What changed this week
for AI at home and at school
Hey Big Thinker. Almost every high schooler has used AI, but very few say their school teaches them how. Samsung found that in new research released alongside the 17th Samsung Solve for Tomorrow, a national STEM competition that asks students to use tech, including AI, on a problem in their community.
Students have the tools, and they want a reason to use them well. Closing that gap takes parents, teachers and school leaders. Below: what's new, three moves to make this week, and a 20-minute AI project kids can do at home or in class.
IN THIS ISSUE
01 News: students use AI, schools are still catching up
02 Practical tips: three moves for families and schools
03 Activity: launch a project that helps others
NEWS
Students are using AI. Samsung wants them solving real problems with it.
WHAT HAPPENED
On November 2, Samsung expanded Solve for Tomorrow, its STEM competition for US public school students in grades 6 to 12, with a new free AI curriculum built with the Mark Cuban Foundation and judging support from MIT Solve. Teachers enter on behalf of their class by November 23, and the national winner gets up to $50,000 in Samsung technology and classroom resources.
WHY IT MATTERS
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The same survey found students are torn: 69% say AI helps them solve problems they'd otherwise struggle with, while 63% worry about becoming too dependent on it. Half (51%) say they'd be more interested in AI if they saw it make a difference for people. Solve for Tomorrow is betting on that, and families and classrooms can too. This is Samsung's own research, though, and the release doesn't say how many students were surveyed.
Sources: Samsung Newsroom · Solve for Tomorrow
THOUGHTS FROM THE EXPERTS
Kids need a reason to use AI well. The students in this survey already worry about leaning on it too much, and a project gives them what they're asking for: a problem worth solving and an adult who expects them to do the thinking.
— Justin & Will
PRACTICAL TIPS
Three moves to make this week
For parents, teachers and school leaders. Each one is a short conversation about that gap.
01
Have kids show you how they use AI
Sit together for ten minutes and have them open one thing they used AI for this week. Teachers can run the same check-in as a class warm-up. Try: "Show me the last thing you asked AI. What did you do with the answer?"
02
Talk to a teacher about how AI is taught
Parents can ask at pickup, a conference or in a short email. School leaders can ask three teachers this week and look for patterns. Try: "Beyond the rules, where do students learn to use AI well?"
03
Find the gaps together
Most students in the survey worry about leaning on AI too much. Ask kids where it helps them think and where it does the thinking for them, then agree on one change. Try: "When does AI make you smarter, and when does it make things too easy?"
ACTIVITY
Launch a project that helps others
AGES 11–14 20 MIN YOU NEED: AN AI CHAT TOOL
Kids use an AI chat tool to find a problem in their school or neighborhood and shape it into a five-line plan. The AI asks the questions and pushes back; the kid makes every decision. Along the way they practice getting AI to interview them, and they keep their own words.
HOW TO DO IT
1
Let AI interview you (5 min). Type: "I'm 12. Ask me five questions, one at a time, to help me find a problem at my school or in my neighborhood that's worth fixing." Answer honestly, then pick the problem you care about most.
2
Make it push back (10 min). Type: "Don't solve [my problem] for me. Ask me who it affects, then give me two ideas I haven't thought of and the weakest part of each." Keep one idea, reject one, and tell the AI why.
3
Plan it in your words (5 min). Type: "Help me turn my idea into five lines: problem, who it helps, idea, first step, how we'll know it worked. Use my words, not yours." Fix anything that doesn't sound like you. In the classroom: pairs swap plans and ask the AI to play a skeptical principal.
TALK ABOUT IT
Which idea was yours, and which came from AI? What did you change because the AI pushed back?
POLL
Does your school teach students how to use AI?
Tap an answer to vote. We'll share the results next week.
READ MORE
Go deeper
Big Thinkers · One school uses AI for practice so students have time for real projects, the same idea behind this week's story.
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