to ground abstract math ideas in movement, visuals, and play.

Tackling Math Anxiety Head-On

Here’s the thing: math anxiety is real, and it’s not just about ability—it’s about confidence. When kids (or adults) tense up at the first sight of an equation, their brains literally struggle to process what’s in front of them.

Duolingo’s bet is that by gamifying the experience, they can lower the stakes. Just like the app makes it totally fine to get a French verb wrong, it’s trying to make it okay to fumble a fraction. In a classroom context, that shift could matter—a lot.

Where It Stands Today

The math course is now baked right into the main Duolingo app, alongside language and even music lessons. Learners can keep their streak going across subjects—whether they’re conjugating verbs, strumming chords, or multiplying fractions. Duolingo hasn’t shared exact numbers, but we’re talking millions of math users already.

And it’s not just for kids. Plenty of adults are using it too—either to brush up on long-forgotten basics or to help their kids without pulling out dusty textbooks.

What This Means for Educators

Is Duolingo going to replace teachers? Of course not. But as a supplemental tool, it’s promising. It gives students a way to practice math outside the classroom that feels a lot more like a game than homework. It also gives parents an accessible, non-threatening entry point into supporting their kids’ learning.

The bigger story here is the attempt to reframe math itself. If Duolingo can help chip away at the “I’m not a math person” narrative—if it can make math feel just a little more like a game and a little less like a stress test—that’s a win.

Final Thought

Duolingo isn’t just teaching fractions and geometry; it’s trying to rewrite how learners feel about math. And in a world where math anxiety holds so many students back, that mission might matter even more than the streaks.

Maybe, just maybe, the next time someone says “I can’t do math,” we’ll have an owl to thank for proving them wrong.

Slow Light: When Yesterday Hijacks Today

Ever wondered what life would feel like if your eyes buffered reality the way old dial-up modems buffered videos? Slow Light, the stop-motion stunner from Warsaw animation duo Kijek/Adamski, answers that question with style. It’s nameless hero sees everything on a seven-year delay—kindergarten birthday candles flare up during his first kiss, a forgotten snowball fight snows over a job interview, and so on. Yesterday isn’t lurking in the background; it’s live-streaming right on top of today.

The filmmakers crank up the disorientation to eleven with hand-cut paper sets awash in neon paint. Every frame feels like a pop-up book crossed with a fever dream. Their mini behind-the-scenes reel on Vimeo is a crash course in low-tech wizardry; it’s a reminder that big ideas don’t need Hollywood budgets, just relentless creativity (and a mountain of X-Acto blades).

Turning Slow Light into Authentic Learning

Below are four ways to let this short brain-bender spark real-world, student-centered work. Mix and match, or allow students to design their path.

Lens	Authentic Task	Real-World Connection	Graduate Profile Tie-In
Physics & Neuroscience	Remix the film’s handmade aesthetic in 3D: scan paper sets into Blender and add interactive hotspots that reveal “past vs. present” layers when clicked.	Partner with a local optometrist or university lab for feedback; publish explainer videos debunking vision myths.	Innovative Problem Solver, Effective Communicator
Media Literacy & Storytelling	Analyze how stop-motion’s frame-by-frame illusion mimics the film’s time-lag theme. Teams storyboard their own short that visualizes a cognitive quirk (e.g., déjà vu, false memories).	Submit films to a youth animation festival or stream them during a community movie night.	Creative Producer, Productive Collaborator
SEL & Psychology	Use the protagonist’s delayed perception as a metaphor: How do past experiences color present choices? Students craft personal “slow light” journals, then design advisory lessons to help younger peers understand trauma and resilience.	Collaborate with school counselors to run peer-led workshops on growth mindset and coping strategies.	Empathetic Citizen, Reflective Learner
Design Thinking & Tech	Remix the film’s handmade aesthetic in 3-D: scan paper sets into Blender, add interactive hotspots that reveal “past vs. present” layers when clicked.	Publish the interactive scene on the class website; invite feedback from professional animators via Zoom.	Digitally Fluent Innovator, Self-Directed Navigator

Ready-Made Reflection Prompt

If your own vision carried a seven-year delay, which past moments would you be doomed (or delighted) to relive—and how might that reshape who you are today?

Let students answer in whatever medium they choose—audio diary, comic strip, data viz—then host a gallery walk to surface common themes of perception, bias, and memory.

Bottom line: Slow Light isn’t just artsy eye candy. In the right hands (read: your classroom), it becomes a launchpad for interdisciplinary inquiry, hands-on making, and soul-searching reflection—all hallmarks of authentic learning that sticks long after the credits roll.

h/t to kottke.org

Wednesday assorted links

Theocracy in Public Schools: Arizona GOP Pushes Religious Chaplains Over Trained Counselors

gray concrete road between grass field — Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Arizona Republicans are at it again—dismantling public education and replacing it with religious indoctrination. Their latest stunt? SB 1269 allows untrained religious chaplains to provide mental health counseling to students instead of licensed professionals.

Rep. David Marshall says “Jesus is better than a psychologist,” as if prayer is an adequate substitute for professional mental health care. Meanwhile, Sen. Wendy Rogers, a known far-right extremist with ties to white nationalism, is leading the charge to erase the separation of church and state entirely—because, in her words, “that’s a myth.”

Let’s be clear: this bill isn’t about helping students. It’s about using public schools to funnel state-sanctioned religious propaganda to kids. Republicans claim there’s a “spiritual deficit” causing student mental health struggles—not economic inequality, not school shootings, not climate anxiety, not lack of access to healthcare, but a lack of religion.

This bill:
⚠️ Violates the First Amendment by forcing religious figures into public schools.
⚠️ Endangers students by replacing licensed counselors with untrained chaplains.
⚠️ Opens the door for Christian Nationalism while silencing minority faiths (or, let’s be honest, outright banning non-Christian chaplains).

Meanwhile, Democrats have been fighting for more school counselors, psychologists, and social workers—REAL solutions to the youth mental health crisis. But the GOP would rather ignore science, shove their religion down kids’ throats, and strip public education for parts.

Public schools should be secular, mental health support should be evidence-based, and the government should NOT be a pulpit.

Mental Health, Teacher Pay, and School Choice: What’s Missing in Governors’ Education Plans?

Across the country, governors have laid out ambitious education plans for 2025—but have they missed the mark on boosting student achievement? While state leaders from both parties broadly agree on increasing education funding, supporting student well-being, and enhancing career pathways, few have directly addressed declining academic performance. FutureEd’s analysis reveals significant bipartisan commitments, including strengthening teacher pay and addressing youth mental health, yet highlights stark ideological divides over school choice and the role of diversity initiatives in education.

With federal pandemic-relief funds drying up, previously celebrated interventions like tutoring and enrichment programs are fading into the background. As governors debate whether school choice initiatives or stricter academic standards will drive student improvement, educators wonder: Are we missing an opportunity to place learning at the heart of education policy?

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