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There has been a lot of talk recently about how Artificial Intelligence (AI) is going to take away jobs from people. I think as educators there are two things that we need to keep in mind. The first is that we are educating children for jobs that don’t even exist yet. And second, that most jobs that will remain, perhaps in a different form, but they will be there.

I used the photo above that shows a refueling platform approaching a cruise ship. When I took this photo, I started thinking about the people who worked on the platform, and how their jobs have changed over the years. My mother worked on cruise ships beginning in the 1980’s. Her descriptions of the jobs involved in running a cruise ship, and what jobs are present today, are very different. But the ships are still fully crewed, in many cases with much larger crews and support than years ago. The ships are larger and more technologically advanced. There are also people all around the US and the world who have jobs supporting passengers, many who work from their homes. And the workers on the refueling platform were certainly still needed, although as I watched them refuel a ship, they were using technology that I am certain did not exist when my mother worked on ships.

Using authentic projects to teach gives teachers and students the flexibility to explore, in depth, what interests them. It also teaches students (and teachers) to think outside the box. Using authentic projects expands student and teacher flexibility, creativity, engagement, and ownership of learning. These are all skills that students (and teachers) will need in the future with current careers evolving and new careers being introduced due to AI.

I am old enough to remember when television was new and all of the concerns people had. I was also teaching before we had computers and the internet. While AI is a huge leap forward, it is not the first leap that teachers and students have had to make.

As I mentioned before, we are educating children for jobs that don’t exist yet. Jobs that we can’t possibly imagine. I have been watching videos on the internet about future cruise ships. I am totally blown away by these floating cities. What an amazing career that would be to work on one of these future ships! Jobs that we can’t possibly imagine!

This is a photo of the Cliff Palace at Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado. The photo does not do it justice.

Native Americans built these dwellings over 700 years ago. This is just one example of amazing structures built by humans long ago. Authentic Project Idea: Depending on your students’ interests, you could study limitless examples of structures built without the use of modern tools. How were these constructed? Why? How did the local land features influence the construction? How long were they used for? Why were they abandoned?

How can we use the ingenuity of past constructions to influence how we may build on the Earth in the future? What about the moon? Or Mars?

Perhaps…planning, reading, writing, math, and creativity could lead to models, diagrams, descriptions, etc, in building your own classroom museum highlighting what your students learned. (My bias – what a great way to start a school year!)

I keep coming back to this topic on my blog. Once again, on a road trip, my husband and I came across miles of wind turbines. Literally, as far as the eye could see.

We are often seeing turbines with crops or cattle beneath, dual purposing the land.

This is a great authentic topic for younger students to learn about and explore forms of energy. For older students, this is a fantastic opportunity to explore alternative energy, learn about the pros and cons, and perhaps propose new ideas for energy sources.

Remember, even with adults in the professional energy fields, sometimes the craziest ideas turn out to be extremely practical. Don’t discourage proposals, even if they seem outlandish. Age-appropriate research can expose flaws in proposals, but should not discourage exploration and innovation – again at an age-appropriate level.

We currently drive a Hybrid Gas-Electric car. My husband is waiting, anxiously, for a Hydrogen option. Maybe one of your students will be involved in the development of his dream car! *Tell them to hurry up – we aren’t getting any younger!

My brother sent me this photo, from his latest round of golf in South Florida. It is a bobcat, watching his group play golf. I was actually relieved to see a bobcat photo, as his usual photo is of a gator watching them play through.

But in all seriousness, these animals are having their natural habitats encroached upon by human development everywhere, not just in South Florida. We have a large herd of pronghorns that live near our home, in a new and expanding development, in the front range of the Colorado Rockies. My husband has been trying to contact the appropriate wildlife authorities to find out if there are plans to relocate this herd before they are locked in by housing and freeways.

This would be a really good, and hopefully motivating, authentic project for any age group of students. What is a group of animals impacted by local development in your area? Unfortunately, there is almost assuredly a wildlife group impacted. What is being done to help them? What can your students do to help?

*For one really interesting project to help protect wildlife, check out the I-25 Greenland Wildlife Overpass, recently opened in Colorado.

I-25 Greenland Wildlife Overpass Colorado

It is a little hard to tell from the above photo, but the moon was HUGE when I snapped this photo. (If you get my blog by email, you may have to go to my blog site to see the photo.) Why in the world did the moon look so huge? What causes this phenomenon? This might be a great driving question to start an authentic project with older students? Harvest Moon? Blood Moon? Blue Moon? With younger students, what causes the phases of the moon? What lights up the moon?

Where did the moon come from? How many moons do other planets in our Solar System have? There are so many authentic directions you can go with this. Follow your students’ age levels, abilities, interests…

Bonus Question: How many moons does Tatooine have? May the Force be with you!