Kumar Garg of Schmidt Futures discusses strengthening STEM career pathways, learning engineering and educator researchers.

04/21/21 • 40 min

Kumar Garg, managing director and head of partnerships at Schmidt Futures and the former leader of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, discusses a host of initiatives designed to strengthen STEM career pathways. He also breaks down some big ideas in education like learning engineering and educator researchers, and explains why these concepts are more important than ever before. In the course of the discussion, Garg also touches on OER policy, learning R&D and how we might improve education research.

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Christina Gardner-McCune, Ph.D., unpacks the vision for AI learning in K-12 classrooms

Christina Gardner-McCune, Ph.D., director of the University of Florida's Engaging Learning Lab and co-chair of the AI4K12 Initiative, a national initiative to strategically integrate artificial intelligence (AI) education into K-12 learning, shares why sparking students’ and educators’ interest in AI is important and relevant, and what steps we should be taking right now. In the course of the interview, Gardner-McCune discusses the guidelines for teaching AI in K-12, explains the connection to computer science and coding, and unpacks the idea of AI as a life skill for even the youngest learners. She also shares the “five big ideas” behind the progression of AI in education: computer perception; representation and reasoning; machine learning; natural interaction; and societal impacts.