Ask the Kids

Ask the Kids asks students the questions adults usually answer for them. In this episode, we asked Stella. Stella is used to a high bar. At the Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders in Austin, students work on ambitious projects. During her sophomore year, her engineering team set out to build a search-and-rescue drone that could take off like a helicopter and glide like a plane. She has a strong point of view on AI and the purpose of school: "I think that a lot of instances of AI use are just kind of quick fixes that make life a little bit easier," she says, " I enjoy the process that AI would mean skipping. I want to protect my ability to process information and to write." Jenny Anderson interviews Stella. Then she and Jenee Henry Wood dig into the design choices that make that kind of ambition possible, and what it takes to keep the bar high for students and adults in the age of AI. Resources from this episode: Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders: Learn more about the all-girls public school in Austin, Texas, where Stella is in the engineering pathway, and its mission to prepare young women for STEM fields where women are underrepresented. The Disengaged Teen: Jenny's book, co-authored with Rebecca Winthrop, about why so many kids lose their love of learning in adolescence and what parents and educators can do about it. In the episode, Jenny also references Izzy, a student from the book, whose nerve-wracking first day at an internship echoes why Ann Richards School practices interviews and professional dress before the real thing. Youth, AI, and the Relationships That Shape Them: A report from The Rithm Project based on a national survey of young people ages 13 to 24 about how they use AI and how it is shaping their relationships. Conscious abstainer: Jenny references this concept in the episode: a term from The Rithm Project's research for young people who intentionally choose not to use AI, often for ethical or personal reasons. Stella describes her choice as a "purposeful avoidance" to protect her ability to think and write for herself. Pathways: A school design structure used at Ann Richards School where students explore several fields in middle school, then choose one to focus on in high school. At Ann Richards, students can choose between engineering, biomedical science, or media technology. Productive struggle: Jenee references this concept in the episode: the effort and friction of working through something difficult, which she calls the essence of learning. Stella worries that tools that hand over the answer, like the AI feedback platform she used in AP classes, skip that struggle entirely. Co-hosted by award-winning journalist Jenny Anderson, co-author of The Disengaged Teen with Rebecca Winthrop, and Jenee Henry Wood, Chief Learning Officer at Transcend and co-author of Extraordinary Learning for All, will talk with different students throughout this season. Ask the Kids is a production of Transcend, partnering with communities to design learning that's rigorous, relevant, and joyful for all. The podcast is supported by Overdeck Family Foundation and produced by Consciously Produced.

Ask the Kids asks students the questions adults usually answer for them.  In this episode, we asked Bryson. Bryson spent most of his school years bored, until his high school science teacher sent him to their Makerspace to build a salinity probe for the marsh next door. He started to explore a real problem in his town: a small fish called alewives had stopped coming back and nobody knew why. (Too salty, it turned out.) Makerspace changed things for him. He saw that a mistake on the laser cutter was just information. Before long, he saw a wrong answer in math the same way. By the time he was choosing a college, he knew what he was looking for. He wanted to be a welder. When he toured four-year colleges, he asked how long it would take for him to work on hands-on projects. It wouldn't be for two years. So, he decided to go to a free two-year college instead, and graduated with no debt and a trade. Now he's 19 and a welder on the Maine coast. Jenee Henry Wood sits down with Bryson, and then she and Jenny Anderson trace his story back to the decisions his school made. Resources from this episode: Mid-Coast School of Technology: Learn more about the Maine career and technical education school Bryson attended and the hands-on learning he describes throughout the episode. St. George CTE/Makerspace Project: Jenee shares how St. George rebuilt hands-on learning around a community desire to bring shop back to school. Career and Technical Education (CTE): Education that combines academic learning with technical and career-related skills, often through hands-on experiences connected to specific fields or industries.  Spillover effect: Jenny references this concept in the episode: when the motivation and energy a student gains from one learning experience carries over into other areas of their learning. Customization: Jenee references this concept in the episode: Adapting what students learn, how quickly they learn it, and what they create or accomplish based on their individual interests, needs, and goals. Jenee describes it as allowing "the destination itself to flex" depending on the young person. Co-hosted by award-winning journalist Jenny Anderson, co-author of The Disengaged Teen with Rebecca Winthrop, and Jenee Henry Wood, Chief Learning and Communications Officer at Transcend and co-author of Extraordinary Learning for All, will talk with different students throughout this season. Ask the Kids is a production of Transcend, partnering with communities to design learning that's rigorous, relevant, and joyful for all. The podcast is supported by Overdeck Family Foundation and produced by Consciously Produced.

Ask the Kids asks students the questions adults usually answer for them.  In this episode, we asked Brittany. During a mock state test last spring, Brittany's brain, in her words, turned off. She sat there counting her Roblox money. That same year, she learned that refrigeration trucks pump double the carbon of a regular truck into the Bronx air. So she and her classmates built a solar-powered refrigeration unit with engineers from Columbia. She was in sixth grade. Brittany goes to LEAD in the Bronx, where she helps teach a class, manages her own bank account, and will pitch you a Bad Bunny club complete with an educational rationale. Jenee Henry Wood sits down with her, then Jenny Anderson joins to reverse-engineer the design choices that produced a kid who calls herself "a change maker who solves real-world problems." Resources from this episode: LEAD 359: Learn more about Brittany's school in the Bronx and its approach to relevant, real-world learning. Transcend + Brookings student survey: Explore the research referenced in the episode on student engagement, interest, and whether learning connects to students' lives. Change-Based Learning: The approach discussed by Jenee, where students use their learning to address real problems and create change beyond the classroom. Co-hosted by award-winning journalist Jenny Anderson, co-author of The Disengaged Teen with Rebecca Winthrop, and Jenee Henry Wood, Chief Learning Officer at Transcend and co-author of Extraordinary Learning for All, will talk with different students throughout this season. Ask the Kids is a production of Transcend, partnering with communities to design learning that's rigorous, relevant, and joyful for all. The podcast is supported by Overdeck Family Foundation and produced by Consciously Produced.

What could we learn about school if we actually asked the kids experiencing it? Ask the Kids asks students the questions adults usually answer for them. What is school for? Do they feel prepared for life after school? What is it like growing up with AI? Every episode, we feature a kid from a school that tries to be a place kids love, and we unpack the decisions that got them there. Award-winning journalist Jenny Anderson, co-author of The Disengaged Teen with Rebecca Winthrop, and Jenee Henry Wood, Chief Learning and Communications Officer at Transcend and co-author of Extraordinary Learning for All, will co-host and talk with different students in each episode. Ask the Kids is a production of Transcend, partnering with communities to design learning that's rigorous, relevant, and joyful for all. The podcast is supported by Overdeck Family Foundation and produced by Consciously Produced.