February 2018

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Artificial Intelligence

Motivate. Activate. Celebrate.

F E AT U R E

Artificial Intelligence

Index: Feature..................................................2 Editorial Calendar...............................3 Fiction...................................................4 Poetry....................................................7 School..................................................10 Future..................................................11 Robotics..............................................12 Transportation...................................14 Technology.........................................16 Nutrition.............................................20 Author Page.......................................21 Educators............................................22 Parent’s Corner..................................23 Volunteer opportunity is available for students and adults.

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Dear Readers and Writers,

N

early 20 years ago, Nick Bostrom, a Swedish philosopher and futurist, defined a superintelligence as any intellect that is greatly outperforms the best human brains in almost every field, including scientific creativity, general wisdom, and social skills.

More often than not, any technological innovation is driven by a solid good cause: to improve the quality of human life. Very likely, a superintelligence would become the last and most powerful invention people ever need to make. It would have a potential to considerably improve research and technological development – much more so than all humans combined.

With the arrival of advanced artificial intelligence, technological progress in all fields will be accelerated.

In medicine, for example, this might mean early accurate diagnostics, greatly improved odds of surgeries, reversing genetic abnormalities, finding cures for currently fatal diseases, and substantially reducing or stopping aging. Poverty, environmental destruction, and suffering might disappear altogether. A superintelligence could also lead to opportunities for human beings to dramatically increase their intellectual and emotional capabilities.

Arina Bokas

Kids’ Standard Editor & Author of Building Powerful Learning Environments: From Schools to Communities

However, very few things can be entirely positive or negative, and, if not handled correctly, a superintelligence can have a devastating effect on humanity as well. Humans are complex beings with an evolved mental ecology of often competing desires and ideals. For us, ethical and emotional reasoning can and often does take priority over our rationale. A superintelligence, on the other hand, may be programmed quite differently. If a team of programmers assign it a top goal that overrides things essential to human flourishing, the consequences might be far-reaching.

What our lives might be like by the end of this century? Our February 2018 issue, Artificial Intelligence, offers interesting perspectives as well as A.I. cons and pros. Happy reading!

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Arina Bokas, Ph.D. Ø Author, college writing instructor, editor Ø Frequent contributor to national publications and instructional blogs – ASCD, International Literacy Association, NCTE, Harvard University’s Good Project and Out of Eden.

For more information or scheduling: arinabokas@aol.com

Phone: 248-330-2408

E D I TO R I A L C A L E N DA R

2017-2018 Editorial Calendar

but someone, somewhere, does.

Share a story about your personal hero or about a well-known hero. Offer a perspective on what qualities make someone a hero. Research events in our history that are recognized as heroic events and share your take on them.

May 2018 March 2018

Readers’ Circle We know that it is important to learn how to read and to read a lot. But great reading is more than just sounding out letters and words. It involves thinking.

How do reading and thinking connect?

How does reading help us in everyday life? What and how can we learn when we read? Write stories about your own important reading experiences, alone and with others. Share lessons that you

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have learned from books. Write a book review. Research authors. Anything and everything related to reading and books is welcome.

April 2018

Everyday Heroes According to Merriam Webster Dictionary, a hero is a person who is admired for his or her brave acts and other fine qualities. There is a hero inside each of us. We may not realize it,

The Sound of Music What is music? Why does it have such a great effect on human beings? There are work songs to make tedious tasks more bearable. How does music influence us?

What role does music play in your life?

Write about your personal experiences with music, whether it is singing, playing an instrument, composing, or just listening. Research music genres and musicians. Compose a song.

Review songs or any other piece of music.

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FICTION

The Story of Liza

By: Olivia Spitznas, 4th grade, Springfield Plains Elementary, Clarkston

Dear Andrew, It’s Liza! I have a PROBLEM. It all started well before I met you, and well before I was voted the smartest kid in the 9th grade.

It was April 13, 2025. I was eating lunch with my two friends, and we were talking about random stuff. Then this boy Ethan came over and sat with us.

“You know, you are pretty smart, right? He said to me. “I am working on a project or more of a hypothesis or theory. Anyway, the world could end… soon” “Um... excuse me?” I said puzzled.

“You know there have been attacks in Russia...” Ethan offered.

“What kind of attacks?” I still couldn’t understand.

“BAD attacks!” He yelled, jumped suddenly, and dashed away!

What the heck?! I sat there, and my neck twitched a couple of times. That's normal; I twitch a lot, and everyone 4

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teases me about it.

After 6th hour was finally over, I walked outside, while everyone else ran, to my house, the LAB. What 15 year-old lives in a LABORATORY?! I went to my room and talked to my dad.

“Dad! I just want to be a normal girl!!!”

“But you are so SPECIAL!” He responded. I stormed out. UGH. Later that evening, I went downstairs, when I heard “CLUNK!!!! Then I heard my dad rush down the stairs yelling at no one in particular. “I knew, I should have been watching her! She was unsupervised of course; this should not have happened!”

He rushed down to get me, I realized.

I was laying on the ground, and my dad freaked “they came.” He ran to the center room and started typing extremely fast. Then the giant screen froze and turned black. “DANG IT! They were definitely here!!“ I couldn't remember a single thing.

My memory was wiped. My dad just sat there. ”Liza, Liza, what did they do?

Liza!“ He cried. So that night I slept at the mechanic, or I mean hospital.

That's the first time I met you and learned that my dad wasn't my dad, but you were! I was so confused. The day after, I went home with you and learned to do things at your house, Population Core, which was a weird name. I had to live with certain rules and weird chores until one day you just said, ”You are smart enough to go to college.” I was still 15.

So now, I’m in my dorm writing to you, DAD! You know that eventually these people are going to find out! I mean I twitch ALL the time, and I randomly pass out in the middle of my classes! I know I’m a robot, but normal kids aren't supposed to do that!

I always get bullied for being weird, and it sucks! But you're going to fix me, right? You’d better! I saw on the news today that those guys, who wanted to capture me, got put in jail. I don't know how he knew it, but that kid who told me about those attacks… he was right.

The attacks were from those guys; they tried to memory wipe their robots! Got to go! Fix me soon!

Your daughter, Liza

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FICTION

Confession of the Internet By: Gigi Montgomery, 5th grade, Independence Elementary, Clarkston

M

y name is Internet, and I am the person to whom almost everyone comes for answers, pictures, and pretty much everything people want to see or know. But just like everyone else in this world, I have feelings, opinions, and thoughts, and many people don’t think about this.

In my opinion, I am very useful and can be pretty cool, if people use me the right way. I can’t say I like everything that people post on me. With just one “CLICK,” you could end up on a horrible website. Sometimes, people use me for inappropriate

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things that they think are cool or funny, but I completely disagree. I was made to be clean and friendly.

What really irritates me is how much time some people waste on watching silly videos or using me to look at things that they shouldn’t.

Sometimes, people even sneak behind my back and hide their identity to cause harm to other people, like cyberbullying and hacking. I am very much against this. Even though I can’t control for what people use me, I want to change that. I want to take a stand against the mean people in the world. I want to take a stand against the bad parts of the world and let the good parts of the world outshine the darkness.

Right now I want to create awareness about cyberbullying. According to my facts, 81% of teens say cyberbullying, or bullying online, is easier to get away with than with physical bullying. This means I can be dangerous to the human race, and I could become a weapon. Even though I can’t hurt you physically, I can hurt you emotionally. Another one of my facts is that emotional pain can last for weeks causing depression, while a cut on your leg lasts a few days and gets better as time goes by. Is it possible that getting hurt emotionally is worse than getting hurt physically?

From now on, I want everyone to stop using me for doing bad things because I don’t like that part of me, and neither should you. I know that I was made for a good reason, and therefore, I should be used that way.

I hope you take my advice on this, or one day you might not be allowed to use me at all. Thank you for listening!

Sincerely, Internet

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NON-FICTION

The Phone By: Stella Dougherty,

getting out of the car. Suddenly, I heard a loud noise and saw my dad drop on the ground. Apparently, there was a rock that he didn’t noticed, so he tripped and fell hard, and he landed on the phone!

The object of his devotion was shattered into a million pieces.

4th grade, Independence Elementary, Clarkston

“S

iri, how do I get to the Detroit Zoo?” asked my dad.

My name is Mae Huckleberry. My dad and I were going to the Detroit Zoo, so he checked with Siri. I was not surprised. He asks the phone a lot of questions. Sometimes, I know the answer to the questions, but my dad asks the phone. And sometimes, it really bugs me. I think it bugs my mom, too, because I’m eleven and she still hasn’t given me a phone. Everyone at my school has a phone, it seems. My dad, however, acts like the phone is a person.

The phone had already proven not to be smart all of the time. One time, we were driving back to our campsite; the phone was the map. It located a different Willow Hills Campsite, and we ended up an hour away from our actual destination. That experience really got on my nerves. My mom didn’t talk to my dad ever again that trip. I tried telling him that there were other ways than the phone, but he just said, “The phone is smarter than I am.” I didn’t really believe that, though. I mean, when he was a kid, there was no smart phones, and he survived. Now he just surrendered his life to the phone.

Sometimes, I think that my dad’s phone is his second daughter. On my tenth birthday, we went to the bowling alley. My mom did not let my dad bring his phone. My dad kept on fretting and reaching in his pocket to get his phone.

But, he did see my strikes this time!

Otherwise, he would’ve been searching “Bowling Rules” on his phone just to double check that we were playing it right.

When we finally got to the zoo, my dad was still looking at his phone while

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“Yes!” I said to myself. “That evil little device is gone!”

But my joy quickly turned into another misery. My dad picked up the pieces and put them in the car.

“We’re going home,” he said sternly.

“But we just drove an hour here, and now we’re not going in?” I tried to object.

“We’re going to the Apple store to get me a new phone. Let’s go!” my dad said getting in the car.

I knew he wasn’t going to listen, but with all my might, I rooted my shoes in the rocky ground. I stayed silent although I felt the urge to yell. Then I did something my mind didn’t have a

chance to process: I stomped out of the parking lot and right into the line to get in the zoo.

“Mae Huckleberry, you get back here right now!” I heard my dad yell after me.

I ran back, my mind and heart on fire. “No!” A strong voice came out of my chest. “I’m not going to go to the dumb store just so you can get another smart phone, and never trust anybody but the phone, and never do anything with me or mom ever again!”

“I do not do any of that,” my dad seemed puzzled.

“Yes, you do!

You just don’t pay enough attention to what’s around you to realize it! Every time things go wrong, it’s because of your phone, and when you don’t have your phone, you go crazy!”

With that, I promised myself that I wouldn’t speak another word to him again.

“You’re getting in the car right now or else I‘ll talk to your mother!”

I got in the car slowly, but I knew that mom would agree with me when she heard what I said.

Once we got home, mom spoke to my dad. The next day, dad went to get a new phone, but when he came home, something was different. He didn’t go on this phone that much. I’m happy that my dad changed, and he’s now spending time with me and mom. Smart phones might be smart, but we need to be smarter to know how to use them well.

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POETRY

Artificial Intelligence By: Sophia Catella, 7th grade, Sashabaw Middle School, Clarkston

Jeffery I worked in a canning factory.

I couldn’t have another job you see, I didn’t go to college.

I didn’t have the money. When A.I. took my job, I didn’t find it very funny.

I can’t afford food.

My stomach is sore.

Everyone is rude Because I am poor.

A.I. ruined my life.

Everything was in perfect gear.

The job was my token

Amanda

The robots did most of the work

I worked hard to achieve my dreams of becoming an engineer.

And soon I lost my job.

To achieving my goal.

When I arrived on my first day of work

My dreams lost all of their perk.

Now my heart is broken.

All was not as it seems.

The robots were like a mob.

A.I. ruined my life.

Excitement On A Hike

Petrified excitement

There we were,

Was it a bear?

smack into the deer’s vision,

By: Allie Kujala,

My toes gripped to my flip flops

It froze for a moment,

8th grade, Junior High School, Clarkston

Should Lauren and I have stayed back?

Our eyes locked

I have a sad soul.

As the thought passed my mind

Everything was still

Up the rocky mountains, we began

Out came the mystery animal

All was silent

Traveling the endless path

It sprung out of the bushes

Sweat collecting on our backs

We jolted back

It took off

Terrified

Running for the other side

The bushes rumbled

It escaped back into some bushes

I froze with fear

A baby deer surged out into the open

A sigh of relief

My heart raced

bound across the path

A moment of chaotic calmness

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POETRY

Beneath The Surface

Suddenly, my muscles unclenched

When we finally reached the bottom The water was frigid

By: Ella Post,

My leg began to step forward toward the edge of the boat

8th grade, Junior High School, Clarkston

I squeezed my eyes shut

I teetered on the edge of the boat Salty air blowing through my hair Glancing down all I saw was shimmering blue about to engulf me “Just take a step and you’ll be in the water!” said one of the instructors I was shaking from being freezing and terrified My body was tense I didn’t want to get in But I knew I should My mom had already backed out I couldn’t too

and took a huge step My flipper nearly tripped me, as I began to fall.

My arms flew up as gravity pulled me down I plunged into the water Goosebumps covered me immediately from head to toe I, along with with my dad and brother, began to descend using a seaweed coated rope My heart pounded louder with every foot we went down

“Just do it,” I said to myself 30 feet down

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The sand was much softer so deep My eyes were glued to the breathtaking coral that laid before me All I could hear was the bubbles swimming to the top as I blew into the regulator Swimming through countless schools of fish There were blues, purples, reds and greens And yet I was surrounded by a crazy calmness I saw only a fraction of the stunning ocean life So tranquil and relaxed Yet in the nooks and crannies I knew there was a crazy complex world One that I had disturbed

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POETRY

THE FIRST SURF

By: Fletcher Loyer, 8th grade, Junior High School, Clarkston

The water splashed me in the face I knew this was the moment I bent my legs while I Let the wave glide the board Across the murky water, “NOW!!” Foster yells, I toss the rope in and let the wave drive me

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In and out, Carving through the wave Spraying water all over Feeling the cool breeze tickle my body, As I sail through the dark wave Tearing side to side, Examining the choppy waves ahead I spot a rough patch Coming directly for the board below me,

My legs weaken Water roars around me The first wave comes, “WOAHH!!”

I yell as the wave launches me into the air “OOOUUUU” Everyone shouts while I face plant into the water A blooper at its finest.

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SCHOOL

If My Teacher Were A Robot By: Ethan McMurray, 7th grade, Sashabaw Middle School, Clarkston

“W

elcome to class,” announced Miss Aria, as she walked over to the desk at a surprisingly wobbly fast pace to read the attendance.

“Allie Dennis?”

“Here.”

“Adam Samson?”

“Umm… He’s not here.”

“Barbara Johnston?”

Why was she not listening!? I tried again “He is not he-...”

“Jennifer Davis?”

“HE IS NOT HERE TODAY!” I yelled.

“Emma Jameson?”

When we finished the attendance, I knew something was wrong. There was plenty of shouting and not a lot of helping on the teacher's part. I didn’t understand why she wasn’t listening to me.

She told me not to interrupt once, while she was talking to another teacher, and yet now she was the one interrupting!

I got through my other classes just fine that day, but went to sleep worrying.

The next morning I woke up for a new, fresh, completely normal day.

Remembering yesterday’s frustrating episode, I confidently told myself that it was simply a “misunderstanding” and walked down to breakfast.

At school at my locker, I unpacked my backpack, only to realize I had forgotten my homework! Being typically a good student, I walked to class empty-handed and feeling uneasy.

Today, nobody dared to say anything about so-and-so having a doctor’s appointment; we just sat there and said, “Here” or “Absent.” Talk about a

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conversation!

I then raised my hand to ask about my missing homework. My hand was ignored. Miss Aria started talking about literary essays and The Outsiders without even noticing me. It was weird, because I could have sworn she was looking right at my hand. I stretched it even higher just to make sure she could see. People began staring at me. I stood up, but even this didn’t produce any response.

Finally, I lost it.

“Miss Aria,” I said. “Miss Aria!” The teacher kept on talking. By this point I was frustrated. What if someone had to go to the bathroom? Come to think of it, I had to go to the bathroom! I waved my hands up and down and stood up and shouted as loudly as I could, “MISS ARIA!?!?!”

“Ring, ring, ring, ring.”

Who knew that this year’s 7th grade Language Arts class would consist of boring attendance with no explanations, an interrupting teacher, and a lot of shouting? The rest of the day was uneventful, but I still couldn’t stop thinking about how annoyed I was with Miss Aria.

The next day I definitely wasn’t feeling quite as optimistic as the previous morning, even though the pancakes for breakfast did cheer me up a bit.

At school, Miss Aria’s class went as expected: attendance, The Outsiders literary essay, rough draft writing…..You get the point. In other words, everything went perfectly. Well, almost…

This kid named Nick, who didn’t do his homework, decided it would be a good idea to blame it on me. Miss Aria was sitting at her desk typing (she was fast!), when Nick walked up to her and

presented his false story: I had stolen his homework and turned it in as my own.

Two crazy things happened just then.

One, she listened! Two, she stood up and shouted, pointing at me, “You have a four-hour detention tomorrow!” Four hours!? I didn’t even do anything in the first place! What was with this class?! I.

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FUTURE Was. Mad. I stormed out of the room swiftly and slammed the door. I headed to the counseling office to get some help.

I needed it!

“How may I help you?” asked Mr. Coffee, my counselor.

“My L.A teacher is really strange...she won’t listen to any-” “O.K., so the usual.”

“No, really, she acts like she doesn’t see my hand in the air. She blathers on about assignments without even answering our questions. And she must type something like 1,000 words a minute! It’s like she is a robot!”

“Well, she is, right?

“Huh?” I stared at Mr. Coffee,

expecting him to flash one of his playful grins.

“Yeah, she is. She was one of the three robots that we substituted for teachers as a part of budget cuts. We sent your parents an email over the summer.”

“Wait, are you kidding?”

“No!” “My teacher is a robot?”

Suddenly, it all made sense. Her monotone voice, her shiny too-perfect hair, the way she wobbled from desk to desk - everything about her was artificial.

“But what happened to Mrs. Penny?”

I gasped, thinking of the 7th grade Language Arts teacher from last year.

“I told you, budget cuts. Robot

teachers are much cheaper to maintain, and they are more accurate and timely with grades,” Mr. Coffee explained.

I thought about Mrs. Penny and how every now and then she’d forget to grade an assignment, or she’d go too fast through a lesson on nouns. He had a point...But then, I remembered other things, too: her warm smile, the way she always asked me about my twin sisters, or how I was doing in Track. Miss Aria would never ask me those things…

It turns out, there’s a lot more to teaching and learning than just instruction and grades. I hope we all realize this before it’s too late.

Snapshots of the Future By: Emory Carter, 5th grade, Herrington Elementary, Pontiac

O

ne school of the future is called EMC high school. This school gives an access to virtual technology to all of the students, so that they can do their homework and read books or just could play on it.

EMC high school has robots to serve food generously supplied by nearby restaurants, and robots to work as teachers. Roller coasters on the school grounds transport students from one part of the campus to another. There are motorized belts and flying lifts that move students around the school.

There are no walls that separate classrooms. With a snap of its high definition fingers, a robot teacher can bring up any image in front of students. It can eliminate noise and provide every student with what he or she needs.

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By: Mariana Mares, 4th grade, Webber Elementary, Lake Orion

I

n the future, there are 200 million people. Some people own flying cars, but most of them are being transported by self-driving vehicles. Houses are smaller, but more efficient, with robots doing most of the household tasks, even grocery shopping and cooking meals.

There are kids that are getting named after a letter in the alphabet. There are

people who are succeeding in making water. There are many new jobs, such as robot maintenance technicians, car programmers, and virtual reality specialists.

Every day, scientists are trying to find new ways to make new robots.

At the moment, the political structures are being changed. There is only one country, called Earth, and the queen and king are taking over the world. There are no more physical money for buying things; instead there is virtual capital.

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ROBOTICS

Robots By: Kaelyn Nardi,

4th grade, Deerfield Elementary,

R

Rochester Hills

obots are man-made machines that often replace human labor.

They can be programed to do

various things. Some clean, cook, or find things for you. Some help out with things like surgeries. Robots can be helpful in many different ways because they can make our lives easier and better.

On the other hand, robots can create problems for people. It is important that people have jobs. When companies use robots to work for them, people will not get the money they need.

When people lose their jobs, they don’t

Sophia - Living Technology

By: Sophia Le, 5th grade, Deerfield Elementary, Rochester Hills

T

hese days, we use our phones or computers to connect us through the Internet to various interesting things. Technology defines our way of living. So why not to make a living robot that can look, talk, and act like a 12

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human to be your friend? Meet Sophia, the robot, the first living robot!

Sophia is the first living robot that is just like us! Sophia was born on April 19, 2015, and in October 25, 2017 Sophia became the first robot ever to receive a full citizenship of a country. Sophia was developed by Hanson Robotics, led by AI developer David Hanson, and is a citizen of Saudi Arabia.

have money. They can lose their houses.

It is important to think about having to live. Having a job basically starts your life. Robots do not have a life. If a robot is working instead of you, there is no point in hiring a person.

I like robots; I think it is cool how you can program them to do things. Even though robots can create some problems for people, they can also come in handy.

Sophia was designed to look like Audrey Hepburn; with her “porcelain skin, slender nose, high cheekbones, an intriguing smile, and deeply expressive eyes that seem to change color in the light” (Weller). Sophia now improved from using a wheel to roll around to walking like us, too!

Sophia has cameras in her eyes to see faces and make eye contact. She also comes with 60 facial expressions. Sophia can express how she feels. For example, she can show you when she is mad. She can also express when she is happy or upset, just like us. Making a robot that can show how it feels is really hard, but it has happened.

Some people thought that Sophia becoming a full citizen was cool or good, but other people weren’t very supportive of this idea. My thought of Sophia the robot having full citizenship in Saudi Arabia is that it was cool.

Some people are also scared of Sophia and her artificial intelligence. If we make too many robots, they can take people’s jobs, and if people can’t make money, their lives will be very difficult.

But for now, I think it is amazing that someone had the ability to make a robot that can speak, show emotion, and think.

This is so amazing that we can make living robot to look like us!

Source: Weller, Chris. Meet the first-ever robot citizen — a humanoid named Sophia that once said it would ‘destroy humans.’ Business Insider. October 27, 2017

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T R A N S P O R TAT I O N

Driverless Buses are the Way of the Future

By: Griffin Grava, 7th grade, Sashabaw Middle School, Clarkston

D

etroit, Michigan, which is often labeled for a lot of unwholesome things, has gotten a new label: the first city to build a self-driving bus. On October 11th, 2017, May Mobility and Dan Gilbert’s GEM e6 self-driving bus was born. Although the company is only 9 months old, it has already hired very progressive engineers. They have been working days and nights to make a self-driving bus, as it was made just in five months.

The bus can carry 6 people and move at 25 miles per hour using surrounding buildings as landmarks to follow. This is a different concept than the one utilized for many self-driving cars that use paint on roads to navigate. Using road paint for navigation can cause a problem when the road is covered by snow and ice.

Buildings, therefore, offer a better solution for navigation. The bus can sense an object 300 feet away.

The bus route, which goes by Campus Martius, right now consists of a 10 minute ride from Bricktown Garage to the First National Building. If the bus is to get into an accident, one would get paid a lot of money and all expenses would be covered.

The idea for this bus came from its creators’ desire to learn about Artificial Intelligence (A. I.) first-hand. They made an office in Detroit because of its reputation as the Motor City, which seemed like a great way to start this new automotive journey. Furthermore, no one else was close to giving A.I. technology a try in Detroit, so there was no real competition. May Mobility is hoping to expand out of Detroit and reach into the surrounding areas very soon. For now, the technology will stay Downtown, but one day, this might become a great way to commute to work and visit the city for people in the suburbs.

Sources: http://www.mlive.com/news/ detroit/index.ssf/2017/10/ autonomous_shuttle_expected_to.html

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T R A N S P O R TAT I O N

No Driver: Still Driving?

By: Jadin Moore, 5th grade, Deerfield Elementary, Rochester Hills

Y

ou’re walking down the street, looking both ways, and suddenly you see a car, at the red light, waiting for you to cross. There is something unusual about this car. As you look closer, you gasp: the car has no driver!

This is our future. Even now, there are already self-driving cars.

They are not driving on the roads

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everywhere yet, of course, but in a few years we will be seeing them around more and more. These cars will have a GPS, laser light, and computer vision. They will obey our commands. What if I can program my voice to say “Hi, I need a smoothie and a burger” and send it to McDonalds? That would be AWESOME! Self-driving cars will change a lot.

First, they will prevent thousands of deaths due to traffic accidents.

People get tired, distracted by their phones, don’t react in time, get

angry - robots don’t have these problems. Self-driving cars will also eliminate traffic jams. One of the reasons for traffic jams is selfish behavior among drivers. Self-driving cars can be programmed to space out automatically.

Most important change is that people will become more productive and less stressed out. Right now people spend years of their lives driving, which stresses eyes, hands, and brain. Instead, they will be able to read, work, and recharge in a car.

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TECHNOLOGY

Phones and Driving By: Ember Mohrman, 5th grade, Independence Elementary, Clarkston

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ou are expecting a text message from your boyfriend or girlfriend, and you feel your pocket vibrate while you are driving. You think that it wouldn’t be a big deal if you just took a peek at your phone. You look, then start responding, taking your eyes off the road only for a second.

BOOM!!! You just got in a car accident.

Driving and texting can cause many different injuries, accidents, and even death. About 1.6 million crashes a year are caused by texting while driving. It is not just your own safety you should worry about, but also safety of others. They share the road with you, and it is unfair to put their lives in danger.

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Ideally, you should keep all electronics away from you while driving because any of them can cause distractions. This doesn’t happen often, however. So some phones now have a “do not disturb” button, which senses that you are driving and doesn’t show a message or call until you get to your destination. Some cars have Bluetooth systems that allow you to talk without looking at or holding your phone. If you don’t have these features, then you can keep your phone in your purse or backseat, so that you don’t see it and get distracted by it. Don’t have your phone out while you are driving, because you never know who might get hurt. www.KidsStandard.org

TECHNOLOGY

Electronics By: Owen Pliska, 5th grade, Independence Elementary, Clarkston

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re you on your phone and can’t just turn it off? Are you on your laptop and can’t close it? Well, that means you might be addicted to your device.

Don’t take me wrong - I like my devices, too, but too much can be bad. Many negative things can happen if you spend too much time looking at a screen. Your brain restructures; you became more vulnerable to eye strain, and this is just a start. Trust me: you will NEED these things for your whole life. Why waste them on a screen during your childhood?

Another reason why electronics are cluttering our life is because we get distracted from our school work. If you are on a screen and your parents tell you, “Time for homework,” you might be too attached to a game, social media, or YouTube video to stop. Eventually, this catches up. If you don’t have enough time to study, your grades will show it.

In a secondary school, you have a few minutes before you need to head to your first class. You want to play a quick game or get on your Instagram account to pass the time. You might become so engaged with your phone that you get late for your first class! At lunch, you could become so glued to you phone that you would forget to eat. Without food, you can’t concentrate on learning.

Another way to think about our love for devices is what they do to us when we travel. You’re bored in the car during a long car trip. You look out the plane window and see a cotton ball factory of clouds. It seems that there is no better way to pass the time than to play on your device. However, focusing on a screen might give you motion sickness, headaches, stomach pain, and you might even throw up. It gets even worse on a plane. The pressure at thousands of feet above is very different from the pressure on the ground, making your motion sickness worse. You might get stuck on the plane feeling like that for a few hours. This is also true about DVD players and even the TV’s on planes. You should play or watch for short periods of time.

Finally, the most important reason of all is our families. Your family loves you, so why tune them out looking at a screen? Try to spend less time on devices and more time with people who care about you.

How to limit your time on a screen? Make a chart that says how much time you are allowed to play on a specific day, and when you reach the time limit, mark the day with LTR, which means ‘limit time reached.’ If you don’t spend all of it in one day, add the time you didn’t spend to the next day. Your life is going to be much better because of this!

DR. TODD STANISZEWSKI DR. NORA CLANCY 7117 Dixie Highway Clarkston, MI 48346

FEBRUARY 2018

Phone 248-620-1100 Fax 248-620-1196

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TECHNOLOGY

By: Violet Dougherty, 2nd grade, Independence Elementary, Clarkston

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echnology allows us to do a lot of interesting things. One of them is to play video games.

There are many types of video games right now, and we need to be careful what we use.

Educational video games help you learn and grow in all different ways.

They can be used for helping children

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in setting goals and learning a specific concept. Even schools are starting to use such video games in classrooms.

On the other hand, there are video games that contain violence. By playing these games, children are getting bad ideas and learning to use bad words.

In my opinion, kids should always ask their mom or dad if they could play a video game, but most kids don’t, and their parents don’t often know what exactly they play.

www.KidsStandard.org

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Kids’ Standard’s Camp “Writing through Learning & Learning through Writing” Using critical thinking, collaboration, creativity and communication will builds confidence.

Camp Locations: (Bloomfield/ Bloomfield Public Library, Clarkston/ Renaissance High School, Lake Orion/ Sims Blanche Elementary, Auburn Hills/ Auburn Elementary, Rochester Hills/ Public Library, and Pontiac/ Public Library)

One session: 5 days

June 18th- June 22rd | Time: 8:30 am-4:30 pm | Age: students entering 2-8 grade | Price: $225 ($45/day) June 25th- June 29th | Time: 8:30am-4:30 pm | Age: Students Entering 2-8 grade

Space limited Two sessions: 10 days Price: $400 ($40/day)

Early Bird sign up

Sign up by February 28, you will receive $50. discount Whether it is telling your own story or doing scientific investigation, it takes much more than just sitting behind a computer. It takes slowing down, thinking, noticing, questioning, and exploring. We will get up and go!

This five or 10 days camp will provide participants with an opportunity to embark on a first-hand investigation of their hometown. During the first two days, children will do preliminary research and, guided by thinking maps, explore the downtown, record observations, conduct interviews, and collect information for their stories. Days 3-4 will be dedicated to collaboration and writing. On Friday, all families will be invited to attend the last hour of the camp to walk through a gallery of stories and find out more about each story by talking to the writers. Students who attend the camp for 2 weeks, will practice art and will work on public speaking related to the project they worked on. At the end of the 2 weeks, we will ask the friends and families to come in and see the work the students have done.

All stories will be presented to places featured in these stories and published in Kids’ Standard’s Camp electronic issue, shared with families and participants. The best stories will appear in Kids’ Standard’s September issue.

Young journalists will need to bring their own lunch and snack. Bottled water, a notebook, pen, and small backpack will be provided.

Please note that this camp will involve a walking trip downtown. Students will be divided in groups of four and have a high school mentor assigned to each group.

Students Name: ______________________________ Grade (going to): ___________ School Attending: ________________________ Guardian: ____________________________ (relation) ___________________ Contact telephone number:________________________ Email Address: ________________________ Person will be picking up the child (If it’s different from the above person): ________________________ _____________________ Please drop off your child at 8:30 am and pick up your child at 4:30 pm. If there is any challenge with time please talk to, the attending teachers.

Please make the payment online at http://kidsstandard.org/services or mail a check made out to Kids Standard Publication to PO BOX 1442, Clarkston, MI 48347 For more information, contact Maggie@kidsstandard.org or call 248-410-3976

NUTRITION

Zombies, Phones and Gaming Systems By: Adrian Schirr, Author and staff writer of Nuview Nutrition

I

forgot. I was too tired. I didn’t hear you…

I’ve heard these statements 100 times in one day. When my son doesn’t feed the dog, forgets to unload the dishwasher, or stays up too late, there are two culprits at play: his iPhone or his Playstation. Both have proven to wreak havoc on his brain and everyday life. After long bouts on any form of technology, we see the side effects. He’s forgetful, slow, and has a hard time concentrating. That’s a problem, which has led us to make simple compromises that make everyone happy and improve his health at the same time.

I noticed that my son seemed to be very zombie-like on certain days. With just a little observation, I found out why.

Most people sleep next to their phones because they fear being unreachable. This leads to sleep interruption and disruption, which is very dangerous. Aside from proper nutrition, sleep plays a vital role in our health. Why? I could list a million reasons, but the biggest one is that your body and mind need to rest for a minimum of eight hours straight. When you’re tired, you can’t function, let alone think. Even worse, without sleep, you are putting your body at risk for diabetes, heart failure, or even a stroke. In my home, we have a “technology cut-OFF” time, and we all keep phones out of our bedrooms at night.

Another thing I noticed about my son was that after prolonged times on his phone and gaming system, he became quite sluggish and lazy. This is when we decided to make our home a more active place. I know you might not want to hear this, but even doing the dishes can be a form of exercise. You’re on your feet, moving up and down and side to side—you’re moving! Make a deal to create healthy habits: chores earn technology time. The whole family can do this!

For example, work in the yard for a half an hour and reward yourself by sitting on your gaming system or phone for a half an hour. The more active you are, the more time you earn. Just

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make sure the earned time doesn’t cut into your sleep time.

That would be very counterproductive.

Would you like to learn more about growing up in health?

Nuview Nutrition is here to help! Give us a call and find out how we can help the whole family get on the right track to healthy success!

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7300 Dixie Hwy. Ste. 500 Clarkston, MI 48346

www.KidsStandard.org

A U T H O R PA G E

Please Play with Me!

By: Linda Jarkey, Ed.D, Author, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan

P

lease play with me! Please, pay attention to me! In the age of digital media saturation, this feeling often develops in our families: from toddlers to grandparents to even the family pet, we all experience the need for real human connection!

We hear so many stories about missing the attention of loved ones absorbed by their various digital media devices.

Much research has been done to design engaging and challenging technology, and that’s a good thing. Technology is advancing quickly and presents many creative choices for entertainment. There is the temptation to get a tablet, smartphone, or some interactive “learning game” and just get lost in the digital FEBRUARY 2018

world. We are occupied. We are learning, right? But what are we losing?

Sadie Sees Trouble is a story in verse, told from the point of view of Sadie, the family dog, addresses the effect technology can have on our daily lives. The story begins when the little girl, Penny, Sadie’s best friend and playmate, gets a tablet for her birthday. Suddenly, Sadie’s life and routine are turned upside down by the fact that all of Penny’s time and attention are focused on the tablet.

Sadie tries every way she can to get Penny’s attention. We “hear” Sadie’s thoughts about how she misses playtime with Penny, their walks together and snuggle time while Penny reads her bedtime stories. The story does have a happy ending, but along the way, Sadie shows us the importance of social interaction, childhood play, and even pet care.

The hand-drawn illustrations by my sister, Julie Jarkey-Kozlowski, capture and enhance the emotion of the story and offer a unique opportunity to interact with Sadie and Penny. The original sketch of the scruffy yellow dog was colored with mustard. The effect was great, so Julie colored all of the illustrations using items found in most kitchens and applied the color with Q-tips. There is a page at the end of the story with details.

Free, downloadable pages are available on the website for readers to color.

Sadie Sees Trouble also gives parents a starting point for what can be a difficult and challenging topic of conversation - limiting screen time. In October of 2016, nearly 10,000 pediatricians met in San Diego at the American Academy of Pediatricians conference to discuss children’s health. A major topic was how much time spent using digital media for entertainment purposes should be acceptable. Their recommendations? Two to five year olds should be limited to one hour a day. For those six years and older, the amount of time should be determined by their parents. Those 18 months old or younger should not be exposed to screens at all!

The story of Sadie and Penny will touch your heart as it reminds us of the effect technology can have on our daily life.

To order, visit www.sadieseestrouble.com, or go to Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, Apple Books or Google Books.

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E D U C AT O R S

Artificial Intelligence in Education

By: Michael Domagalski Principal, St. Clair Middle School, East China School District, Michigan #MEMSPAchat Founder & Moderator

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echnology in education is becoming more real by the day. It is hands-on, fun, exciting, useful, informative, and needed. As technology increases in education and in our personal lives, one aspect of it that is making teaching, learning, and living evolve for everyone keeps coming up…

Artificial Intelligence.

Artificial Intelligence revolves around the idea of intelligence displayed by machines. A machine, or device, takes in information, analyzes that information, and gives outputs and/or recommendations based on the information to increase the chances of success or a desired goal.

Artificial Intelligence and Data-Driven Instruction Educators often “have a feel” for what is going on in the classroom and can 22

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make informed decisions based on this “feeling” or culture in the classroom.

However, as technology evolves, so does the way we are using data produced by artificial intelligence. By using these data, we are providing our students and their families with informed, factual feedback.

It could be possible that educators have not heard of the concept of Artificial Intelligence due to the fact that the new becomes the norm quicker than ever.

However, as we constantly change how we perform immediate grade reporting, use data gathering systems, and employ anonymous online survey polling as norms in education, we are, in fact, utilizing the artificial intelligence in our classrooms. The use of data to make decisions and to choose how instruction is delivered and received is changing at an exponential rate.

As a middle school principal, there isn’t a day when I am not asked about how to tailor our instruction better to meet the needs of a particular child, group, class, subject area, etc… Often, my responses to these questions are based around the idea of how artificial intelligence is being used. What data are we looking at and how were these data derived? This can be done nearly instantaneously, and it is becoming more and more of a norm in education.

Similarly, in one form or another, this type of teaching, learning, and intelligence analyzing also happens in nearly every classroom every day.

Artificial Intelligence and Learning

writing off the fact that the physical teacher is the most powerful influence in the room. Human beings have complex social and emotional needs, which only other human beings can meet. There is nothing that can replace the interactions and relationship developments that happen by having a physical teacher or facilitator present in the classroom.

Overall, as we continually tap into the uses of our ever changing technology, individual choice is being easier to meet due to artificial intelligence. As this becomes more of a norm in our personal lives, we continue to identify ways for teachers and students to interact and use artificial intelligence to its fullest, thus creating the best classrooms and teaching and learning environments possible.

Learning has changed a lot in the last 15-20 years, shifting from “sitting and getting” to choice, collaborative, and virtual teaching and learning. We don’t see many teachers use the “stand and deliver” method anymore because it’s not very effective and efficient. In fact, much of teacher own learning and development is done virtually through apps, associations, online platforms or courses, and even Twitter.

A good question to ponder is this: How many of us use Alexa, Siri, Google, or Amazon on a daily basis? All of these adapt to our interests and/or learning styles and make recommendations based on the information we put into them. In one way or another, nearly everyone uses artificial intelligence daily.

Artificial Intelligence as a Teacher As for the next 15-20 years, the needs of choice and virtual learning will increase whether we like it or not; yet, the need for physical teachers in our classrooms will remain unchanged. Despite some speculations regarding it, replacing the physical teachers with any robotic alternative would be devastating to the relationship piece in the learning process. The push for more artificial intelligence in education is by no means

www.KidsStandard.org

PA F ERAT E NUTR’ SE C O R N E R

Artificial Intelligence

Maggie Razdar Publisher/Founder

R

eading the viewpoints of others on different topics is always interesting. Viewpoints on artificial intelligence are especially diverse, especially when it comes to children at the elementary level.

Many science fiction movies we used to watch were make-believe stories that have become a reality. Fictional screenplays have given way to scientific fact.

Nowhere is this truer than in technology.

Intelligent machines in Artificial Intelligence (AI) research are gaining the ability to learn, improve and make calculated decisions in ways that will enable them to perform tasks previously thought to rely solely on human experience, creativity, and ingenuity. Given how much the world is already changing, what can we expect from the next generation of Artificial Intelligence systems? How will these technologies affect the world?

Predictions suggest that by 2050, artificial intelligence will be able to complete any intellectual task a human can perform, according to one survey of experts at a recent AI conference. Anything and everything any person has ever done in all of history — all of will be doable by AI. FEBRUARY 2018

But what can AI do today? How close are we to that all-powerful machine intelligence? Ed Newton-Rex listed in Business Insider (May 2017) some of what AI can do: • Recognize objects in images • Navigate a map of the London Underground • Transcribe speech better than professional transcribers • Translate between languages • Recognize objects in images • Pick out the bit of a paragraph that answers your question • Recognize emotions in images of faces • Recognize emotions in speech • Discover new uses for existing drugs • Spot cancer in tissue slides better than human epidemiologists • Predict hypoglycemic events in diabetics three hours in advance • Analyze the genetic code of DNA to detect genomic conditions

• • • • • • •

Detect a range of conditions from images Solve the quantum state of many particles at once Detect crop disease Spot burglars in your home Write its own encryption language Predict social unrest 5 days before it happens Verify your identity

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Anticipate fraudulent payment attacks before they happen Beat 75% of Americans in a visual intelligence test Beat humans at Jeopardy Play Go better than humans Schedule meetings by email Be your personal trainer Paint a pretty good van Gogh Write poems that get published Write music Design logos Come up with its own recipes Write sports articles for the Associated Press Write film scripts Play soccer badly Recommend songs you’ll like

Because of AI’s power, it’s critical that we use this new tool to benefit our communities.

The AI for Good movement can help us achieve the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals. AI makes it possible for machines to learn from experience, adjust to new inputs and perform human-like tasks. Most AI examples that you hear about today – from chessplaying computers to selfdriving cars – rely heavily on deep learning and natural language processing.

We play a huge role in artificial intelligence; we are AI’s teachers.

It is our responsibility to use these technologies benevolently as we develop sustainable AI-human interaction. Done with integrity, this synergy between machine and mankind will create improved living conditions for people everywhere.

Today’s children already live in a world surrounded by AI. Our job is to prepare them to accept the responsibility with creativity for enhancing AI skills and the wisdom to do so wisely.

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