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Across nearly four decades as a teacher, principal, superintendent, funder, and now leader of a large education nonprofit organization, the experience that most shaped my view of learning wasnt a grand reform or a shiny new program. It was a Friday physics lab in Brooklyn. My students predicted a graph that couldnt exista vertical line for velocity and time. What followed was confusion, debate, trial, and error. And then discovery: Velocity requires both displacement and time. That brief struggle taught me, the teacher at the time, more about how learning really happens than any policy memo ever has. That moment endures because it represents what school should unlock every day: inquiry, persistence, and the joy of figuring something out yourself. Too often, students still move through school executing a recipe of steps without understanding ideas. In math, science, history, and English language arts, they follow the recipe and miss the point. That approach may be tidy, but its not transformative. It shortchanges imagination, curiosity, and the a-ha! moments that make knowledge durable. HOW TO EMPOWER STUDENTS I believe that learning is only powerful if it combines agency, purpose, curiosity, and connection to empower students for the future. What does that mean? It means that learners should pursue knowledge through action. Through choice. And through voice. They should have opportunities to develop authentic and meaningful contributions. They should explore new ideas and experiences to better understand their world. And they should make connections between ideas, experiences, and people. When students are allowed to experimentto wrestle productively and recover from mistakesthey dont just master content; they build the habits of mind that matter in life and work. TECHNOLOGYS ROLE Emerging technologies hold enormous potential to make these kinds of experiences more common. They help curate simulations, prompt inquiry, and scaffold experimentation. It can create new entry points for students to explore, revise, and connect their ideas. The little moments of technology matter, toolike a 90-second BrainPOP animation that unlocks a tough concept. An interactive that prompts a classroom debate. A quick, purposeful game that turns practice into understanding. These are the sparks that turn a lesson into learning. Technology is not a recipe to follow; its a set of instruments to conduct. If we want learners who can think with and about AI, then classrooms must invite students to do what my Brooklyn High School physics class did: predict, test, argue from evidence, and revise. This last part can demonstrate the evolution in a students thinking processes and how they can move through conceptual phases of understanding. This requires commitments like access and teacher expertise, as well as ensuring quality over quantity. Im heartened to see some schools rising to meet this challenge, like the Ypsilanti Community High School in Michigan, with its new AI Lab. The first-of-its-kind collaboration between the school district, leading tech companies, and nonprofits equips students with advanced tools for AI-powered learning. This includes processors designed to handle complex AI computations, audio-visual equipment, and 3D modeling software. The lab doesnt simply build AI literacy; it allows students to explore ideas that matter to them using advanced technology. At once, they gain hands-on experiences in emerging fields while also fostering a sense of creativity and innovation. The lab challenges them to think critically, pushes them to be creative, and strengthens their real-world problem-solving skills. These are the kinds of experiences we need to provide for students to prepare them for an AI-driven world. LET STUDENTS LEARN THROUGH DOING As we increasingly integrate AI in classrooms, students must be allowed to experiment and explore with it, to argue from evidence, to fail, to productively struggle. When done right, we see the right kind of noise. That means classrooms buzzing with questions. It includes debates. And students make lifelong connections. I still remember that Brooklyn lab as if it were yesterday. Not because of the graph, but because of what it revealed: When students are trusted to do the intellectual heavy lifting, they surprise usand themselves. Our job is to design schools where discovery is not an accident, but the plan. Jean-Claude Brizard is president and CEO of Digital Promise.
Category:
E-Commerce
When Gabriela Flax left her corporate position managing 40 people to work on her career coaching businesses solo and moved from London to Sydney, the first thing she noticed was the silence. Without the constant movement, office hum, phones, and elevator dings, she says, she could finally bask in the quiet shed always craved. But, she quickly realized, Oh, wow, there’s no one around me. Flax, a career coach and founder of the newsletter Pivot School, says, I initially named my Substack No One’s in the Kitchen. I’d get off a work call super excited [because I] signed a new client . . . go to my kitchen to make a coffee, and no one’s there . . . just my dog looking back at me. Running a business alone can feel liberating, but it can also come with a cost: a unique type of loneliness research suggests stems from acute uncertainty, resource constraints, responsibility, and time pressures. Online, subreddits, creator cohorts, and Discord groups brim with solo founders seeking to manage loneliness. Loneliness is a mental health emergency in many cases, says Dr. Michael A. Freeman, a San Francisco-based psychiatrist who works exclusively with entrepreneurs. Ironically perhaps, entrepreneurs often feel quite alone despite the fact that they have very large networks and communicate with lots of people every week, he explains, because those are largely transactional role relationships and solopreneurs, particularly, are pursuing a uniquely personal vision. The loneliness can come from a lack of people, but it can also come from being the only person who holds your why so tightly, says Flax. Identifying the loneliness loop Particularly in a ventures early days, solopreneurs are living and breathing their new business, explain researchers Ashley Evenson, lecturer of creative enterprise at Goldsmiths, University of London and Beki Gowing, lecturer in fashion enterprise at London College of Fashion, who coauthored a study on entrepreneurial loneliness and burnout. Loneliness, they say, [can be] the catalyst for other mental health difficulties, [eroding] decision-making, creativity, and emotional resilience. Social interactions slip, overwork rises, and a vicious and toxic cycle takes hold. Diane Sullivan, business professor at the University of Dayton, calls this the regulatory loop of loneliness: Some founders respond by building connections and hobbies, while others withdraw, potentially making isolation worse . In Flaxs case, she had to get creativedigital lunch invites via TikTok, long-form writing for other solo-foundersto cultivate relationships in her new role and city. In what Flax describes as an eat what you kill field, solopreneurs can ill-afford to let loneliness derail their purpose. Heres how experts recommend fighting it. Seek deep social experiences Taking the first step to get out of a loneliness rut can feel awkward, but its key to make the effort to engage offline, even if it feels uncomfortable at first. Juliana Schroeder, associate professor in the Management of Organizations group at Berkeley Haas, says one of the major instigators of loneliness is that people are trading deep social experiences for shallow social experiences. Shallower social experiences are those that leverage AI connection, online engagement (particularly on social media platforms), and prioritize more superficial types of interactions, like short text-based conversations, for example, or group conversations over one-on-ones. Other potential connections, like talking with neighbors or disagreeing counterparts (say, talking across the political divide), are starting to disappear entirely, she says. I suggest setting up environments that involve regular contact with community members, having recurring deep conversations to maintain and grow friendships, and stretching outside of your social comfort zone when any opportunity arises. And it may not be as hard we imagine. We find that people’s psychological intuitions about some of these interactions are miscalibrated, she explains, and the awkwardness and depletion we anticipate is often overridden by the pleasantness of the interaction and how good both parties feel afterwards. Flax recommends seeking connection outside of work: If you go to the gym at 3 p.m. on a Tuesday, or a coffee shop at 11 a.m. on a Thursday, not everyone in those spaces is going to be self-employed or building their own thing. But . . . chances are they might not have a [traditional] nine-to-five, she explains. It’s hard the first five times you [introduce yourself]. By time number six, you’re like, oh, whatever. Quality over quantity Preempting loneliness, at least initially, may also help proactively manage it, says Freeman, who recommends, engaging in a rich set of relationships that do not involve being a leader and ultimate decision-maker. One of the founders I work with belongs to a football team that is part of a regional amateur league. He has many friends on the team, which he doesnt have to lead, and the camaraderie gives him a lot of social support, he adds. Flax agrees, noting online cohorts, while full of a unanimous understanding of were all in this together, can lose meaningful connection when they exceed six to seven people. Dont just put us all in a room, she says, adding that breakout rooms on a Zoom call, for instance, help foster one-on-one connection. Back to basics, away from the drawing board Tim Michaelis, assistant professor in the department of psychology at North Carolina State University, founded and runs an annual Health in Entrepreneurship Conference. Physical activity and sleep, he says, are two big recommendations, citing additional research that leisure activities can provide a way to detach from entrepreneurial work and improve venture performance. Engaging with a local university or community college can help connect with like-minded people, feel less alone, and improve wellbeing, he adds. A small step could be going to watch a pitch competition or email a profesor to see if they need help with a guest lecture . . . Sometimes its a clear win-win. Ultimately, its worth remembering that loneliness does not increase just because youre a team of one. Claude Fernet, an organizational behavior professor at Université du Québec Trois-Rivires, who studies job stressors in small and medium enterprises, raises an important point. Solo founders may actually have a bit of an advantage when it comes to job stressors and loneliness. Thats because “owner-managers” (or entrepreneurs with a small team of employees) feel the additional responsibility for others wellbeing and salary, leading to, the burden of shielding others from stress. Still, he adds, That said, the psychological toll of isolation remains a significant concern in both cases. Flax, meanwhile, recommends thinking of loneliness in stages. Dont fight [it], she says, Because solitude is a part of building something meaningful . . . The day will come where the work you put into it is seen by others and you can create incredible community off the back of it.
Category:
E-Commerce
Tiny fragments of microplasticsfrom clothes, car tires, packaging, and other sourcesslip through most water filters. But at a water treatment plant on the coast in Atlantic City, New Jersey, where plastic-filled wastewater would normally flow into the ocean, new technology has captured hundreds of millions of microplastic particles over the past year. The technology, from a startup called PolyGone, can also clean microplastic out of lakes and rivers or treat wastewater at factories. The startup spun out of research at Princeton, where the founders drew inspiration from aquatic plants that can naturally attract microplastic. The plants have fibrous roots coated in a hydrophobic gel that pulls in pollution. We managed to imitate the geometry and hydrophobility of the aquatic plant root, says cofounder Yidian Liu. It has a lot of unevenness on the surface that creates little cavities for smaller pollutants to be trapped inside.” [Photo: PolyGone] Wastewater treatment plants are a pathway for microplastic pollution to enter the ocean, which is now filled with trillions of particles. Most wastewater plants in the U.S. don’t use advanced treatment before releasing water back into nature. Of those that do, most existing filters only catch larger microplastic, between 1 and 5 millimeters. Tinier fragments, invisible to the naked eye, slip through. Another type of fine mesh filter in use in some plants captures more, but then the plastic just ends up in landfills. In lab tests, PolyGone’s system captures 98% of microplastic. After the filters are full, they can be cleaned and reused. The plastic is concentrated and sent for reuse. In Atlantic City, where the company launched its first wastewater pilot in September 2024, it has already captured more than 520 million particles of microplastic, exceeding performance targets. The plastic goes to other companies: one that turns it into chemicals, another that is beginning to use it to make fuel. [Photo: PolyGone] The utility now plans to expand the pilot into a full-scale operational system. PolyGone, which recently raised a $4 million seed round of funding, designed a new filtration unit that automatically lowers itself into water and cleans itself on a schedule. The unit fits inside a standard shipping container, with all of the tech fully assembled inside so it can be deployed in a day at a wastewater plant. The company also designed another version of the technology that fits into wastewater pipes at factories. The first pilot of that system just launched at an industrial plant in Dubai. “This system is a very simple way for them to plug and play and get rid of microplastic before the water goes into their effluent,” says Liu. Other manufacturers are also beginning to test the technology, including clothing companies working to cut microplastic pollution from synthetic fabric. Cost varies depending on the system, but ranges from roughly $15,000 to $50,000. The technology is much less expensive than other advanced filtration, in part because the filter works passively to “dramatically reduce energy consumption compared to traditional advanced filtration systems that rely on high-pressure pumps,” Liu says. The open design avoids clogging, so it needs less maintenance. It also can easily be added to existing infrastructure, she says, rather than requiring expensive retrofits. [Photo: PolyGone] The tech can also be used directly in nature, and the company has tested a Roomba-like robot that filters water as it moves across a lake. But funding is harder to secure for this approach. There’s more demand for industrial use, especially from brands that are trying to tackle sustainability goals. And at wastewater treatment plants, some states may soon consider new regulations that would require better pollution filtering. “California is leading on microplastic regulation,” says Liu. The state already requires microplastic testing in drinking water and is working on a new drinking water standard, though wastewater filtering isn’t mandated yet. “A huge reason is they don’t know what methodologies or systems are available for [wastewater plants] to quickly adopt for microplastic removal,” Liu says. “Our pilot is actually giving them a very good case study to understand okay, it is a problem that can be solved.”
Category:
E-Commerce
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