Jed
@jedediyah.com
Teacher ◦ Robots and mathy science ◦ He/Him
#ITeachMath #ITeachPhysics #TeamCompSci
#mtbos #PAEMST
https://jedediyah.github.io/
#ITeachMath #ITeachPhysics #TeamCompSci
#mtbos #PAEMST
https://jedediyah.github.io/
If we were to have guests on to debate cell phone policies or AI use...who would have strong opinions? Any recommendations for guests?
January 24, 2026 at 3:46 PM
We are being reckless with the privacy, education, health, and futures of our students.
January 22, 2026 at 11:58 AM
We are being reckless with the privacy, education, health, and futures of our students.
Teachers who, by the way, have been co-opted into unpaid labor for the benefit of corporations by finding uses for their non-products. Tech that has been thrown at us with no clear application while at the same time being called “revolutionary”.
January 22, 2026 at 11:58 AM
Teachers who, by the way, have been co-opted into unpaid labor for the benefit of corporations by finding uses for their non-products. Tech that has been thrown at us with no clear application while at the same time being called “revolutionary”.
Some worry about the intensely dehumanizing nature of AI and corporate practices, from ignoring the humans behind the scenes doing so much of the labor to make AI appear functional, to school districts proposing making AI avatars of real teachers.
January 22, 2026 at 11:58 AM
Some worry about the intensely dehumanizing nature of AI and corporate practices, from ignoring the humans behind the scenes doing so much of the labor to make AI appear functional, to school districts proposing making AI avatars of real teachers.
Others worry about cheating and the erosion of academic integrity facilitated by technologies built on data theft.
January 22, 2026 at 11:58 AM
Others worry about cheating and the erosion of academic integrity facilitated by technologies built on data theft.
Some worry about the effects of anthropomorphizing AI, which is intentionally built-in to exploit human psychology; or exposing young people to this tech at a time of critical cognitive and social development, and the damaging psychological effects.
January 22, 2026 at 11:58 AM
Some worry about the effects of anthropomorphizing AI, which is intentionally built-in to exploit human psychology; or exposing young people to this tech at a time of critical cognitive and social development, and the damaging psychological effects.
Some worry about the concentration of power into the hands of a few, granting surveillance and control of information to those who will abuse it.
January 22, 2026 at 11:58 AM
Some worry about the concentration of power into the hands of a few, granting surveillance and control of information to those who will abuse it.
Some worry about the demonstrated biases of AI against women, people of color, non-native English speakers, the neurodivergent, non-hegemonic cultures in general…
January 22, 2026 at 11:58 AM
Some worry about the demonstrated biases of AI against women, people of color, non-native English speakers, the neurodivergent, non-hegemonic cultures in general…
Some worry about the worsening environmental impact and energy consumption of AI, so enormous that major corporations abandoned their carbon commitments.
January 22, 2026 at 11:58 AM
Some worry about the worsening environmental impact and energy consumption of AI, so enormous that major corporations abandoned their carbon commitments.
Forcing their products into use and then claiming that use as evidence of something. What we have is a largely uncritical adoption of AI in education.
January 22, 2026 at 11:58 AM
Forcing their products into use and then claiming that use as evidence of something. What we have is a largely uncritical adoption of AI in education.
who then parrot a sales pitch at the first faculty meeting of the year; Or companies who tunnel their AI products through platforms already established within schools, making it difficult to opt-out --
January 22, 2026 at 11:58 AM
who then parrot a sales pitch at the first faculty meeting of the year; Or companies who tunnel their AI products through platforms already established within schools, making it difficult to opt-out --
Instead we have math education leadership promoting harmful and even illegal practices. We have conferences that accept AI hype and reject critical perspectives. We have tech companies pushing their products onto administrators over the summer,
January 22, 2026 at 11:58 AM
Instead we have math education leadership promoting harmful and even illegal practices. We have conferences that accept AI hype and reject critical perspectives. We have tech companies pushing their products onto administrators over the summer,
Right, at the point when there is a conception that needs a word, we introduce the word.
I would disagree that this "simultaneous" because it happens after quite a bit of playing with rocks. We are probably fundamentally agreeing but just lack the terminology ;)
I would disagree that this "simultaneous" because it happens after quite a bit of playing with rocks. We are probably fundamentally agreeing but just lack the terminology ;)
January 11, 2026 at 7:32 PM
Right, at the point when there is a conception that needs a word, we introduce the word.
I would disagree that this "simultaneous" because it happens after quite a bit of playing with rocks. We are probably fundamentally agreeing but just lack the terminology ;)
I would disagree that this "simultaneous" because it happens after quite a bit of playing with rocks. We are probably fundamentally agreeing but just lack the terminology ;)
But I wait for them to discover that some quantities can only be arranged into rock configurations in only 2 ways.
That is the right time to introduce the terminology.
That is the right time to introduce the terminology.
January 11, 2026 at 7:25 PM
But I wait for them to discover that some quantities can only be arranged into rock configurations in only 2 ways.
That is the right time to introduce the terminology.
That is the right time to introduce the terminology.
The point here is that there are contexts in which it is pedegogically innappropriate to start with terminology. There are even contexts where it is a mistake to provide terminology too early.
My 3-5 year old students very quickly notice primes in the rock patterns, and we define "prime" together.
My 3-5 year old students very quickly notice primes in the rock patterns, and we define "prime" together.
January 11, 2026 at 7:24 PM
The point here is that there are contexts in which it is pedegogically innappropriate to start with terminology. There are even contexts where it is a mistake to provide terminology too early.
My 3-5 year old students very quickly notice primes in the rock patterns, and we define "prime" together.
My 3-5 year old students very quickly notice primes in the rock patterns, and we define "prime" together.
Yes! Of course! I suspect we are very much aligned in our thinking on that.
I am a firm believer in the importance of consistent proper terminology. There is too often too much unlearning I need my students to do when they get to me.
I am a firm believer in the importance of consistent proper terminology. There is too often too much unlearning I need my students to do when they get to me.
January 11, 2026 at 7:24 PM
Yes! Of course! I suspect we are very much aligned in our thinking on that.
I am a firm believer in the importance of consistent proper terminology. There is too often too much unlearning I need my students to do when they get to me.
I am a firm believer in the importance of consistent proper terminology. There is too often too much unlearning I need my students to do when they get to me.
Perhaps @mathforge.org will have to clarify, but I am not understanding him to say that students should not learn terminology or that we should avoid it. What I'm hearing is that terminology is not necessarily best introduced simultaneously with concepts.
January 11, 2026 at 7:11 PM
Perhaps @mathforge.org will have to clarify, but I am not understanding him to say that students should not learn terminology or that we should avoid it. What I'm hearing is that terminology is not necessarily best introduced simultaneously with concepts.
Maybe not!
I just think that there is a lot of learning that can happen before we introduce technical terminology.
I just think that there is a lot of learning that can happen before we introduce technical terminology.
January 11, 2026 at 7:06 PM
Maybe not!
I just think that there is a lot of learning that can happen before we introduce technical terminology.
I just think that there is a lot of learning that can happen before we introduce technical terminology.
I am a *huge fan* of proper and consistent use of terminology.
But I think there are contexts like this where it would be a huge mistake to offer the terminology without the need for it or until it is useful to support expanding understanding.
But I think there are contexts like this where it would be a huge mistake to offer the terminology without the need for it or until it is useful to support expanding understanding.
January 11, 2026 at 7:02 PM
I am a *huge fan* of proper and consistent use of terminology.
But I think there are contexts like this where it would be a huge mistake to offer the terminology without the need for it or until it is useful to support expanding understanding.
But I think there are contexts like this where it would be a huge mistake to offer the terminology without the need for it or until it is useful to support expanding understanding.
Consider we have a sense of quantity but don't have numbers. We have stones that we can arrange in piles and patterns.
A natural way to arrange stones is in rectangles *if you can*. I use this with 3-5 year olds and very quickly they are exploring and finding factorizations and identifying primes.
A natural way to arrange stones is in rectangles *if you can*. I use this with 3-5 year olds and very quickly they are exploring and finding factorizations and identifying primes.
January 11, 2026 at 6:58 PM
Consider we have a sense of quantity but don't have numbers. We have stones that we can arrange in piles and patterns.
A natural way to arrange stones is in rectangles *if you can*. I use this with 3-5 year olds and very quickly they are exploring and finding factorizations and identifying primes.
A natural way to arrange stones is in rectangles *if you can*. I use this with 3-5 year olds and very quickly they are exploring and finding factorizations and identifying primes.