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 GUEST
Morgan 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 LINKS
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/morgan-mason-9719b9235/
Keep Indiana Learning: https://keepindianalearning.org/
CIESC: https://ciesc.org/
TIME STAMPS
00:00 - Morgan Mason and Keep Indiana Learning
02:47 - Activity-based learning, Alpha School, and the Path School
04:59 - AI for young children and why early educators are cautious
08:28 - Social media, guardrails, and the mistake of waiting too long
12:00 - Sycophancy, anthropomorphism, and AI relationships
15:07 - Language development and AI as a possible support
18:28 - The Schoolhouse Rock version of how LLMs work
21:00 - MagicSchool AI, teacher training, and district adoption
30:19 - Morgan's tool stack: ChatGPT, NotebookLM, Gemini, and Canva
37:00 - Indiana's AI education momentum
40:31 - Student-centered coaching as an adoption model
47:11 - Letting kids show adults what AI can make possible
CONNECT WITH JASON PADGETT
Director of Growth and Partnerships at CitizenAI
📧 jason@mycitizen.ai
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-grant-padgett/
X: https://x.com/NoCodeCAIO
Newsletter (No Code CAIO): https://www.linkedin.com/build-relation/newsletter-follow?entityUrn=7399599285849346048
Available for interviews and keynotes on AI in education → jason@mycitizen.ai
AGI PODCAST NETWORK
School's Out Saturdays: https://schoolsout.agipodcast.ai/
Field Notes newsletter: https://schoolsout.agipodcast.ai/field-notes
Indiana AI education events: https://schoolsout.agipodcast.ai/events
All AGI Podcast shows: https://schoolsout.agipodcast.ai/network
TOOLS JASON RECOMMENDS
MindStudio → https://get.mindstudio.ai/q7n7u5cttkdq
Riverside.fm → https://riverside.sjv.io/e1xyBr
Wispr Flow → https://ref.wisprflow.ai/jason-padgett
RESOURCES 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/