What K-8 School Leaders Think About Artificial Intelligence Education
As artificial intelligence becomes an increasingly important part of how we learn, create, and solve problems, schools are introducing students to AI at younger ages. K–8 school leaders are recognizing the value of helping students build AI literacy, computational thinking, creativity, and responsible technology skills early on. Through partnerships with Inspirit AI, schools are bringing age-appropriate, hands-on AI learning experiences to lower and middle school students. Students explore how AI works through interactive activities and project-based learning, then apply what they learn to create their own AI-powered projects and solutions. This blog post highlights perspectives from K–8 school leaders who have partnered with Inspirit AI to prepare students to become thoughtful, creative, and responsible users of AI.
70+ elementary and middle school students at The Elisabeth Morrow School in Engelwood, New Jersey engaged in an enriching 1-week artificial intelligence and machine learning bootcamp during summer 2026.
Students examined topics like machine learning, computer vision, natural language processing, agents, and more, using block-based coding tools or Python. The program culminated in a final project showcase to the greater community.
Case Study: Summer 2026, In-Person Program at The Elisabeth Morrow School
Inspirit AI partners with 250+ K12 Schools Around the World
Case Study: Fall 2026, Spring 2026, and Winter 2025, In-Person Programs at The Nueva School
Katie Saylor, Director of Extended Learning, shares her perspective on AI education and The Nueva School’s ongoing partnership with Inspirit AI starting in Winter 2025.
2-Week Project-Based AI Intensive at Columbia Grammar and Preparatory School in Summer 2026
Leading schools from The Elisabeth Morrow School to Lakeside School and many others and more invited Inspirit AI to offer immersive AI project-building experiences for students in summer 2026.
Instructors: Raj Mehta (MIT), Garrison Grogan (Stanford), Rima Rebei (Harvard), Martin Blue (Brown), Khushi Desai (Columbia)
Middle school students at Columbia Grammar and Preparatory School in New York City engaged in an enriching 2-week artificial intelligence and machine learning bootcamp. In their AI project-building work, students built AI chatbots, sketch recognition systems, disaster relief responders, movie recommender engines, and more.
Case Study: Fall 2026, Virtual Elective at The Hun School of Princeton in New Jersey
At the Hun School of Princeton, Inspirit AI has empowered students to explore the cutting-edge world of artificial intelligence through interactive, project-based learning. This partnership has provided students with the opportunity to learn programming in Python and apply AI technologies to real-world scenarios.
Inspirit AI partnered with Ken Weinstein, Head of Middle School, at The Hun School of Princeton who shared:
“Studying artificial intelligence is unlike anything else we have ever offered in the Middle School. By partnering with Inspirit AI and working directly with graduate students from Stanford and MIT, we are certain that our students will constantly be exposed to new and cutting-edge ideas. A course like this will surely equip our students to thrive in an ever-evolving world.”
— Ken Weinstein, Head of Middle School, The Hun School of Princeton
In the AI + disaster relief project, students helped relieve natural disasters by identifying tweets from people asking for help or offering resources like food or water. First, students created rules-based classifiers to classify different posts. Then students trained a model on a real dataset from Twitter, improving it with a variety of natural language processing techniques - including modern methods like word embeddings. Their model could help first responders connect people in need with people who can help, and students were able to apply the same techniques to study patterns in language anywhere!
“My experience working on the AI project was fun and I learned a lot… My favorite lesson was the turtle notebook because it challenged and taught me a ton about the basics of coding… One thing I like about the course is the discussions we had, especially the ones regarding the ethics of AI. ”
— Derek P., 8th Grade, The Hun School of Princeton
Sebastian Bedoya, Caltech
Sebastian Bedoya is the Inspirit AI instructor for the program. Sebastian has a Bachelor’s in Computer Science from Caltech. He has been working in the field of AI and education since graduating, developing curriculum and teaching courses. Sebastian has research experience in a variety of fields, from biochemistry to astrophysics to AI in epidemiology.
Independent School Leader Perspectives
Sharon Keigher
ACE Director
Dwight-Englewood School
“Because AI is ubiquitous in our world, it is imperative to continue pursuit of curiosity within our changing world. Our students will be called upon to gain a mastery of these skills and that process can begin here.”
Kat Yorks
Director of Summer at Lakeside
Lakeside School
“AI is going to impact every field of work and academic discipline-and soon! We would like our students to have the opportunity to explore its many uses-and uses for social good!”
AJ Viola
CFO
Live Oak School
“AI education is important to Live Oak School as a tool to cultivate critical thinking and collaborative learning in a digital age. We want our students at the forefront of developing technologies so they can learn and adapt to whatever the future holds in store.”
Lower and Middle School Cohorts at Aoba-Japan International School in Summer 2025
Elementary and middle school students at Aoba-Japan International School in Tokyo engaged in an enriching 2-week artificial intelligence and machine learning bootcamp during summer 2026. Students examined topics like machine learning, computer vision, natural language processing, agents, and more, using block-based coding tools or Python. The program culminated in a final project showcase to the greater community.
Stanford-Harvard Educator Teaches 2-Week Middle School Intensive at Cranleigh Abu Dhabi
Dr. Kuan-Chuen Wu
Inspirit AI Instructor and Curriculum Developer
At Cranleigh Abu Dhabi, students can continue their AI learning journeys after middle school into the Inspirit AI high school program. Hear more about their experiences in Summer 2026.
Middle School Students at Cranleigh Abu Dhabi
During the 10-day in-person program, middle school students examined fundamental AI programming skills in Python and built interdisciplinary, applied AI projects. At the end of the program, students celebrated with a capstone presentation.
Lower School Virtual Electives at Marymount International School Rome in 2026-27
Instructors: Faith Rounds (Stanford), Imtisaal Mian (Harvard), Miriam Huerta (Yale), Gisella Kakoti (MIT)
Marymount International School of Rome has partnered with Inspirit AI since 2023 in an effort to meet one of the school’s latest strategic goals to teach the latest AI/ML skills to their 4th and 5th grade students.
Through the Inspirit AI program, students engage in hands-on learning that introduces them to artificial intelligence while fostering collaboration, leadership, and ethical thinking. Now in its fourth year at Marymount, the program helps students build real-world skills by working on projects with social impact, from space science to healthcare.
Shane O’Corcorain
Assistant Head of Elementary, Marymount International School of Rome
“The world of AI is moving at an incredible pace and it is important for us to instill the foundational understanding of AI from a young age to ensure children are equipped to utilize the strengths of AI, not to be scared of it.”
International School Leader Perspectives
Shoko Endo
Extra Activities Coordinator
Aoba-Japan International School
“Our schools, from kindergarten through high school, are committed to learning through digital. The recent use of AI has been spectacular, and it would be unrealistic not to incorporate it into school education.”
Jan Ryszawy
Director of CA Summer Program, MYP Design Teacher
Canadian Academy
“AI has arrived in education without anyone being ready for it… If our goal is to prepare our students for the future, AI will be part of it we like it or not. Better prepared they are, the more successful they will navigate the challenges.”
Sherriden Masters
Head of Innovation and Tech
International School of Luxembourg
“We initially chose to work with Inspirit AI because of their strong connection to higher education quality and quality assurance. That matters to our community because it brings together two things they care deeply about: forward-facing technology and excellent higher education outcomes for their children.”
Perspectives from K-8 School Leaders on AI Education
Inspirit AI’s partnerships with schools like The Hun School of Princeton, The Elisabeth Morrow School, and others have demonstrated the immense value of integrating AI education into K-8 curricula. Through project-based learning and hands-on experiences, students are not only gaining technical skills in programming and AI development but are also learning to think critically and solve complex problems. These collaborations are preparing the next generation of innovators, thinkers, and leaders, ensuring that students are equipped with the tools and knowledge they need to thrive in an AI-driven world. The feedback from school leaders highlights the positive impact that Inspirit AI is making in the classroom, and the future of AI education continues to shine brightly as more schools embrace this essential learning.