Denver Online is an innovative online middle school and high school serving 6th-12th grade students in Denver Public Schools. The school was established in 2003, originally serving only high school students. In 2021, the school expanded to include both middle school and high school options. Denver Online is designated as a Pathways school and is home to roughly 650 students with a common need for a flexible learning environment.
As AI becomes increasingly integrated into everyday life, students need opportunities to examine its ethical implications critically. This resource explores how educators can use workshops to help students reflect on AI’s biases, environmental impact, and role in society through interactive discussions, role-playing exercises, and ethical dilemmas. By engaging with diverse perspectives and real-world scenarios, students develop a deeper understanding of AI’s complexities and learn to make informed, ethical decisions about its use.
Project-based learning empowers students to take ownership of their education by engaging in meaningful, real-world challenges. AI can enhance this process by acting as a thought partner, helping students generate ideas, refine their work, and navigate complex projects. Explore how AI can be thoughtfully integrated into project-based learning, ensuring it supports rather than replaces human-driven learning.
AI ethics role cards are given to students. Each card describes a member of the community, ranging from students, researchers, environmental activists, and therapists. Students take on these roles for a community forum to engage in a town hall about the ethics of AI.
This AI inventory presents a list of scenarios for students, teachers, and other stakeholders to reflect on. Participants determine whether they would use AI, avoid it, or consider it depending on the situation. This exercise helps them clarify their stance on AI while recognizing that ethical AI use is not a black-and-white issue.
Valley New School’s Project Checklist guides students through the process of development by outlining the key steps for students to follow and complete their projects. It also offers helpful suggestions on how to approach each step.
Valley New School offers 68 students in grades 7-12 the opportunity to learn in an integrated, project-based environment. VNS provides unprecedented access to technology, an active focus on the community, and a student-advisor ratio of 17 to 1. The school has been designated as a national “lab school” for project-based learning by the Gates-EdVisions organization and, as such, provides an example and leadership in best practices for this learning model.
This executive summary of The Learning Accelerator (TLA)’s research brief, “Innovative Approaches to Learning Acceleration Within the Core of K-12 Instruction: Initial Observations About Scaling and Implementation,” presents early learnings from Mathematica’s evaluation of the Accelerating Adoption Network, an initiative to scale the adoption of 10 technology-enabled innovations designed to accelerate student learning from within the core of instruction. Explore the full brief here.
This brief from The Learning Accelerator (TLA), “Innovative Approaches to Learning Acceleration Within the Core of K-12 Instruction: Initial Observations About Scaling and Implementation,” presents early learnings from Mathematica’s evaluation of TLA’s Accelerating Adoption Network, an initiative to scale the adoption of 10 technology-enabled innovations designed to accelerate student learning from within the core of instruction. Explore this brief’s standalone executive summary.
DSST Public Schools’ civics teachers integrated AI literacy into their existing curriculum by connecting it to their unit on power, helping students understand AI’s impact on civic life. Their lessons emphasized responsible AI use, critical thinking, and collaboration, encouraging students to analyze AI’s potential for both harm and good.
