ACE Global Book Club – Chapters 11-13– STEAM Power

I like the opportunities making gives for having those conversations organically. When I did one of the monthly Adobe creative challenges with my maker club we talked about AI, and how we want to support/use tools that treat creators ethically (like Firefly!)

Just last week I had a student who wanted to make some stickers...some were his artwork, others were clearly copyrighted. When he pushed back a little when I suggested we not replicated copyrighted artwork, I pointed to his own designs and asked how he would feel if another student started manufacturing stickers of them without his permission. 🙂

I love that making puts students in the "producer" mindset instead of the "consumer" mindset, which really makes these types of discussions and issues hit home!

So sorry I won't be able to join the author visit today...I'm actually presenting at a library conference about making (and using the bulk edit tool in Adobe Express to do some hands-on making with my participants!) Tim Needles is such a treasure...he spoke at MakerCon here a few weeks back and it was so inspiring! You're in for a treat.

Being a STEAM Lab Teacher, technology is my life. However, I know I need to be better about the digital citizenship aspects of it. Our district blocks SO MUCH (not complaining) but it makes it easy to not talk as much about proper use. My goal going forward is to incorporate more of this because just one presentation a year on it (they create it and give the presentation based on our VBCPS standards). 

I do love the idea of drawing with robots though! We code them frequently, but never thought about that! I want them to do random but also make specific shapes. Was taking notes while I was reading how I can make this happen and excited to try it!

While reading these chapters, and actually the whole book come to think of it, I simultaneously thought to myself "wow, I already do so much with tech!" and also "huh, there is so much I'm not doing!". 

I also feel like I am coming at this from a slightly different perspective than most. I am an art teacher looking to infuse STEM into Art, not Art into STEM. We have a dedeicated STEM teacher whom I have worked with on a number of projects.

In terms of digital citizenship and meaningful uses of tech, I teach my students to use Google Classroom and search engines starting in 1st and 2nd grade. We talk about what types of words we need to use to get the output we want when we search. Kids photograph theri own artwork and keep a digital portfolio on Google Classroom. I have a classroom set of iPads that I have loaded with Art apps for the kids to use as well- drawing tools, art history apps, and other art-based games. 

Last year I introduced my 2nd graders to Adobe Express's AI tool. They designed dream houses and drew them in a watercoor resist. They then dictated their descriptions into the AI to see what it would come up with. The results were wild! It sparked great conversation about how AI is not as powerful as your own imagination, since it often left things out, and the results differed greatly from their own imaginings. 

I know that the STEM teacher teaches robotics. It could be interesting to collaborate on a project with her and think about how we can incorporate robots into Art. We do not have drones available for the kids to use. 

I remember seeing the Quiver AR materials like 10+ years ago. It was cool back then, but I didn't love that you had to use their proprietary coloring sheets. Using Quiver's materials could be cool as an extenstion acitvity for early finishers though. I will need to check out the other apps that Tim mentioned to see which, if any, will work with original artwork on non-proprietary papers.

I honestly have no idea how to realistically use VR in school. We have a VR set at home that my husband won from a work event and it is very cool! But I cannot see how this is feasible in an eIementary Art classroom. From using it at home I know that you need dedicated space to move around and not hit anything.  There is just not enough space in the classroom. I can also picture it being distracting for other students working on other things, or kids just vying to be the next in line to use it.  Cool ideas though! 

How are you embedding meaningful uses of technology and digital citizenship in lessons or opportunities with students?

I think in the past 4 years we have seen such a tremendous growth with technology.   With Lidar technology that was incorporated into iPhones and iPads, Augmented reality took off.   The concept of the Merge Cubes is so cool.   Unfortuntately, the cost vs use in my classroom offsets the "need" to buy a set for my classroom.  My own children have VR headsets for gaming which they use, but not as often I would like for the cost of them.   I have had the opportunity to use Apple's Vision Pro and can see the amazing potential that it has, but the 3K price tag is prohibitive to purchase.   

Robotics is also a very cool topic.  Many high schools now have robotic teams and compete as various competitions.  However, the need for the "proper" certification to teach the robotics classes (at least in NJ) is at times prohibitive.   I currently have a freshman in college who is studying architecture, a junior in high school, and a 4th grader.  We have exposed them all in some fashion to robots and robotics, but it never really stuck with them.

We are at a time where online programs for AI are growing exponentially.   Every time you turn around there is a new platform that is geared to education.  It is hard to keep up.   I think Adobe Express is a great platform for students to use to increase their digital citizenship.   One of the toughest things to educate students is copyright law and use of imagery in projects.  They often just take from Google not caring about who owns the image.   It drives me crazy when students submit work with watermarked images.   By creating their own content with Adobe Express, students do not need to worry about infringing on someone's copyright.   It's theirs.   As AI grows in its computing power, we are starting to see a shift in cloud-based AI.   The hardware needed to keep up with AI, is not feasible.   It can been seen most recently with Adobe's Premiere on the phone and the ability of Adobe Firefly to do amazing things.   The cloud-based AI, is bring some equity to those who want to run powerful AI, but do not have the extreme expense to purchase expensive hardware.  I know that we recently had to purchase a $4K tower for my son's architecture school.   Although all of the RAM and processor speed is not needed right now to run all the engineering and architecture programs, they plan what will be needed in the next four years.   

In addition to using guided activities in Express like 3 Ways to Stay Safe Online, in my role, I’ve been weaving digital citizenship into the things families actually care about and notice. One example is our Future Ready Librarians parent trainings, where we walk caregivers through what safe, responsible online behavior looks like for their kids, not as a lecture, but anchored in the apps, AI tools, and everyday tech their students are already using. Those conversations end up giving parents language, confidence, and a clearer sense of how to partner with the school, and it sets a foundation that carries straight back into the classroom.

To be honest, a lot of the examples in the chapters felt highly aspirational for my current school environment. While the vision of integrating cutting-edge robotics and advanced AR/VR is incredibly exciting and certainly cool, the reality is that many of those tools and resources are currently out of my school's budget. It is a real challenge to see such wonderful pedagogical ideas and not have the funding to implement them fully. However, I loved the components focusing on artificial intelligence. Despite our budget constraints, I believe we must absolutely engage with AI because it is our students' future. I treat teaching digital citizenship as non-negotiable, and it evolves rapidly with tools like AI. We have a responsibility to not just warn students about it, but to equip them to use it, understand it, and critique it. I fully agree with the chapter's idea of embedding AI in creative projects. You have convinced me—we absolutely have to get them creating some art with AI to combine that element of "cool" technology with critical thinking. Currently, I embed meaningful uses of technology and digital citizenship by focusing on AI as a creation tool using simple, accessible AI tools to explore prompts, bias, and the ethical use of digital assets. I also prioritize source and bias criticality, using real-world examples to discuss how algorithms sort information, and finally, focusing on their personal data privacy and the digital footprint they are creating now.

As the school librarian, I often use technology with all the grade levels. Well, I haven't tried it out with kindergarten yet. When I do use technology, students are using it to research and then report their findings in a new digital form. Through the year I introduce something new they could do using a program, that I introduce to them in prior years or lessons. I recently taught fourth graders how to create self portraits of themselves using the AI tool in Adobe Express and during the lesson we talked about how AI uses text to create images.

I have to start out by saying that love how we are reading these chapters so close to the International Day of STEM on November 8! I agree with @StevieFrank23- these chapters were packed full of great thoughts and quotes. My first thought is that I'd love to have the opportunity to play with VR/AR and headsets, but I feel like the average teacher (and person) doesn't have the resources to get these, especially into the hands of their students, without some kind of grant or funding. The best alternative I could come up with are the Nearpod 360 VR lessons, which give students a chance to explore places 3D in a virtual reality field trip format. VR can take them to places that they would not have been able to visit if it weren't for technology. I took my students on a field trip to famous landmarks and even the rainforest once (without leaving the classroom) and they learned so much!

On page 107, Tim writes "Our world has continued to incorporate robobts into more and more industries." I am OBSESSED with robots and I know that kids are excited about them too. I know people are scared that AI and robots are going to "take over the world" but here is my favorite proof that they aren't ready yet-

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/6Kp5qrCExps

Because my focus is elementary students, I haven't played much with kids creating their own robots yet. We just use premade ones, like Indis, Sphero Bolts, Finces, and of course- Beebots! We code Beebots to draw geometric shapes with the marker attachment and to code using the Beebot mats. This kind of matches the robot drawing project in Chapter 11. 

Quick question for the group- anyone who has experience with drones, tell me more about what you do! Does anyone do them with elementary kids? I haven't played with these AT ALL and I'm curious to know more. Thanks everyone and have a good week!