AI in Early Childhood Education with Morgan Mason

Morgan Mason works with early childhood educators, coaches, and school leaders through Keep Indiana Learning, and she brings a grounded view to a conversation that can get weird fast: what should AI do around young children?Jason and Morgan talk through AI toys, Mr. Potato Head with a language model inside, the risks of sycophancy and anthropomorphism, and the bigger opportunity sitting right beside those risks. AI could help educators communicate with families across language barriers, support early literacy, plan better lessons, and give teachers time back for the human parts of the job.This episode stays with the early childhood and K-6 question. Young kids need play, relationships, curiosity, and adults who are paying attention. They also need adults who are willing to learn enough about AI to guide them.ABOUT THE GUESTMorgan Mason is a Professional Learning Specialist with Keep Indiana Learning, the professional learning department of CIESC. Her work focuses on early childhood, early literacy, coaching, and support for educators and school leaders across Indiana. Before joining Keep Indiana Learning, she taught elementary grades and served as an instructional coach.GUEST LINKSLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/morgan-mason-9719b9235/Keep Indiana Learning: https://keepindianalearning.org/CIESC: https://ciesc.org/TIME STAMPS00:00 - Morgan Mason and Keep Indiana Learning02:47 - Activity-based learning, Alpha School, and the Path School04:59 - AI for young children and why early educators are cautious08:28 - Social media, guardrails, and the mistake of waiting too long12:00 - Sycophancy, anthropomorphism, and AI relationships15:07 - Language development and AI as a possible support18:28 - The Schoolhouse Rock version of how LLMs work21:00 - MagicSchool AI, teacher training, and district adoption30:19 - Morgan's tool stack: ChatGPT, NotebookLM, Gemini, and Canva37:00 - Indiana's AI education momentum40:31 - Student-centered coaching as an adoption model47:11 - Letting kids show adults what AI can make possibleCONNECT WITH JASON PADGETTDirector of Growth and Partnerships at CitizenAI📧 [email protected]: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-grant-padgett/X: https://x.com/NoCodeCAIONewsletter (No Code CAIO): https://www.linkedin.com/build-relation/newsletter-follow?entityUrn=7399599285849346048Available for interviews and keynotes on AI in education → [email protected] PODCAST NETWORKSchool's Out Saturdays: https://schoolsout.agipodcast.ai/Field Notes newsletter: https://schoolsout.agipodcast.ai/field-notesIndiana AI education events: https://schoolsout.agipodcast.ai/eventsAll AGI Podcast shows: https://schoolsout.agipodcast.ai/networkTOOLS JASON RECOMMENDSMindStudio → https://get.mindstudio.ai/q7n7u5cttkdqRiverside.fm → https://riverside.sjv.io/e1xyBrWispr Flow → https://ref.wisprflow.ai/jason-padgettRESOURCES MENTIONED- Keep Indiana Learning: https://keepindianalearning.org/- CIESC: https://ciesc.org/- Alpha School: https://alpha.school/- The Anxious Generation: https://www.anxiousgeneration.com/- MagicSchool AI: https://www.magicschool.ai/- NotebookLM: https://notebooklm.google.com/- Canva: https://www.canva.com/- ChatGPT: https://chatgpt.com/- Claude: https://claude.ai/- Replit: https://replit.com/- Codex: https://openai.com/codex/