Monday, June 8, 2026

AI in the Classroom: Why There Are No Best Practices Yet

From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis

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Happy Motivational Monday, friends. Today will make you think as we talk to my friend Justin Reich from MIT. In a June 2026 NPR/Ipsos poll, nearly three out of four teachers said they believe AI will have a bigger impact on education than the internet or the computer ever did. More than half said it is making it harder for students to learn and think for themselves.

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This is a staggering amount of MORE pressure to put on a profession that is reeling from the pressure of expectations, too many standards (research on a “guaranteed and viable curriculum” shows we can't meaningfully pursue too many at once — Robert Marzano calculated that teaching every standard well would take a K–22 school system), decreasing attention spans, and a justification of doing wrong that just seems to come out of everywhere. Justin Reich — an associate professor of digital media at MIT and director of the Teaching Systems Lab — decided to talk to teachers and students about what AI is doing in real classrooms. With 120 interviews, he is pulling together what teachers and students are actually saying.

Justin came to talk about The Homework Machine, a new limited-series podcast built from roughly 120 interviews with teachers and students across the country. We also talked about why he trusts classroom voices over thought leaders. (Justin visited my classroom around 20 years ago for that very reason — to see what was actually happening.) But perhaps the most profound piece is that the research cannot hand any of us “best practices” yet. He gives a rock-solid alternative while we're waiting for the research to be done: local science.

He also argues a very counterintuitive argument about domain knowledge versus just teaching kids “to use AI.” He says make them experts in their subject areas so they can then use AI. Wow. And then, finally, he talks about how he thinks successful schools will focus on subtraction, not addition — subtracting things from teachers' plates and pruning what isn't working.

Justin always teaches me so much as he bridges the real classroom and research and helps me see things differently. I do know this — we're in such a rush to find “best practices” that research studies that haven't been published, haven't been peer reviewed, and haven't even really been well read (can you say AI summaries?) are going viral. And then, in some cases, they are being retracted. The clearest example: a viral MIT paper claiming AI supercharged scientific discovery drew praise from a Nobel laureate — until MIT itself said it had “no confidence” in the data and asked for it to be pulled from arXiv. This is a thoughtful conversation I think we all need to hear.

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Key Takeaways for Teachers from Justin Reich

  • Trust the people closest to the classroom. Justin's whole reason for 120 interviews: “Professors and thought leaders can think whatever they want, but the most important observations are the ones from the people who are closest to what's actually happening.” Relate to educate — your view from the desk matters more than the view from the think tank.
  • AI lands differently in every school. In communities with no substitutes and high chronic absenteeism, AI is “the fifth, twelfth thing on people's lists.” In more affluent schools it's the number-one concern. There is no single AI story — and pretending there is one is how policy goes wrong.
  • There are no research-based best practices yet — and that's the honest answer. It took about 25 years — from the early search engines of the mid-1990s to 2019 — for solid research to tell us how to teach kids to sort fact from fiction online. Big science takes decades, not years. Anyone selling you AI “best practices” today is ahead of the evidence.
  • Do local science instead. Tell students and parents “this is an experiment, there are no best practices yet,” try one AI-enhanced approach, then compare the evidence — like grading this year's speeches against the ones you got before AI. Keep what works, throw away what homogenizes student voice. Innovate like a turtle: small, deliberate, one trial at a time.
  • The power of less: ask what to subtract. Schools have 180 days and seven hours a day — “it's actually not that much time.” The one thing red states, blue states, public and private schools all agreed to cut was cell phones. Justin's challenge for every PD cycle: what can we stop doing? “Finding what to prune is the way that you get your best stuff to grow.”

Resources Mentioned in This Episode

  • The Homework Machine — Justin's limited-series podcast on what AI is really doing in K-12, built from roughly 120 interviews with teachers and students. Listen at teachlabpodcast.com.
  • MIT Teaching Systems Lab — Justin's research home for teacher experimentation and edtech research: tsl.mit.edu.
  • “The Evidence Base on AI in K-12: A 2026 Review” (Stanford SCALE Initiative) — the research Vicki referenced: of 800+ studies, only 20 met a high bar for causal evidence, and none studied student AI use in U.S. K-12 classrooms. Read the review.
  • Iterate: The Secret to Innovation in Schools by Justin Reich — on small experiments and the cycle of improvement. Find it on Amazon.
  • Failure to Disrupt: Why Technology Alone Can't Transform Education by Justin Reich (Harvard University Press). Find it on Amazon.

🐾 Sources & Citations: AI Research in the Classroom

As of June 2026, the research on AI in K-12 classrooms is early — these are starting points, not settled science. That's exactly Justin's point in this episode. Every source below was verified against its original.

What teachers are feeling right now

NPR/Ipsos. (2026). Teachers concerned about the impact of AI on students' critical thinking. Poll of 545 educators, fielded April 27–May 5, 2026. Source (NPR) · Source (Ipsos)

Key finding: Nearly three in four teachers believe AI will have a bigger impact on education than the internet or computers did, and 54% say it is making it harder for students to learn critical thinking skills.

Caveat: This is teacher perception, not a measure of student outcomes — a nationally representative but modestly sized sample (545 respondents).

Why “too many standards” backfires

Marzano, R. J. (2003). What Works in Schools: Translating Research into Action. ASCD — the “guaranteed and viable curriculum.” Source

Key finding: Marzano found there are far more standards than instructional time allows — teaching all of them to mastery would require roughly a K–22 school system. Schools see better results when they prioritize a focused, “viable” set rather than racing to cover everything.

Caveat: Standards counts and instructional minutes vary by state and subject, so the exact gap differs from district to district.

Why “best practices” don't exist yet

Stanford SCALE Initiative. (2026). The Evidence Base on AI in K-12: A 2026 Review. Stanford Graduate School of Education. Source

Key finding: Of more than 800 academic papers on AI in K-12, only 20 met a high bar for rigorous causal evidence — and none studied student AI use in U.S. K-12 classrooms. Performance gains often disappear once the AI tool is removed.

Caveat: The repository is growing fast (1,100+ papers within months). “Thin evidence” means not-yet-proven — not disproven.

How long good edtech research actually takes

Wineburg, S., & McGrew, S. (2019). Lateral Reading and the Nature of Expertise: Reading Less and Learning More When Evaluating Digital Information. Teachers College Record, 121(11), 1–40. Source

Key finding: Professional fact-checkers evaluate online sources by “reading laterally” — leaving a page to check who's behind it — while students and even academics tend to read straight down the page and get fooled. It became the research backbone for teaching web credibility, roughly a quarter-century into the search-engine era.

Caveat: Justin used this as a benchmark for research pace, not a one-to-one AI parallel; the study examined search engines, not generative AI.

When unreviewed AI research goes viral — then collapses

Toner-Rodgers, A. (2024, preprint). Artificial Intelligence, Scientific Discovery, and Product Innovation. Posted to arXiv; MIT issued a “no confidence” statement and requested withdrawal (May 2025). Source

Key finding: A splashy preprint claiming AI dramatically boosted scientific discovery was praised by a Nobel laureate and covered widely — before MIT said it had no confidence in the data's provenance or validity and the paper was pulled. A cautionary tale about acting on research before peer review.

Caveat: This was a higher-ed/industry productivity study, not a K-12 classroom study — cited here as an example of the “viral before vetted” pattern, not a finding about schools.

🐾 How I used AI on this post: I used AI to help draft and organize these show notes and to locate the studies referenced in the conversation and my introduction. I personally verified each citation — source, authors, year, and findings — against the original NPR/Ipsos, Stanford, SAGE, Marzano, and MIT/TechCrunch reporting before publishing, and reviewed the transcript for accuracy myself.

A note on Google's founding date: In this episode, Justin mentions Google was founded “around 1995.” In my fact-check, it turned out Google was founded September 4, 1998 (though the Stanford research project began in January 1996). His underlying point about a roughly 25-year arc for peer-reviewed research still holds, however — the timeframe matches up.

About Justin Reich

Justin Reich — MIT Teaching Systems Lab — Honest Conversations About AI — Cool Cat Teacher Talk S6E5
Dr. Justin Reich, Associate Professor at MIT and co-host of The Homework Machine podcast, shares what 120 interviews reveal about AI in K-12 classrooms.

Justin Reich is an associate professor of digital media at MIT, and the host of the TeachLab Podcast. The latest series of Teach Lab is called The Homework Machine, a limited series about the arrival of AI in K-12 schools, at teachlabpodcast.com.

Justin is the author of Iterate: The Secret to Innovation in Schools and Failure to Disrupt: Why Technology Alone Can't Transform Education. He is a former world history teacher, wrestling coach, and wilderness medicine instructor.

Connect with Justin: X (@bjfr) | Instagram (@bjfr) | LinkedIn | tsl.mit.edu

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Episode Transcript

This transcript was generated using AI and has been reviewed by humans for accuracy. Minor errors or artifacts may remain but I worked my best to find any issues with the transcript as I reviewed the show. – Vicki

Click to read the full transcript

Vicki Davis: Today's show is sponsored by EF Explore America and the STEM Tours. To show your students how STEM impacts the world up close and in action, go to efexploreamerica.com/STEM. And stay tuned at the end of the show to learn more.

Vicki Davis: Today we're so glad to welcome back my friend Justin Reich. He is an associate professor of digital media at MIT, director of the Teaching Systems Lab. He's the author of Iterate and Failure to Disrupt. He's back to talk about The Homework Machine, his brand new limited series podcast that dives into what AI is really doing in our K-12 classrooms, based on 120 interviews with teachers and students across the country. So Justin, last time we talked it was about Iterate and small experiments in schools. But now you've gone and conducted these 120 interviews about AI in classrooms. What made you think that you needed to get the real story from teachers and students?

Justin Reich: It was the almost exact same motivation that had me visit your room 20 years ago. So 20 years ago, all kinds of folks were talking about Web 2.0 in schools. And what I understand better now is that when new technologies come along, elites dominate the conversation — the think tank people and self-described thought leaders and policymaker kinds of folks, and people like professors like me. And I really don't actually trust any of those people. I trust classroom teachers and students a lot. At the very least, I'd say their voices are essential. For the same reason that I wanted to visit your classroom and see what was really happening in your environment in Georgia 20 years ago, I wanted to say, all right, ChatGPT has come and crashed the party. It has showed up uninvited in all of these different schools, and teachers and students are just bringing it into the classroom on their phones. And what do they think and what do they say about it? Because professors and thought leaders can think whatever they want, but the most important observations are the ones from the people who are closest to what's actually happening.

Vicki Davis: Now you're doing a lot of deep dive into all the individual stories, but let's kind of back up at the 30,000-foot view. What kind of conclusions are you starting to draw?

Justin Reich: We've had a hard time concluding because of the schools in this country. There are 13,000 school districts and it hits different places really differently. There are lots of schools in the country where there are no substitute teachers, and kids come to school hungry, and kids are not showing up to school because of chronic absenteeism and huge challenges. And in those kinds of places, AI tended to be described as like the fifth, twelfth thing on people's lists. Like, if kids don't show up to school, it doesn't really matter what's going on with AI. One teacher said to us, “I would love to do a day of professional development on AI. There are no subs. There's no one who can come into my classroom and have me leave.” It tended to be in more affluent places where people said, this is the number one concern, this is the thing that we're really tackling. And then people just have wildly divergent opinions about what's going on. There are some folks who said, this is a complete game changer for my classroom, I'm super excited about what's happening. And there are other folks who said, this is a machine that just put words in my students' mouth that aren't their words. How am I supposed to teach someone if I'm just getting words from a machine? What's this going to do to trust? What's this going to do to our community? Really wide-ranging opinions. Probably some of the most exciting stories are where those wide-ranging opinions are in one community. I'm sure there's some of that in your school. I'm sure there's some of that in all your listeners' schools — hearing about communities where teachers and students are trying to negotiate these challenges on a time scale that nobody asked for. Nobody gets to pick like, this is the AI year.

Vicki Davis: Mm-hmm. So Justin, let's talk about this research for a minute. I just did a piece in my newsletter where Stanford studied better research — they're studying AI and they found only 20 of them had any measurable results, but none of them are in the basically US K-12 classroom. It seems like to me there are a lot of people trying to draw far-reaching conclusions from research that's in its infancy. Is that what you see happening?

Justin Reich: I've had reporters in the past week — one from the New York Times, one from Ed Week — saying, what are best practices with AI right now? I hear that from teachers all the time. What are the research-based best practices? That's a really good intuition for teachers to have in lots of things. If your students are having a hard time reading, you should not invent reading instruction. We've studied teaching reading for 60 years and we can tell you better and worse ways to teach reading. We can't do that yet with AI. To give you a kind of benchmark — I think Google was founded as a company around 1995. The first peer-reviewed paper that had really solid research about the most effective ways of teaching kids to sort truth from fiction on the web was published in 2019. So it took about 25 years for the research community to say, we're pretty sure this is what you should teach students to do when they're using a search engine to find facts. The arc of time that it takes for the research community to come up with pretty solid answers to important questions is unfortunately closer to decades than years. Ten years from now, you and I will have this conversation and we won't be like, what should AI policy be? We'll be like, we've studied AI policy in schools for a while and we're pretty sure that when schools do this kind of thing, it doesn't work as well, and when they do this kind of thing, it works better. But we're actually still kind of a long way away from that. When big science is taking a long time, then what educators need to substitute is local science — going into their own communities and saying, we don't have all the right answers. What we're going to do is an experiment. The best ways to conduct experiments are to, A, tell the people involved that you're experimenting. So parents and students and teachers should know these are just things we're trying. There are no best practices yet. This is our best intuition of the way to go forward. And then you evaluate the evidence afterwards. You were just telling me a story about having your students do speeches in class, and you've had students do speeches in your class for decades. You're saying, oh, when we do this AI-enhanced approach, the speeches were better — I graded them, I compared the grades from 2026 with the kind of grades I got in 2019. And because the performance of understanding is better, I have evidence that the thing that I'm doing is working. You could imagine there are other experiments that you could do where you try an AI-enhanced thing and you're like, oh no, that made it worse. All the speeches came out the same because they were using AI in a way that homogenized things. And you say, okay, that's a bad experiment. That one we're going to throw away. And that, I think, is the crucial stage that we're at — that local educators with their colleagues conducting their own local classroom experiments in this period of uncertainty. The research summaries that you're going to get for the next decade are not going to give you the sort of slam-dunk answer, because big science just takes longer than that.

Vicki Davis: You wrote about the power of less, where everybody's trying to add AI to everything. What should we be subtracting?

Justin Reich: The whole idea of subtraction is that schools are too complicated today. There are too many things going on, and we can't be good at everything. We need to be deliberate about taking things away. In the national conversation, almost the only thing that schools across the country — blue states, red states, private schools, public schools — have agreed can be subtracted from schools is cell phones. You and I could have a long conversation about whether or not cell phones belong in classrooms. But here's the thing that I celebrate: people said, we're just not going to deal with this anymore. Put them away. And maybe they would have been a good learning thing, but here's one fewer thing that we're going to deal with so that we can deal with more important things. And I actually celebrate that part of the decision. Schools just have to decide — keep adding standards, new technologies — schools cannot solve all of the problems of society. We have 180 days, we've got seven hours a day. It's actually not that much time. It's a good exercise for schools to be regularly doing in their cycles of professional development and improvement: what are some things that we can stop? What are some things that we can set aside? Because we want to do a really good job on a manageable number of things, not a mediocre job at an unmanageable number of things. Because our schools are so diverse, it's really hard to say, this is the thing that you should definitely get rid of. But it's the things that are just kind of limping along and not really working anymore — finding what to prune is the way that you get your best stuff to grow.

Vicki Davis: Great way to end. Justin, thanks for coming on the show again.

Vicki Davis: If you're a STEM teacher like me, you want your students to see how STEM impacts the real world, not just read about it. On an EF Explore America STEM tour, they might code robots with MassRobotics at MIT, explore marine ecosystems in Florida's coral reefs, or even sit down with a former spy in Washington DC to discover how STEM thinking shows up where you least expect it. Every itinerary is designed by experts to amplify what you teach through hands-on experiences that can't be replicated in the classroom. Visit efexploreamerica.com/STEM and see what an EF Explore America STEM tour can do for your students. Some of the greatest things I've ever done with my students have been tours. They make it all easy for you. So again, check out efexploreamerica.com/STEM.

Disclosure of Material Connection: This is a sponsored episode and blog post. EF Explore America has compensated me to share information about their STEM Tours. However, all opinions expressed are my own. I have personally planned and led student tours myself and only recommend tools and experiences I believe offer genuine value to classroom teachers. My endorsement is limited to the educational products and services discussed in this episode. This post also contains Amazon affiliate links for the books mentioned; if you purchase through them, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.” The sponsor has no impact on the editorial content of this show.

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Saturday, June 6, 2026

Moviemaking in the Classroom: Where Every Student Has a Story

From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis

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Here is another wonderful classroom ideas segment! Every student walks into your room on day one carrying a story — you just can't see it yet. Jessica Pack, the 2014 California Teacher of the Year, recorded this as she her 21st year in middle school, and she opens every year the same way: by handing students the tools to tell their own stories on film. Not at the end of the year as a reward. On day one, as the way in.

So, as we finish up our school year, let's plan ahead for a powerful way to start school next year. This is the kind of thing that may take some thought and planning but is truly a fantastic way to open up the school year. Now is the time to think about it. (And yes, you can do this at the end of the school year too but both are better!)

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In this show, Jessica walks us through her first two weeks — the children's book that gets sixth graders making four-line video poems, the “I Am” poem she digitizes, and the generative tools in Adobe Express she uses to build prompting fluency and “AI citizenship” from the start. She's honest about the messy early projects and the controlled chaos, and she tells the story of a student who asked to make a movie to process her grief — a reminder that we're teaching life skills, not just standards. It's a warm, practical listen full of back-to-school or any-time-of-year ideas. Moviemaking is a vital part of my classroom and I hope you'll give it a try!

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Key Takeaways for Teachers from Jessica Pack

  • “Movies help students become whole people, not just a new body at a desk.” Jessica opens the year with storytelling so she learns who her kids really are — their hopes, neighborhoods, and cultures. Relate to educate.
  • Build “AI citizenship” from day one, not as an afterthought. She uses generative fill and guided activities in Adobe Express so sixth graders learn to prompt, generate, and iterate — with the metacognition to think about how they're thinking about AI.
  • Lead with growth over grades. When Jessica took a creativity-and-storytelling approach with her long-term English learners, their language skills grew across all four domains — and so did how they saw themselves.
  • “We're not just teaching kids state standards. We're teaching them life skills.” A student once asked to make a movie to process the loss of a family member — because she had the tools and the trust to tell her story.

Resources Mentioned in This Episode

  • Moviemaking in the Classroom: Lifting Student Voices Through Digital Storytelling by Jessica Pack (ISTE) — her practical guide to bringing student moviemaking into any content area. Also available directly from ISTE.
  • The Best Part of Me by Wendy Ewald — the children's book Jessica uses to launch her first day-one video-poem project.
  • Adobe Express — the creation tool Jessica relies on with sixth graders, including generative fill, monthly guided activities, and Animate from Audio (a talking avatar for students who aren't ready to be on camera).
  • WeVideo — the digital storytelling video platform her district funds for student moviemaking.
  • ISTE — the International Society for Technology in Education, publisher of Jessica's book and home of the ISTE Community Leaders.

About Jessica Pack

As a middle school teacher for 20 years and a California Teacher of the Year (2014), Jessica has continually worked to redefine what learning looks like in her classroom. Jessica is the author of “Moviemaking in the Classroom” published by ISTE. As an Adobe Innovator, she is an advocate for creativity and storytelling, demonstrated by the original content her students regularly publish for a global audience. Jessica is also an ISTE Community Leader who co-hosts two podcasts: The Edge ISTE Community Leader podcast and Storytelling Saves the World.

Connect with Jessica:

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Episode Transcript

This transcript was generated using AI and has been reviewed by humans for accuracy. Minor errors or artifacts may remain but I worked my best to find any issues with the transcript as I reviewed the show. – Vicki

Click to read the full transcript

Vicki Davis (00:04): Today's show is sponsored by EF Educational Tours and their Career Readiness Tours. To show your students what careers look like up close and in action, go to eftours.com/ready and stay tuned at the end of the show to learn more.

Vicki Davis (00:23): Today we're talking with Jessica Pack. She is starting her 21st year as a middle school teacher. She teaches ELA, ELD, and social studies. She was 2014 California Teacher of the Year and she's the author of Moviemaking in the Classroom, published by ISTE. She's also an Adobe Innovator. So Jessica, you say that every student has a story worth sharing and a voice worth hearing. So as we start the school year, how can we bring that mindset in on day one?

Jessica Pack (00:47): Oh my gosh, you know what? Moviemaking is such a great way to get to know your kiddos and who they are as people, so that they're not just a new little body at a desk. They're an actual, whole person, where you're learning their hopes, their dreams, how they see themselves in the future, and how they identify most strongly now, where they're at in life. So it's a great culturally relevant strategy to roll out from day one.

Vicki Davis (01:07): So tell us a little bit about your classroom. Do you have kids using cell phones, or are cell phones banned in your school and you're using webcams? What does your setup look like for making your movies?

Jessica Pack (01:17): So predominantly, I rely on my one-to-one Chromebook setup in my classroom. That tends to be district-wide how we utilize tech. But I do allow cell phone use as the year progresses for students to film original footage. They become more willing to introduce original footage and show their faces as the year goes on. But middle school specifically, they like to start the year maybe with Adobe Animate from audio, where it's a little avatar instead of their actual face.

Vicki Davis (01:46): So describe that. You're getting ready to start school as we're recording this, and as this airs, you'll be back in school. So what does that first assignment look like for you?

Jessica Pack (01:50): I have two first assignments planned in the first two weeks. The first one is utilizing the children's book The Best Part of Me. And it's just this fantastic book where kids celebrate the parts of themselves that are most unique, that they find the most value in, and then they share a little bit about themselves using video. So my students will be making these short little maybe four or five sentence poems as like an introduction to the tools and the platforms that we'll use throughout the year. And then their second project, the second week, is to write an “I Am” poem about themselves, which, you know, that's the gold standard of getting to know our kiddos. And we often have used them in the past, the analog version. I like to digitize that and really get to know who my kids are and their families, their neighborhoods that they're coming from, the cultures that they are part of.

Vicki Davis (02:27): Mm-hmm.

Jessica Pack (02:37): So it's just a really fantastic way to see my students as whole people.

Vicki Davis (02:42): Now you did say a word that we talk about a lot on my show — generative AI. And you're just back from a conference with Adobe where y'all learned about all the new things. What are some of the newer generative pieces of film and photography that you're most excited about bringing to your sixth graders?

Jessica Pack (02:54): I think what I'm most excited about is to really leverage the generative tools in Adobe Express from day one. Express is the program from Adobe that really kind of works best with my students, right? I mean, there's fancier tools, but I'm with sixth graders. So we use Express, but I like the idea of being able to show them generative fill straight out the gate and do some of those lovely guided activities that Express publishes monthly, so that they can really build this fluency with prompting generative AI to give them the return that they want. So for me, I think this school year is about being intentional and really building in those sort of AI citizenship type of skills lessons to help them be successful.

Vicki Davis (03:36): And Jessica, I start with Adobe Express too. I mean, that's where we have an AI art competition. We'll be doing that in the month of August with my eighth graders, where they learn how to prompt and they learn how to create and they learn how to edit, you know, because some people get frustrated because they're like, I can't get anything out of my first prompt. And they don't understand that it's an iterative process, right?

Jessica Pack (03:54): Absolutely. I think, you know, the more that we can be transparent and model that type of iteration and thinking with our students, the more that they'll understand that they need to do that independently. And that's really sort of the metacognitive piece, right? Is teaching kids to think about how they're thinking about AI. So, you know, I'm really excited to watch them grow.

Vicki Davis (04:15): Now sometimes I'll see people who integrate technology into their classroom and they can get out of balance, because we have to balance curriculum with creativity, and those first couple weeks are really very much about classroom procedures as well and getting those routines established. How do you keep a balance?

Jessica Pack (04:29): For me, it's really important to examine the task that I want my students to engage in and ask myself if tech is really what best serves that task, or if it's something that we can be more analog and more interpersonal about. Like sometimes you just need to make a big giant collaborative poster with markers. And I think that that's fine too. We need to give kids that time to socialize.

Vicki Davis (04:47): Yeah.

Jessica Pack (04:52): And really look at each other in the face and like have that conversation and that co-creation moment that maybe doesn't involve tech all the time. And I think that that lays a great groundwork so that when we do introduce tech, they have this bond over this shared creativity, and they have a little more creative confidence to be able to move forward.

Vicki Davis (05:11): Now you talk about growth over grades, right?

Jessica Pack (05:18): Oh yes.

Vicki Davis (05:20): Okay, so can you tell us a story about a student whose creativity surprised you when grades took a backseat?

Jessica Pack (05:24): Yeah, you know, I think I really saw that with my English language learner students this past year. I taught a class of predominantly what we call LTEL students. It's a long-term English language learner. So these are students who'd been in our school system for quite some time and hadn't yet passed the proficiency exam. I took an approach to the class that was creativity-based and storytelling-based. So students just created a whole plethora of projects with Adobe Express, and having all of those tools and that creative freedom, I really saw them blossom as people, and their language skills improved. Yes, because we were in all four domains of reading, writing, listening, speaking. But I think more importantly, their self-concept and how they viewed themselves and their capabilities really improved. And it was just really lovely to see them speak with less hesitancy, write with less hesitancy. And they just kind of approached everything in the room — every task is like a workshop moment where we're just going to keep trying and iterating until we get the best version that we like for this task. So it was just really lovely to watch.

Vicki Davis (06:24): And you know, project-based learning — I mean, this is really something that a lot of people who are grappling with what's happening with AI keep coming back to. Project-based learning is the way that we're going to teach. It's the way we're going to master. And particularly, I mean, in languages where AI can do translation for you, it would be easy to become overly dependent upon technology and not actually have a true understanding of language. Do you feel like this new approach is one that you'll keep using with project-based learning and teaching these kids?

Jessica Pack (06:54): Absolutely. I think that anytime we're trying to just automate or drill and kill worksheets — it's looked a lot of different ways over the last 20 years in class. But those compliance-based type tasks are just not invigorating to students. And I think that's when they seek AI to help them kind of do a workaround so they don't have to spend so much time on it. But when it's a project that they're truly invested in, from just a standpoint as a learner or a standpoint as a person in general that they just find it compelling, those are the projects where they're going to really put forward their best creative effort and be fully engaged. And that's what we all want, right? We want classrooms full of joy and full of passion and full of all different types of learning. And I think that's how you get it.

Vicki Davis (07:39): So when we make movies, a challenge I have — I teach film and work with my own students and also encourage other teachers to bring movies to their own classroom. Some people just can't let go of perfection. Can you think about, like, things that don't go as planned, and give us a story that actually turned into a meaningful moment, even though maybe the movie wasn't perfect?

Jessica Pack (08:00): Absolutely. You know, I think one of the roadblocks for teachers is that they tend to leave moviemaking for the end of the school year, and they're like, oh, that'll be the fun thing we do to wrap up our year together. But when you build in intentional moments, maybe as unit assessment throughout the year where they're constantly using storytelling as a vehicle for learning —

Vicki Davis (08:10): (laughs)

Jessica Pack (08:20): A lot of those early projects are messy, and maybe things are a little bit of controlled chaos in the room. But I think that that's a really good thing, because by the end of the year, they'll just be able to create these beautiful pieces that really showcase what they know about themselves in the world. So one student in particular I had several years ago used moviemaking as a vehicle to process personal grief. So she had had a loss in her family. And because we had so many storytelling opportunities, she came to me shortly after it happened and said, will you help me? Can I make a movie about this? Because I want people to know my story and to maybe learn from it. So that was a really powerful moment for me as a teacher, to remember that we're not just teaching kids state standards. We're teaching them life skills. And for her, it was a way to process complex emotion.

Vicki Davis (08:46): Mm.

Vicki Davis (08:48): So you have your book, Moviemaking in the Classroom, that ISTE has published that people can go to. But where is a simple starting point for somebody who says, okay, I like what Jessica's saying, I want to try it. You've given us some of your beginning-of-the-year sorts of things, but can you give us something for a beginning teacher who's completely new to moviemaking?

Jessica Pack (09:33): Sure, I would say find the point at the end of the unit where it could maybe be a capstone. And an introductory project could just be something like three frames that kind of showcase what we know about a topic, what are some questions we still have, and how will I seek the information that I still need. It could also be, if it's beginning of the year, “me in three.” So just three frames about yourself and three sort of video or image clips that have that agreement piece where what you're talking about, you're hearing about, or you're seeing. And so I really think that just starting small and manageable can be a great entry point.

Vicki Davis (10:08): You've given us so many ideas for back to school. This is Jessica Pack. Her book is Moviemaking in the Classroom. And so I hope everybody will pick it up. As someone who has been teaching movies for as long as I've been teaching, and teaching it in my regular computer science courses, teaching it in all my courses — it's just so important. Story is part of who we are as humans, and project-based learning, we know, is something that's unique and different that works. And with all these generative tools, kids don't have to have their face on camera. I know some kids who just absolutely would never go on camera for that reason. So Jessica, you've given us so many great ideas. Where else can they go to find information about you and what you're doing?

Jessica Pack (10:48): You can find me at packwoman.com. You can find me at jessicapack.com, and at packwoman208 on Instagram and X.

Vicki Davis (10:57): Okay, thank you, Jessica.

Jessica Pack (10:58): Thank you so much.

Vicki Davis (11:00): Teachers, show your students what a career actually looks like — not in a textbook, but in the real world. On an EF Career Readiness Tour, your students will connect with entrepreneurs at the London School of Economics, or they might go behind the scenes at Toyota's manufacturing plant in Japan, or tour a French culinary school to see future chefs in action. EF Career Readiness Tours can take your students around the world for hands-on industry experience you can't replicate in the classroom. Browse EF Career Readiness Tours at eftours.com/ready. That's eftours.com/ready, and make careers come alive through travel.

Disclosure of Material Connection: This is a sponsored episode and blog post. EF Educational Tours has compensated me to share information about their Career Readiness Tours. However, all opinions expressed are my own. I have personally reviewed these resources and only recommend tools I believe offer genuine value to classroom teachers. My endorsement is limited to the educational products and services discussed in this episode. This post also contains Amazon affiliate links for books mentioned in the show; if you choose to buy, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.” The sponsor has no impact on the editorial content of this show.

The post Moviemaking in the Classroom: Where Every Student Has a Story appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!

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Friday, June 5, 2026

AI as a Creativity Amplifier with Dr. Sarah Thomas

From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis

Subscribe to the 10 Minute Teacher Podcast anywhere you listen to podcasts.

Dr. Sarah Thomas, the creator of the EduMatch community, has so many great points in this episode. She might reframe how you think about AI: what if AI isn't the thing that replaces your creativity but frees you up to use it? Sarah calls AI a creativity amplifier and in this show she explains how that mindset shift changes how you and your students work.

As you prepare to listen to this episode, I want to pull in some research to help with the nuance of what some initial research is finding about AI and creativity. And remember, it is just that – initial research. It is going to take time to drill down into what is actually happening with creativity and AI.

For example, a 2024 study published in Science Advances by Anil Doshi and Oliver Hauser found that when online writers used AI to help generate story ideas, their individual stories were rated as more creative and more polished (especially the writers who struggled on their own.) The problem? When EVERYONE leaned on AI, all the stories started looking alike. So basically, individual creativity went up, but collective originality went down.

But, I said it was nuanced, right? The study's convergence happened when AI generated the ideas on its own. I think Sarah's framing is healthier because she uses AI for the busywork – organizing, reformatting speaker notes and such. This frees her up to do more distinctly human creativity so if you read it that way, the study is really an argument for using AI the way Sarah suggests. Remember, when we're talking “creativity” and AI it is nuanced. (Should I say nuance again? Ok. Creativity and AI nuanced. There, I did it.)

In this episode, Sarah and I talk through what she actually automates with AI, the “big rocks” you have to protect first — COPPA, FERPA, and student data — and how to move teachers from fear to confidence. She shares the 80/20 rule for trusting AI output, and the cautionary tale of the lawyer who walked AI hallucinations into a courtroom. Stick around for my favorite classroom game, “find the lie in AI.” It's a great one to try this week — or any time you come across this show.

Sponsored. This episode is sponsored by EF Educational Tours and their Career Readiness Tours. Lead your students on an international EF Career Readiness tour and show them what a career in fields like agriculture, hospitality, or automotive engineering could look like.

Imagine your students connecting with entrepreneurs at the London School of Economics, getting a behind-the-scenes look at Toyota's manufacturing in Japan, or touring a French culinary school to see future chefs in action. If you've been trying to break through to your students and show them how to turn their career dreams into reality, browse EF's collection of Career Readiness tours at eftours.com/ready.

Look at EF Tours Career Readiness Tours

Listen to the Show

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🐾 Sources & Citations: AI Research in Education

This episode references the following research. I'm posting this on June 4, 2026. I ask that we all remember: this is early, fast-moving research. As a result, we should treat it as a starting point, not the final word. I encourage you to read it yourself.

AI and creativity — the individual vs. collective trade-off

Doshi, A. R., & Hauser, O. P. (2024, July 12). Generative AI enhances individual creativity but reduces the collective diversity of novel content. Science Advances, 10(28), eadn5290. Science Advances

Key finding: AI story ideas made individual stories more creative and polished — especially for writers who struggled on their own. However, when everyone leaned on AI, the stories started looking alike. Individual creativity went up; collective originality went down.

Caveat: the study used online writers in an experiment, not students in classrooms. We really need some research on classroom use! (Hint hint!)

Why “find the lie in AI” matters

I was so excited to see this research that supported what I did in my classroom with this activity. Lee, H.-P., et al. (2025). The impact of generative AI on critical thinking: Self-reported reductions in cognitive effort and confidence effects from a survey of knowledge workers. Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (Microsoft Research & Carnegie Mellon University). ACM | Microsoft Research

Key finding: The more people trusted the AI, the less critical thinking they did — but those who stayed confident in their own skills kept thinking critically. The habit of verifying is exactly the muscle we need to develop in our students so they don't over-rely on AI.

Caveat: This was a self-reported survey of 319 knowledge workers, not a classroom survey.

Keep a human in the loop — the research behind the 80/20 rule

Parasuraman, R., & Manzey, D. H. (2010). Complacency and bias in human use of automation: An attentional integration. Human Factors, 52(3), 381–410. Human Factors

Key finding: People (even experts) grow complacent and monitor automation less as they rely on it. That's the case for Sarah's 80/20 rule: AI may do 80% of the work, but the human 20% — eyes on it, checking, tweaking — is the oversight that catches what automation gets wrong. This is called “humans in the loop” and is vital for everything AI that we do in education, I think.

The lawyer who took AI hallucinations to court

Mata v. Avianca, Inc., 678 F. Supp. 3d 443 (S.D.N.Y. 2023). Court opinion

What happened: Two attorneys filed a legal brief citing cases ChatGPT had fabricated; the court fined them $5,000 (decision June 22, 2023). The real-world version of why you always verify the output.
🐾 How I used AI on this post: I used my Claude Cowork research assistant to help me find these studies and verify every citation against the original source. I read the research, decided what mattered, and wrote the takeaways and caveats in my own words. Then, I had Claude help format this section so it's easier to read. As always, I reviewed it all before publishing. For those of you curious about how I work with AI, I wanted to be transparent.

Key Takeaways for Teachers from Dr. Sarah Thomas

  • AI is a creativity amplifier, not a replacement for it. When AI handles the organizing and the busywork, you get your time back for the work only you can do — your zone of genius.
  • Protect the big rocks before you press go. Read the privacy policy and the terms of service, and never upload personally identifiable student information. As Sarah puts it, that data shouldn't end up training somebody's model.
  • Verify everything — the 80/20 rule. Even when AI does 80% of the work, the 20% of eyeballs and tweaking is yours. We're ultimately responsible for the output, so I teach students to “find the lie in AI.”
  • Stay pro-human. A robot is no more going to replace a teacher than it would replace a doctor. You relate to educate — and that's something AI will never do for you.

Resources Mentioned in This Episode

About Dr. Sarah Thomas

Sarah Thomas, founder of Edumatch, shares about AI and creativity.

Sarah Thomas, PhD is the founder of EduMatch, an organization that empowers educators to make global connections across common areas of interest. She has spoken and presented internationally, participated in the Technical Working Group to refresh the 2017 ISTE Standards for Educators, and is a recipient of the ISTE Making IT Happen award.

Sarah is a co-author of the ISTE digital equity series, Closing the Gap, the winner of the 2023 Maryland Society for Educational Technology Outstanding Leader Using Technology award, and the 2023 Leader of the Year as designated by the American Consortium for Equity in Education.

Connect with Sarah:

Other Shows for Teachers Exploring AI

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Episode Transcript

This transcript was generated using AI and has been reviewed by humans for accuracy. Minor errors or artifacts may remain but I worked my best to find any issues with the transcript as I reviewed the show. – Vicki

Click to read the full transcript

Vicki Davis: Today's show is sponsored by EF Educational Tours and their Career Readiness Tours. To show your students what careers look like up close and in action, go to eftours.com/ready and stay tuned at the end of the show to learn more.

Vicki Davis: Our guest today, Dr. Sarah Thomas, is a trailblazer in education. She is the Regional Technology Coordinator for Prince George's County Public Schools in Maryland and founder of EduMatch, a global network where educators connect and collaborate. She's also won the ISTE Making It Happen Award. At ISTE 2025, she's spotlighting the intersection of AI and education. Thank you for coming on the show, Sarah.

Sarah Thomas, PhD: Thank you so much for having me, Vicki.

Vicki Davis: You're really passionate about using AI in the right ways, and you believe AI is a creativity amplifier. That's so different from what a lot of people believe. Why do you believe that?

Sarah Thomas, PhD: I've been wrestling with my own use of AI, and I've been thinking about this intently for the last couple of weeks. One thing that someone said on Facebook when I threw it out to the community: that AI, if you use it for productivity, actually frees up your time so that you're able to shine and devote your own space and creativity to your zone of genius. And I really, really love that. It resonated with me because it definitely helps me automate a lot of things and gives me back more time in my day.

Vicki Davis: So what kind of things do you automate with AI?

Sarah Thomas, PhD: A lot of organization. I was giving a keynote — I created the slides and the content myself, but I did a run-through of how I was going to present it. I spoke to the AI and said, if you could just give me this back in bullet-point format so I could plug it into my speaker notes. If I were to do that myself, it probably would have taken me way longer. That's one thing it really helped me with.

Vicki Davis: A lot of people say students can't use AI, we don't want them to use AI, with all the debates going on. As you advise your district, what are some of the good uses of AI you really like to see students have?

Sarah Thomas, PhD: Just as with anything else, AI is nuanced. There are some big rocks you have to make sure are in place — for example, COPPA and FERPA protections. Making sure that PII is not uploaded, and really reading the privacy policies and terms of service to figure out what kind of information they're collecting on students. I speak with a lot of districts about their plans for rolling out AI, and one pivotal point: as educators, we really need to understand how these tools work. If we're not in those spaces, it opens up Pandora's box. We definitely need to model for our students how to use it ethically and how to maximize their output — not just run it through and copy and paste whatever the output is. That reminds me of when I was first teaching and students got a hold of Wikipedia and would just copy the page and paste it. Really teaching them to use AI in a way that helps them brainstorm and maximize their creativity — that's what we need to encourage.

Vicki Davis: Tell me a story. Have you seen a student recently use AI in a really cool way where you thought, yes, that's what I want to talk about?

Sarah Thomas, PhD: The district I work most closely with has been doing a lot of piloting with artificial intelligence, and I've been looking at it with an eagle-eye view — students using it as a writing tutor, to give them feedback, to help poke holes in their work. Teaching our students to use it in a way that makes them better — I think that's where all the magic is lying.

Vicki Davis: I want them to know how to use AI to give them formative feedback before I grade. It's kind of like spell check to me — I won't take it if they haven't spell checked. And now I don't even want to take it unless they've gotten that initial AI feedback. Why should I be the one getting the feedback and sitting there going through it?

Vicki Davis: How do we help educators move from fear to using AI in the classroom? Because there's a lot of fear.

Sarah Thomas, PhD: That's understandable with a lot of new things — that fear. AI has its pros and its cons. When I first started learning about it, I was just like, yes, AI! But the more I use it and learn, there are things we need to keep in mind. The key is making sure everyone is well-informed of the good and the bad. I think it was Carnegie who said, if you're afraid of something, think of the worst possible outcome and then prepare against that.

Vicki Davis: Yeah — Dale Carnegie. I feel like fear is paralyzing kids, adults, so many people, especially as it relates to AI. There are some AI views that I think are over the top — okay, we're going to marry AI and all that. That's not healthy. I'm pro-human, you know? So let me ask you this: is there one piece of advice for teachers just starting to integrate AI, and what would it be?

Sarah Thomas, PhD: We want to keep our students safe. When using AI, be sure not to enter personally identifiable information — keep that secure. Thankfully I don't have a horror story, but I can give you a hypothetical. If that's input into an AI system without safeguards, it could help train the model, and all of a sudden the model knows that little Jimmy goes to such-and-such school. We really don't want to give that information about our students. On the flip side, also evaluate the output. I spoke to the Wikipedia example with our students, and it's so easy to fall into that trap ourselves — we want to verify whatever AI gives us. I heard someone mention the 80/20 rule: even if it does 80% of the work, that 20% — eyeballs on it, tweaking it — that's something we need to do. I have a quick story about that: a lawyer used AI to look up case history and actually tried to use the output in a courtroom, but most of those were hallucinations. You always have to go back and verify.

Vicki Davis: Ugh. Because we're ultimately responsible. Tools like Perplexity — that's why I'm kind of liking it, because it can be more accurate. I like to play “find the lie in AI” with my students. We use different models on something we know. The way they do it is, who's the greatest basketball player who ever lived, or what's the best movie ever — something they know about, so they can see, hey, this might be debatable. Because they think there's just “the answer.” So, as we finish up — we're recording this before ISTE, and this will air after ISTE 2025 — if you could pick one thing you want everybody who goes to your session to understand, what is that one thing?

Sarah Thomas, PhD: What I'd want everyone who comes to my session to understand is the power that we have as educators, the power our students have, and that when we collaborate among ourselves and with each other, we can truly change the world. That would be my one takeaway.

Vicki Davis: What do you say to people who say AI can help with a teacher shortage?

Sarah Thomas, PhD: It can maybe help brainstorm some solutions, but AI is not going to take the place of a teacher. It can help with instructional practice, but there's nothing like a human being. Like you said, you're human first — human-centric. I agree with that. A robot is not going to take the place of a teacher.

Vicki Davis: We would never think a robot could be a doctor. It's insulting to the professionalism of teachers. We've got such a teaching crisis now. Everybody I ask — these questions are about relationship — and I always say you have to relate to educate. So Sarah, Dr. Sarah Thomas, where are the places people can go to connect with you?

Sarah Thomas, PhD: I would love your listeners to connect with me — I love to talk shop. You can find me on the socials, Sarah the teacher: S-A-R-A-H-D-A-T-E-E-C-H-U-R. And you can find my organization, EduMatch, at edumatch.org. Definitely reach out, click on that “Work With Us” page, and see how we can support you.

Vicki Davis: Thank you, Sarah. I appreciate you for coming on the show.

Sarah Thomas, PhD: Thank you so much, Vicki. I appreciate you.

Vicki Davis: Teachers, show your students what a career actually looks like — not in a textbook, but in the real world. On an EF Career Readiness Tour, your students will connect with entrepreneurs at the London School of Economics, go behind the scenes at Toyota's manufacturing plant in Japan, or tour a French culinary school to see future chefs in action. EF Career Readiness Tours can take your students around the world for hands-on industry experience you can't replicate in the classroom. Browse EF Career Readiness Tours at eftours.com/ready. That's eftours.com/ready — and make careers come alive through travel.

Disclosure of Material Connection: This is a sponsored episode and blog post. EF Educational Tours has compensated me to share information about their Career Readiness Tours. However, all opinions expressed are my own. I have personally reviewed these resources and only recommend tools I believe offer genuine value to classroom teachers. My endorsement is limited to the educational products and services discussed in this episode. This post also contains Amazon affiliate links; if you purchase a book through them I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.” The sponsor has no impact on the editorial content of this show.

The post AI as a Creativity Amplifier with Dr. Sarah Thomas appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!

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Monday, June 1, 2026

Student STEM Trips That Made Students Say ’“I Could Do Thit fix education. People will. Interview with Jean-Claude Brizard

From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis

Subscribe to the 10 Minute Teacher Podcast anywhere you listen to podcasts.

Traveling with students is awesome. But when we're intentional, we can travel AND connect with what we teach in the classroom every day. Oh, there are so many quotes about how amazing travel is, but I've included a few. Travel, if you can help make it happen, is one of those things that can change student lives.

I've taken students to Dubai (twice), Doha, Mumbai, Beijing, and Honolulu (oh yes, and Atlanta, Georgia several times) Every trip I've taken, I've learned more about traveling with students but have always received a lot of positive feedback from students and their parents. It is great to align your trip with Science, Technology, Engineering, Math and also Career and Technical Education, but it is one of those things that you'll need some help.

In today’s episode with Miranda Grabowski, Angela Cannava, Karen Spencer, and Edith Cortez, you’ll hear about students from middle and high school who took trips and how it helped change their world in marvelous ways. If you want to hear the extended episode where we talk about both STEM and CTE and tips for traveling with students, check out Traveling With Students: Five Teachers Who Took the Leap.

Sponsored: This episode is sponsored by EF Explore America and their STEM Tours. While EF Explore America sponsored this podcast, all opinions are those of the teachers and Vicki Davis, the host.

Lead your students on a STEM tour to places on the cutting edge of innovation to show them how STEM thinking often shows up where you least expect it. Imagine your students coding robots with MassRobotics at MIT, exploring marine ecosystems in Florida’s coral reefs, or even sitting down to talk with a former spy in Washington DC. If you want to inspire your students and give them a fresh perspective on the power of STEM, visit efexploreamerica.com/STEM.

Some of the stories that teachers tell on this episode include:

  • Eleventh graders planting mangroves on a Panamanian cost
  • Biomed students running a live DNA fingerprinting experiment in a lab in London.
  • A principal's seventh graders walking onto the MIT campus for the first time and watching a FIRST Robotics regional
  • Eighth graders from Laredo Texas who had never been far from home who ran a live scenario at a DC science museum.

There are so many stories. But there are many common endings to the trips. You'll hear how students “grow up” and “change” and are just different, as parents say. I would say that traveling with students is a good “bucket list” item for teachers. Some of my greatest memories of teaching happened across the ocean from the US. It is something worth checking out, for sure!

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Key Takeaways for Teachers from This Episode

  • “STEM stops being abstract the moment a student does it somewhere real.” Miranda Grabowski put it plainly: her students weren’t pretending to care about science in Panama — they were in the boots, on the boat, in the mangroves, doing the conservation. That’s the difference between a lesson and a moment that sticks for a lifetime.
  • “You can’t want the future if you’ve never seen it.” Karen Spencer doesn’t take her seventh graders to MIT and Harvard to intimidate them — she takes them so they can want it. Build the résumé for something you’ve actually seen. This helps change the conversation for students to find a place that fits them.
  • Build the relationships first — the travel will follow. Angela Cannava’s advice for any teacher who wants to take students abroad: “Build strong relationships with students, and they will want to travel with you.” The London Eye at sunset with students grinning? That comes from years of genuine connection in the classroom first.
  • “There’s a whole world outside of Laredo, Texas.” Edith Cortez tells her students that — then she takes them there. She helps them fundraise, she plans the trip, and she watches them compete at a DC science museum and shock themselves with what they can do. For students who never thought travel was for kids like them, that changes what’s possible.

Resources Mentioned in This Episode

About the Guests

Four teachers share their ideas and successes for teaching STEM with student travel.
Four teachers share their ideas and successes for teaching STEM with student travel.

Miranda Grabowski is a biology teacher and instructional coach at Austin High School in Austin, Texas. In eight years in education, she has led eleven international trips with students — including Panama, Thailand, Italy, San Francisco, and Boston — with a focus on aligning educational travel to classroom curriculum. Her Panama trip took forty 11th graders to work with local NGOs on wetland conservation, planting mangroves to help protect Panama’s natural environment.

Angela Cannava is a CTE Biomedical Sciences teacher at Northfield High School in Denver, Colorado, where she established the school’s Health Sciences Pathway and serves as advisor for HOSA Future Health Professionals. She has been teaching for nineteen years. She holds a B.S. in Integrated Physiology from the University of Colorado, Boulder and has led student trips to Great Britain and Belize. Her UK Health Sciences trip included a live forensics workshop where students did real DNA fingerprinting — the same techniques working scientists use.

Karen Spencer is the principal of Parkview Baptist School in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She has been taking her seventh-grade students to Boston on an annual STEM and culture trip that includes MIT, Harvard, MASS Robotics, and a FIRST Robotics regional competition. Her philosophy: students cannot want a future they have never seen — so she takes them to see it.

Edith Cortez is an eighth-grade social studies teacher at United South Middle School in Laredo, Texas. She helps her students fundraise for travel so that every student who wants to go can go. Her Washington DC STEM trip is built on hands-on science museums and interactive scenarios designed to show students from a community where international travel is rare that the world is waiting for them.

Other Shows for STEM Teachers and Administrators

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Episode Transcript

This transcript was generated using AI and has been reviewed by humans for accuracy. Minor errors or artifacts may remain but I worked my best to find any issues with the transcript as I reviewed the show. – Vicki

Click to read the full transcript

Miranda Grabowski (00:04): I get to sit back and watch my students learn how science happens in the real world.

They’re actually doing the science on their own, not just sitting back and letting someone talk.

Angela Cannava (00:15): Ms. Cannava, everything you taught me is actually what they do in the real lab. This is so cool.

Vicki Davis (00:21): Today’s show is sponsored by EF Explore America and the STEM Tours. To show your students how STEM impacts the world up close and in action, go to efexploreamerica.com/STEM. And stay tuned at the end of the show to learn more.

Vicki Davis (00:41): Welcome to the 10 Minute Teacher Podcast. I’m Vicki Davis, the Cool Cat Teacher. And today we’re talking about something that changes students forever — teaching STEM when you travel with your students. Here’s what I’ve learned after more than two decades in the classroom: STEM stops being abstract the moment a student does real science in a real place.

A biology class in Panama plants mangroves. A biomed class in the UK runs a live DNA fingerprinting lab. A middle schooler walks the MIT campus. Today you’ll meet four teachers who did exactly that. Let’s go.

Miranda Grabowski (01:18): Recently I got back from our Panama trip. Forty of our 11th graders — our students — were in Panama to help conserve their wetlands.

I get to sit back and watch my students learn in real time how science happens in the real world.

They’re actually doing the science on their own, not just sitting back and letting someone talk to them. Out there in the boots, picking up the mangroves, getting on a boat, getting sunburned, going to plant these mangroves to help conserve that natural environment of the country. It’s great to see the students not just pretend to like the thing, but actually do the thing.

Which is one reason I love traveling with kids — is to see them actually get their hands into whatever it is, whether it’s mangroves or paint restoration or whatever the activity is focused on that day. That’s why I like traveling — is to see the kids actually experience things as opposed to just read about them.

Vicki Davis (02:14): Miranda Grabowski in Panama. But what happens when a high school CTE biomed teacher takes her class across the ocean and her students suddenly realize the experiment they’re doing is the exact same one working scientists do for a living? Angela Cannava, Denver, Colorado.

Angela Cannava (02:33): I remember one student that necessarily wasn’t the most excited to be in class sometimes — I just remember him coming up to me after doing the whole forensics workshop and saying, “Ms. Cannava, everything you taught me is actually what they do in the real lab. This is so cool.”

We did everything from health science related things — anatomical museums and seeing anatomical artifacts that were collected from years ago, a lot of the old paintings that were done of anatomy, some of the first anatomical paintings that were done. We had to go see all of those. That hooked really nicely also into the anatomy class that I teach, because I also teach an anatomy class. Lots of classroom connections with what we were actually doing and seeing. But then you also have all the really fun stuff beyond the learning part of the EF Tours. We went on the London Eye and it was like sunset and beautiful. And I have this picture of these students just looking out across the skyline — all smiles — and I’ve never seen such happy kids in my life. It was a really good mix of getting to see really good sites plus the learning.

A key for any teacher wanting to take students on a trip is just — number one — knowing that you can definitely do it. If you build strong relationships with students, they will want to travel with you.

Vicki Davis (03:57): DNA in the UK. Next stop, Boston, where a principal took seventh graders to MIT, Harvard, and the FIRST Robotics regionals — because you can’t want the future if you’ve never seen it. Karen Spencer, Parkview Baptist, Baton Rouge.

Karen Spencer (04:13): We went to MIT and Harvard — got a glimpse at Harvard, an Ivy League, more liberal arts school, and then MIT, a more STEM school — to show them options. But it starts now, building that résumé and getting your scores up, your transcripts ready, so that you have options when you get there.

We did a tour of Fenway Park, went to MASS Robotics, and just got to experiment there. And we, of course, turned it into a competition and they were all in. Did you know that Boston has a Museum of Ice Cream? We found that one on this trip and it was so fun. We did the Fine Arts Museum, the Museum of Science, we did Lexington and Concord, the Boston Tea Party, the USS Constitution. We did the Freedom Trail. We walked up Beacon Hill. You name it — I think we did it. I have to tell you, Boston this time of year was stunningly beautiful with all the trees in bloom and the tulips and the daffodils.

Vicki Davis (05:11): Yes. And we’re recording this in April 2026. If you’re saying, “Hey, I want to go when it looks like that” — so you’ve been using EF Tours for a while. Why do you keep coming back to them?

Karen Spencer (05:21): Well, they have proven time and time again that they’re willing to listen. They’re willing to help me. I will tell you — on this last trip, the Museum of Ice Cream was an absolute spur-of-the-moment thing. One of the parents mentioned it in passing at lunch. And I said, “Wait, what?” I looked at my tour guide and said, “We have to make this happen.” And he was like, “Let me see if we can squeeze it in.” He and I start looking at our schedule — how can we squeeze it in? I call EF. I said, “How can we make this work?” And they were like, “We’re on it.” They jumped on it with us and it was amazing. Three hours later we were there.

And that’s one of the reasons I like EF so much — they want to work with me. They want to make it a great experience. And I trust them. They’ve been in business a long time. They send security guards to help at night, that sort of thing. It just gives me a peace of mind.

Vicki Davis (06:15): We’ve been talking with Karen Spencer, principal at Parkview Baptist School from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Vicki Davis (06:21): Ivy League in seventh grade plants the seed. But what happens when a social studies teacher takes eighth graders to hands-on science museums in Washington, DC? Edith Cortez, Laredo.

Edith Cortez (06:34): Everyone thinks Washington — monuments and memorials. But the museums that we went to were hands-on and my kids loved it. The museums — they are so competitive. They had so many scenarios to gravitate from and moving around in every single one. And then they had to beat each other through the activities to get to the end game.

We went to several different museums that we were able to visit during our Washington STEM trip and that was very interesting for us.

Four boys that traveled with me were my students that year. And they were so excited to travel — “we’re gonna do this and we’re gonna do that.” And I kept saying, “It’s a STEM trip. It’s a STEM trip, we’re gonna do this.” And they all loved the idea of it, but they didn’t understand or internalize what it really meant.

Once they got there, they were like, “Hey, Miss Cortez — yo, this is really cool. I didn’t think we were gonna get to do all these things.” I’m like, “What did you think it meant?” They’re like, “I don’t know — we had no idea we were going to actually build on things or try to navigate through all of these activities or scenarios.”

There was one that showed about terminology and then they gave them scenarios and they had to build on a story. And my boys were so extravagantly engaged with it that they just ran with it. So many details, they added so much to it. They had the crowd going. I have a massive group thread with all the parents and I’m sending them pictures of everything. The parents are like, “My — we should have signed on to this trip.”

But it’s not easy. Hardships happen and life happens. Sometimes they don’t have that opportunity, and I totally understand — because my parents would have never, probably, been able. I always tell my students: if and when you have the opportunity in life, take advantage of it. Because there’s a whole world outside of Laredo, Texas.

Vicki Davis (08:07): Yeah.

Edith Cortez (08:25): We need to take advantage of seeing—

Vicki Davis (08:28): Four teachers. Four different subjects. One shared truth: once a kid has done it, they start asking, “Could I do this for a living?” That’s the magic. And that’s why EF Tours, our sponsor, exists — to help teachers like you and me take STEM off the page and into the world. This is Vicki Davis.

Vicki Davis (08:48): If you’re a STEM teacher like me, you want your students to see how STEM impacts the real world — not just read about it. On an EF Explore America STEM tour, they might code robots with MASS Robotics at MIT, explore marine ecosystems in Florida’s coral reefs, or even sit down with a former spy in Washington DC to discover how STEM thinking shows up where you least expect it. Every itinerary is designed by experts to amplify what you teach through hands-on experiences that can’t be replicated in the classroom. Visit efexploreamerica.com/STEM and see what an EF Explore America STEM tour can do for your students. Some of the greatest things I’ve ever done with my students have been tours. They make it all easy for you. So again, check out efexploreamerica.com/STEM.

Disclosure of Material Connection: This is a sponsored episode and blog post. EF Explore America has compensated me to share information about their STEM Tours. However, all opinions expressed are my own. I have personally reviewed these resources and only recommend tools I believe offer genuine value to classroom teachers. My endorsement is limited to the educational products and services discussed in this episode. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.” The sponsor has no impact on the editorial content of this show.

The post Student STEM Trips That Made Students Say “I Could Do This” appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!

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