AI, CS, & Digital Literacy

Common Sense Media released a report this summer called AI Use by Tweens and Teens, based on a survey of over 1,200 kids ages 9–17. I went through the key findings, and they crystallized something I've been feeling for a while: our schools and districts are genuinely working hard on AI literacy, but AI use among kids is snowballing faster than most of us can keep pace with — and a lot of that use is happening completely outside school, where nobody's teaching them anything about it.

1. This isn't a "coming soon" problem. It's already here.

86% of kids 9–17 say they use AI, and almost a quarter use it every single day — including 81% of 9-to-12-year-olds (🤯). And a lot of that isn't kids opening ChatGPT on purpose. It's AI baked into search results, phones, social apps, and games they're already using. In fact, AI-generated search summaries…

Back-to-school season is busy enough without adding “figure out AI” to your already-full to-do list. So this year, we're making it a little easier.

Starting September 15, the Columbia Gorge ESD and Columbia Gorge STEM Hub are hosting weekly virtual AI & Digital Literacy Office Hours.

Learn a Little. Try a Little. Ask a Lot.

We'll kick off the year by working our way through the new Google AI Educator Series - starting with "Introduction to Gemini for Education" - with short, focused lessons designed to build your AI skills and help you work toward Google Educator Series badges and Gemini Educator certification. Each session includes brief, targeted instruction, tool walkthroughs, and time to put what you're learning into practice.

We'll also use our time together for Q&A, discovery, troubleshooting, and hands-on exploration.

Wondering if AI could save you 30 minutes a week on a task you hate?

Welcome to the 2026–27 school year!

With another school year underway and AI continuing to reshape the way we teach and learn, it might be time to retire one of our favorite AI debates: How do we stop students from using AI?

Of course, we still need to talk about academic integrity. Of course, there are times when AI should absolutely be off the table. And of course, students can use AI to do work they should be doing themselves.

But if our AI conversations stop there, we're missing the bigger opportunity.

From “Using AI” to “Applying AI”

Dr. Elizabeth Radday and Matt Mervis recently wrote an excellent piece for ASCD called Sparking Curiosity with Applied Intelligence, and they offer a distinction that I think is worth bringing into our classrooms:

Welcome back, educators! 🎉

A new school year means new notebooks, new seating charts, new names and faces to remember… and approximately 47,000 new things competing for our students’ attention.

It also means it’s a good time to dust off one of our most important digital literacy skills: figuring out whether the information in front of us deserves our trust. And that’s where SIFT comes in.

What Is SIFT?

Developed by digital literacy expert Mike Caulfield, SIFT is a simple framework for evaluating information online. Rather than asking students to immediately read, analyze, and decide whether a source is “good” or “bad,” SIFT gives them four moves to help them investigate first.

🛑S — Stop