Raising Curious Minds In An AI World

Should children be using AI, or should we be keeping them away from it completely?

In this episode, I speak to Teacher Alex, a Grade R teacher, deputy principal, creative educator and parent, about what responsible AI use can look like for children of different ages.

We explore why banning AI may leave children less prepared for the world they are growing into, but also why simply handing them a device without guidance can be dangerous.

Alex shares practical examples from her classroom and home, including how she uses AI to:

• Adapt lessons for children who learn differently
• Support creativity without replacing hands-on learning
• Help children express ideas they cannot yet write or draw
• Teach critical thinking and help children recognise fake content
• Introduce coding, robotics and digital skills through play
• Save planning time while improving the quality of her teaching
• Create safer, more open conversations about technology at home

We also discuss screen time, online safety, neurodiverse learning, AI-generated images, accessibility and the importance of helping children understand that AI can be useful without always being correct.

AI will never teach a child what it feels like to touch a dog, climb a jungle gym or build something with their own hands. But, when it is used thoughtfully, it can help prepare them, support them and give them new ways to learn.

The question is no longer simply whether children will use AI.

It is whether the adults around them understand it well enough to guide them.

Link To AI Game For Kids:
https://chatgpt.com/g/g-6a425b97b9f88191b8e83348ee2da092-magic-maxs-magic-mix

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:17

Hello, hello, and welcome to South Africa. My name is Maxine, and today we have an amazing interview with an amazing lady. You'll hear throughout our conversation that I absolutely love her opinion on AI and how she tackles all the things that is related to AI, but also just to technology and kids and how our kids are in this new time that we're in. In the interview, she covers a lot of aspects about how to handle AI and how to handle technology with your kids and not just small kids, she also has a teenage daughter. But the most important thing that I took away from this interview was that you have to be educated yourself before you can even try to understand how your kids consume this. She just really has a great way of describing and explaining how you can do that and how we should be doing it as parents. I definitely felt like I needed to up my game, even being in this space, just in terms of how we communicate with our kids in terms of technology. So without further ado, let's dive into the interview and I hope you enjoy it. I first just want to thank you for doing this for me. I just I love your opinion. I just think in today's world where you have so many people going, I'm not going to use this. And in your line of work and what you do, and you being so creative and you going, I want to use it, I love that opinion. So, in saying all of that, can you tell the audience? I know you don't want to, but can you tell the audience who you are and what you do so they can understand the context of our conversation?

SPEAKER_01 2:01

Um, I'm Alex, Lexi the Crazy Redhead, whatever. My days include waking up at four most mornings or at three if my cat decides he wants to jump on my head, sometimes bottle feeding, sometimes looking after a rescue. At the moment, the latest little one is a 12-year-old dashwind who has just come in who needs lots of love, and then peeling something off a 3D printer, realizing that I needed to finish marking or doing something that I didn't do the night before, or before waking my daughter up at half past five. My days are a crazy whirlwind of creativity, tech, and lots of love in nature. And I think that what makes me a bit unique is that crazy side who just wants to be in a tree somehow has brought tech into my happy ways. So I'm a grade art teacher, deputy principal, very ADHD, and I love teaching children to see the wonder and when we see in this world.

SPEAKER_00 3:05

The one thing I also want to add is that you're a grade art teacher at an amazing school, very forward-thinking school.

SPEAKER_01 3:12

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 3:12

You guys do STEM learning within your curriculum, it's not an external thing.

SPEAKER_01 3:16

It's not external, and it is, I would even go as fast as to say as we start with our baby class at little steps because perceptual learning starts through our senses, stem starts through our senses and what we perceive, and get curious minds to explore. And if we go, oh no, but we're only going to start forming learning from you know grade R or grade double knot. Learning starts the moment you're born, and I think that that's where ideal learning a little differently is that it's yes, we're giving you content, but in the world we live in, children from three can access content. You're giving them context, we're giving them context, and we're also giving them a voice. Um, I think for the longest time teaching was you sit and you listen and you then regurgitate. And that's not learning. We want children to have their own opinions, their own ideas, their own creativity, and it doesn't start when they're older, it starts now, yeah, from the get-go, from the get-go.

SPEAKER_00 4:11

And I think that's my biggest thing about. I mean, we chose little steps because you had a tortoise. I'm not gonna lie, it was that was like the point for us where we were looking for our kids because they're so animal-oriented that we wanted that space, yeah. So, but then the moment we got into it, it was like, okay, there is so much more here in terms of how you're learning, and coming from an environment where, like, I was tied to a chair because I had to sit and learn, and I had to learn the way they wanted me to learn. I like the way that you guys do that, and I think that the key thing for me as well is the fact that we know we're going into tech, tech is gonna take over, whether it's like we zooping from one place to the next through I don't know, yeah, black holes or whatever it is, we don't know. But starting from so young to introduce kids to a space where we know we're gonna go more into is such an amazing strategy instead of going from the other way, old traditional schooling. You know, you're like you're preparing them from the get-go. I know that I can trust the fact that my kids are not gonna get left behind in the tech world, are not gonna be struggling to understand these new world concepts because of the foundation that you guys put into it. And I think I mean, if anybody asks me now why I would suggest little steps, it'll be like because you know your kids are gonna get what they need, the context that they need, not for today, but for 10-15 years from today.

SPEAKER_01 5:42

20 years from today. We keep saying that we're trying to teach children for jobs that don't exist, for a world that we don't know what it's gonna look like. Yes, and the only way you can do that is by teaching children to think for themselves to really fostering their gifts, not my gifts and not what I want them to take. The learning isn't stopping in the classroom, they're taking it hopefully and it isn't a goal to an end. The learning is happening and it's happening holistically. It's we're learning through play, we're learning through hands-on experiences, and yes, we're ticking those school readiness boxes, but we don't want children who are going to okay, now you're ready for grade one, and now you're ready for grade two, and now we tick a box and we take a box and we take a box. We want well-rounded, happy children and happy individuals. If you ask me where I want my children to be in 20 years' time, I want them to be exploring their passions and I want them to be happy. It's not about an achievement or a doctorate, it's about are they able to follow their path and just be happy within themselves and within their environment.

SPEAKER_00 6:49

Yeah, so like one of the things that comes to mind for me now is one of the episodes I recorded previously was, and you see this happen not just in traditional education, but when something comes along like AI that's scary, this new, like a new industrial revolution kind of thing where people fear it is. So the example I gave was when a boy is obsessed with crickets, we don't stop him from the crickets. I mean, we allow him to immerse himself in it, get him obsessed because we know what the outcome is gonna be. Exactly. Why is it really that when a technical part comes in, we almost like, okay, no, now you gotta stop? Do you know what I mean? Yes, and I think that happens in traditional education as well, where it's like, okay, no, no, no, hang on, you're doing something different here, I don't like it. Now we have to ban it. And and it's so silly because it all it actually does is stops that person from believing in themselves.

SPEAKER_01 7:41

Yes, it's with regards to tech, there's this huge amount of fear, and I find our parent bodies it's kind of divided. It's either there's just oh they can do whatever they want, and they'll they can be on a phone for seven hours a day with no guidance, really not, there will be no tech, there will be they're not allowed on phone, they're not allowed in social media, they're not allowed to explore any of this, and there doesn't seem to be a middle ground where with giving children the tools where you give them the guidance. I wouldn't know how to build a car. You could give me all the tools and give me an engine and then just say, you know, go at it. Yes, you would not get a car at the end of it, there's no way. Someone would need to give me the skills. So we need to give children the skills and not stop them from using it. So I'm seeing so many schools now that have a strict no AI policy, and they're not allowed to use AI for anything, and they mark down. And for my daughter, AI is a God sense, she got her first full marks for a project, and that for her, as a child who has got dyscula and dyslexia and really battles with learning, to have full marks on something that was really hard to do is an incredible thing to witness. And she didn't get it because she used AI, she did all the grant work first. She had to do the research and do a rough draft and put it all together. Being able to use something like Canva where she can find the right image, put it in exactly where she wants to put it in, put her text in the way she wants to, look up spelling words, guide her correctly. That for her is so empowering because she knows that spelling is such a toughie for her. She knows that there are tools that can help her to achieve what's in her brain, and why should we take that away? Yeah, and I think that the biggest mistake people are making is either not parenting at all and just saying, go onto social media, you can do whatever you want for young children, which is really damaging to their brains, we know that. Or just going, no, you can't have either. I think that AI is supposed to be collaboration, and if you collaborate with your child, with a coworker, with anyone when using AI and you bring your own ideas in, something truly magical happens. But like with building a car, how do we expect a child to use it if they're not given the tools to be able to do it?

SPEAKER_00 10:23

I think also the thing is it's like what a booster it is for any child, and I see it with my kids when we play these games on AI, is they know what they're doing, but to take them to that next level where they're handing in something with complete confidence, and it makes them feel so much better, you know. It's like such a booster, and why would you not want to give that to your kid?

SPEAKER_01 10:46

Exactly that. Why would we force a child who has terrible handwriting, who really battles? They might have dysgraphia, maybe they're a lefty and it's been a battle their whole life, and they've gotten past the handwriting stage. Grade one, grade two, grade three, it's absolutely vital, studying, it's absolutely vital. There's a definite link between writing and retaining information. But if that child is going to be marked down for their handwriting on a project because it's messy, why are we forcing that child to handwrite? If this is about their knowledge, about the way they can share their knowledge, why can't they make an infographic? Why can't they take their knowledge and put it into a video? Why can't they use AI and say, I want to create a cartoon of myself and this is what I want to do, and use their voice and do a presentation? Why does it have to be on a piece of cardboard in a specific way if we're testing that they understand the knowledge and that they can share the knowledge? Yeah. What about a child who is neurodivergent, is on the spectrum, and is has limited verbal interactions on a social level? So it's incredibly intelligent, but being able to stand up and give a speech in front of a class is incredibly challenging. Why should we force that child to do a speech in front of a class? Could they not work that speech and share it via AI? Could they not, like I said, create a video? Could they not use models or puppets and do it in a different way? Um, and I think that in teachers, one of the lines that I hear so often in teaching is, but we've always done it this way. Um, and I hate that line. Yeah, I hate it because if I look at the way I teach now versus when I started teaching, I'm a different person, I teach differently. I'm all in teacher, I'm still crazy class, there's glitter everywhere, everything is messy, there's a puppy dog following me. But even the content has changed slightly because when I started teaching, I really underestimated how clever children are. We really vastly underestimate what children are capable of. And when we put limits on, well, this is what the curriculum says, I'm gonna teach you this because that's what you need to do. I might do a little bit extra because it's fun, or I might do a little bit extra to make you remember. But when we go, okay, we've this is our standard, this is what we need to teach. How can we teach it differently? How can we teach it to our movement-seeking learner? How can we teach it to our visual learner or our auditory learner? How can we teach it to a child who doesn't respond to learning in a conventional way? Um, and I have to say, for me as a teacher, AI has been phenomenal in that because I will pop in my my lesson plan for the week and I'll say, please ensure that this is aligned with CAPS Cambridge curriculum, and where can I elevate my teaching and where am I lacking? Because I can't use the same prep that I used last year. I mean, I could, it would be very lazy teaching, but my class is different. Last year I had a group of very strong readers, this year not so much. So I need to do a lot more phonics and numeracy skills. So each year things change and you've got to assess your children. But AI comes back and says, You've only got one Zulu lesson this week. Is this intentional? You've got this activity planned. I was doing Matisse, and it said, Why don't you just include these four shapes and the Zuli names for these four shapes just for elevated learning? Something so simple, and I said that's a great idea because I can just use it when we're talking about these artists. It said, Would you like a poster? That took me five minutes, five minutes of making sure that my prep is the planning that I've put out is the very best for my children and for the children that I currently have in my car with the levels that they are at and ways that the learning is then intentional, not just going through the motion, and that's where AI really makes you a little more introspective, and you go, Oh, maybe this is lazy teaching, maybe this is maybe I should scrap this completely.

SPEAKER_00 15:12

Do you think that possibly other teachers are? I'm probably gonna get lamp basted for this, but do you think it's lazy? Do you think it's fear? Do you think that they're like why don't they want to use these tools in order to get them to the next level or help these kids who are more and more in society different?

SPEAKER_01 15:34

I'm gonna say this. I don't think I've ever met a lazy teacher. Every teacher I know probably does way too much and works works ridiculous hours. I think that one element is we've always done it this way. There's a level of comfort of knowing that when I've done this, these are the results that I get.

SPEAKER_02 15:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:54

When I am hearing whenever I go on sensory training or chatting to OTs on most previous training we went on, all the teachers said no, I can't get the children to look. And that for me is that the children have changed. And the children have. If we think about the imagery that children were faced with in the 50s first now, in the sensory input, it's a billion more times images coming at them in their childhood than if they were a child in the 50s.

SPEAKER_00 16:26

Very much so.

SPEAKER_01 16:27

Even if we take away digital, I mean, if you put the digital in, it's it's exponential, but just from a traffic busyness lifestyle point of view, these children have so much input, so they are sensory overloaded. So you don't have children that are not listening, you have children who are dysregulated, and in that people go, Okay, well, then why would you want to add more tech to that? You don't want to add more tech, you want to use tech correctly to create what you need for your children. So I use tech in my classroom, I have robotics, I have iPads, they haven't touched the iPads once this year.

SPEAKER_02 17:08

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 17:08

iPads happen in the third term and they they only play on them once in the third term because every child in my class has access to either an iPad or a phone at home. Anything that I need to do with them on an iPad, they all know how to. I don't need to teach them how to turn it on, I don't need to teach them how to find an app. They even bring my phone to me and say, Teacher Alex, can you open? I want you to take a photo. They know to click my watch and scroll down and push the button if I've lost my phone. So children are already using tech and they're probably better at it than some of their parents, but they're not always using it effectively. If they're using it to doom scroll, and yes, three-year-olds can do scroll, if they're using it and their brain just switches off because it's just my child is quiet if I have a phone. The child is quiet because of the sheer amount of sensory input that's happening. That when they're watching a cartoon now, the images change so quickly. When they're playing a game, they're getting that constant dopamine hit, and that is why they calm down, and that's why when you take the device away, there's this huge meltdown, and there is a lot of research that says the more screen time they have, the worse the behavior is. So, why are we saying use AI? Why are we saying use tech? But we've also got all this research that says it's not good for a child's brain. What we need to teach them is the tools leading up to using the tech. We need to get them to understand how to use selective language, how to speak to a device. Very simple things. Most children know how to say, hey Suri, hey Alexa, hey Google. Yes, and to play specific music to answer questions, they're using AI already in so many different ways. So, why are we keeping it away from them completely and not exposing them in the right way? So, current research says 15 minutes once a week on an iPad, which is if you want to do something intentional in a learning environment. So, if my children are going to use the iPad, this term they're using the iPad to for photography. Okay, so they're doing a photography project, they're using the iPad, they're then going to put it together and create their own infographic about whatever it can be toys, it can be plants, it can be anything, and they're going to then use AI to try and supplement their ideas by using voice to text because they're obviously not writing yet, they're writing very elementary things and they want their ideas to be shared. And these activities are put together to teach children to use a device more than just for YouTube, more than just to play a game that will pay for hours on end or to sit and scroll. And I think that is where we as teachers are completely like segued. It's okay, it's all good. Are so scared because we go, we can't compete with tech. Yeah. I'm never going to be as interesting as a phone. I'm never going if you give it a child the choice of sitting and doing a lesson, they're going to be like, oh, but I can do this on my phone. We are scared that they're not going to be engaged enough.

SPEAKER_00 20:32

Do you think though? So there's a couple of points here in the conversation that we're having is number one, I think what's happening is that not allowing kids to use the things that they're comfortable doing in the stage that they're in. We can't go, you have to do it like we did it because they're in a different generation, they're in a different time. So taking that away from them is actually stopping their expression in the way that they communicate, which is a human right. Yes. For me, in my mind. Okay. The first thing. Second thing as well is if we're going, I don't want to use AI and I don't want to use tech to teach my children. You're kind of saying you have to stay in the 80s or the 50s and not use the tools that you're actually naturally around all the time to learn. And I think that is a huge step back in why not use what they're comfortable with, why not use what they understand? They understand the tech, like you say, which I I didn't realize that all kids our kids don't know how to hey Siri, hey Google.

SPEAKER_01 21:35

So it's absolutely incredible how quickly children adapt to tech. Yeah. Because they're around it. Their parents are using phone. Every child in my class has a device. It wasn't that way last year, every year is a bit different, but every child in my class this year has a device. And as a teacher, I tell parents to limit that device time because if you're using the device time, Where the child is basically just aimlessly doing whatever and they're quiet. You are then most of the arguments are is it's children are less sociable, um, they're less engaged in the family, they are miserable when they're not on their device. XYZ in my home pumps, everything is limited via Family Link, and her her phone does not switch on until she's gotten home, her homework is done, and her chores are done. So her phone is off until six o'clock. Does she have access to AI? She has access to AI on my device, not on her device. So there are rules in the home where her phone is her social outlet. She is a complete extrovert. And for me to say you can't speak to your friends is torture. So she knows that there are things that are a part of the hustle that are vital to do. And then I do have homework and I do have responsibilities. But once those are done, I can sit and chat to my friends. I can just have downtime. If she wants to use AI and if she wants to create projects, if she wants to work on Canva, those are all on home computer or on my iPad. And the reason for that is because she is still learning to use it accurately. And unfortunately, she is 12 and gullible. And she at the moment, what we are learning with AI is learning not to believe everything you see. Her friends will send her lots of videos, and I'll have to say to her, That's that's completely fake, it's not real. Let's and she'll say, But how do you know? And I said, Well, let's research it. Yes, um, and that's a really great way. And I said, Let's let's put it into AI and let's see why AI says that this is fake. Um, and it's a learning tool for her, but she also gets to have fun with it, she gets to experiment it within safe parameters, yes, so that she is not falling into. I'm gonna use an example before I put Family Link on. She is incredibly super innocent, does not like boys, but is obsessed with Justin Bieber. And WhatsApp is her choice sort of interaction with her friends, and they've now got all these groups and all these AI things that are coming up on WhatsApp. And there was a speaker to Justin Bieber. She really truly believed she was speaking to Justin Bieber, and I have alerts and things put in place. So if something's a bit iffy, I'll get an alert. Saw something, I didn't really pay attention to it, and then I went, she's been quiet for a little bit too long. In 25 minutes, this AI prompt is obviously guided towards more adult content. She believed Justin Bieber was asking her to go for a shower, and it went very sexual in nature very, very quickly, and that led to a very different conversation with her about how people might use this to find your information, find photos because she was very happy to tell Justin Bieber where she went to school, what what her home address was, all of that because she really believed that this was Justin Bieber, and that was my turning point in going, I can't hide this from my child. I need to teach my child how to be safe, yeah. And I think that for me as a mom was the very first like step into AI where I went, I need to understand this better, I need to be able to, if I don't understand it, how am I going to guide her? And that's when I started deep diving and asking questions. And how do I block certain content? Because there's really good quality AI content out there, and there's really scary AI content out there. How do I keep blocking new sites and apps that keep coming up? And that's when I find Family Link, that's when I started putting parameters in place to keep her safe without blocking her freedom, and now we have discussions about things. Um, and I think we can only do that if we are immersing ourselves in what is happening in the world. Unless you're going to go and live on a farm off the grid in the middle of nowhere, with absolutely no access to the internet, you need to have an understanding of what's happening in the world to make sure that your children are smart, savvy, and protected.

SPEAKER_00 26:29

Yeah, and I think I mean the key things that I heard you say now, which is fantastic, is it doesn't matter what age they're at, you have to educate them on how to use it. And the only way to do that is if you understand it.

SPEAKER_01 26:40

Exactly that.

SPEAKER_00 26:41

So that that's the first thing. I do think that even with my kids, they understand I'm in tech, and um Angie's very much, well, she's getting there, but she's very much against giving access to our kids from an AI perspective and understand the point of the vast amounts of information that's there that's not necessarily needed for them, but also from a humanizing point of view. So it's a robot, it stays a robot, so that's kind of our agreed rule. But I would not know what to say to my kids, or I would not know what videos were fake, or what was happening if I didn't do the job I do, yeah, and that scares me because it means they know before I know, yeah, and they see it before I see it, and then how do I have that conversation? You know what I mean? So I think also in different ages, like you say now, I'm talking to my kids about how we can use the robot in a different way because they're not consuming so much content, but then your kids 12 where you're going, hang on, she's already getting this. I need to like kind of like put the brakes on it, and I like the way that you're saying I have Family Link in place, but I'm talking about it as well. Yeah, it's not just this, I'm trusting Family Link to have this block, and that's that. I'm also talking about it. And the I think the key thing that, and I suppose we all want it in this generation coming from a generation previously where we maybe didn't have open cards with our parents. I wanted my kids to come to me and be like, hey mom, something's happened, help me. You know, I'd rather have that conversation than the oh my god, I can't show my mom. Yeah, and I think that's that's key for the tech that we're in because it's scary, it's scary for me, and I'm in it.

SPEAKER_01 28:27

What I'm trying to teach Pums is that with your personal information, anybody can access it if you put it online. So group chats and things like that, she can't get automatically added to either. That's a really good tool from a cyberbullying perspective because it starts very, very young now. Everything from fat shaming to people are using AI to create nude photos that are not real. So, what I did with PUMS is to get her to think more critically, is I was very silly with it, and I'm going, it's the same thing that I'm teaching for internet safety for this term, is we are looking at photos, and the children have to tell me if they're real or not, and why they think they're real. And we start with very bizarre pictures, so like a whale on land, and so they can tell me that it's it's not real, and then I'll use a photo that is a whale that's been beached. And how do we tell the difference? What is real? Let's create our own, and it's teaching children to not just consume, it's teaching children to say, Okay, this is coming at me, but hang on a sec, this goes against my values, or this goes against what I know to be true, but we are learning more about the world. Is there indeed a ninth planet? Let me go and find out. Let me not just go, I saw this video, oh guys, you know there's a ninth planet. So with us learning so much about the world around us, and I mean, we're still discovering new species, the ocean is still vastly undiscovered. We are going to find new information is always going to be coming at us. But how do we know that that is valid and accurate information? And we can't be teaching it when the children are 18 because by then their ideals are set.

SPEAKER_00 30:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:21

I want a child who can critically think and go, look, your opinion's different to mine, and that is okay. Um I'm just gonna go and research a bit and actually look, maybe I'm a bit malleable with this, and I actually am interested in what you're talking about, or that is just that's not for me, or you're talking hogbosh. And the way we did it was with Wicked because she's wicked obsessed. Well, she's now moving out of that. Is I took her image and I said, Okay, turn my daughter into Alphabet. And we started creating different city prompts, and it was so quick for AI to change her image, and I said, Okay, my love, now what happens if you told your friend you're not going to a party because she wasn't invited? And I just took one of my photos and I said, Please add Pomsi to this photo. Yeah. And there we have a photo, and no, but you were there. And your best friend says, But you told me you wouldn't go. You promised because you said my heart was hurting, and you go, No, but I didn't go. But there's a photo, and now this photo's gone to the whole friendship group, and everyone's calling you a liar. And and how do you feel? And how would you feel in that situation? So we did it on a very on a 12-year-old level, yes, not on a what happens if they make you naked. That that's a later discussion. Yes, but the reality is it is so easy to do those things, and the safety protocols are not quite in place just yet. A really great thing is that with Gemini, I use PUMS mostly, and I don't import any of the children's photos in my class into Gemini. I don't there's no legality around it, and my account is closed, and there's safety protocols in place. But how safe are those protocols? And when you're dealing with children, you need to be safe. But in putting a child's image in, it'll say, I can't alter an image of a child. Yes. Which is a really incredible feature that is new, that wasn't there six months ago. No, it wasn't. So those kinds of things are evolving to create a safer space for our children, but it's not there yet. Um, so this is how we teach our children to use the tech, understand the tech, and critically think. And I think it's something that all parents should be doing.

SPEAKER_00 32:41

Yeah, I think I really like that idea in terms of I didn't think of it. Like I've never, I'm in it, but I'm so wary of how to introduce my kids to it because just because I'm immersed, it doesn't mean you have to be immersed. So we've kind of left it on the back foot and we play with the games, but they don't completely understand it, and there's no freedom with it. But I do like the idea of starting to get them to critically think about these things, question almost everything and research about it first and then go in. And I didn't even think about the I mean the simple things like the beached whale. I I didn't think about that in terms of it, I didn't think about the party photo either. So, from a parent point of view, I'm like, okay, I need to up my game here.

SPEAKER_01 33:28

It's those your children will teach you though, yeah. So as things come up with with pongs, then I'm like, okay, and there's often I don't know how to parent this situation, and I will go to AI and say, I'm stuck. Can you link me to some very good parenting blogs or anything with connection to a child who's adopted who doesn't understand their background and wanting to know more? Are there any support groups where you know everybody says that tech and AI is creating an anti-social environment? I think that if it's used right, it is going to increase intelligence, increase creativity, and increase connection. But it needs to be used right. It's never going to teach a child to do a roly-poly or how to touch a dog. It can give a it can show them a video, it can do all sorts and give you this is how you need to interact with a puppy. It's not going to be the same as touching a dog. You need to treat it as a body that is not infallible, but it is a learning tool like any other. The same thing with creating the pen that will write in space and the Russians brought a pencil. Yeah. The same kind of analogy is that we are going to create phenomenal things with it, but we also need to know that it's never going to replace our humanness. And I think if we have that in mind, it takes away a bit of that fear. Yeah, if we can add your little your ewness to what you're doing, it's going to have your imprint on it.

SPEAKER_00 35:09

For me, it's like you get to be a kid again. It gives you superpowers. Whatever you want to do, you can do with it. So there's no restriction.

SPEAKER_01 35:19

So, in terms of creating a more accessible world, AI is definitely a master of doing that. Something super simple like creating a braille sheet that I 3D printed. I've got a beautiful book, it's called My Black Book of Colours, it's got Braille in it, and we create our own little guide dog by push-pinning it, and they feel the back and they feel what it feels like, and they create their picture. And I realized that I don't have the Braille alphabet because my children asked me, Well, what does it look like? And I said, Well, it's here, and they said, But it's flat here. And I went, You're right. And quickly onto AI and said, I need to create a Braille template that my children can feel, and I need to 3D print it. Can you find a source? And they battling, okay, can you help? I need to I need to create it. And I created a little tiny plastic board that my children can feel, and it just puts them in the shoes of somebody else. And if anything, that's creating empathy, it's not creating separation and connection. Absolutely. It's creating a world where children can go, okay, so if I can't see, this is how I read with my fingers. And this is five-year-olds getting an understanding of that. So we're teaching them to think on an abstract level, but why are we not giving them the tools for tech and AI?

SPEAKER_00 36:43

I completely agree. I think we need to start realizing that giving them the tech and AI is also uh a tool to help you implement your abstract thinking. Thank you so much to teacher Alex for joining us and giving us her amazing opinion and ideas and thoughts on AI with kids. I think as parents, well for myself, I love to hear what everyone else is going through so that I don't feel so alone. This is all new anyway, and it's so different to everything that we've had before. So it's an amazing opinion, an amazing sharing moment, and I really do appreciate your time. The key things I think again, like I said in the beginning of the interview, is teach yourself so that you can have conversations with your kids. Dive into the stuff and don't be afraid. Just uh take it with both hands, learn as much as you can so that you can guide your child and you can help your child understand this amazing world that we have and we can elevate their learning and allow them to have their opinions like teacher Alex said, create more connection and empathy for the world around us. I hope that you enjoyed that interview. Our next uh uh podcast, we're going to be talking about how we can use these tools for kids who have different learnings, some of the tools to help teachers, and also some of us as adults who struggle with capacity, ADHD, just life in general, how we can use these tools to get us to the next level. Thank you so much for joining me today. If this episode was useful, share it with another parent, someone who is thinking the same things as we are thinking and would like someone else's ideas and just another parent who is interested. Until then, take care of yourselves. This is AI for South Africa, and I am Maxine McAlvey. Let's go.