A six-week beginning AI workshop
Adventures in AI is Pinecone’s beginning workshop for 3rd and 4th graders on how to think clearly in a world where intelligent tools are everywhere. It is not a coding class. It is not a program that teaches kids how to use ChatGPT to finish their homework. It is closer to a civics class for a technology that most schools have not figured out how to address yet.
The workshop runs for six weeks. Sessions are interactive, discussion-based, and age-appropriate. Kids engage in sorting activities, games, creativity challenges, and real-life examples that make complex ideas accessible and meaningful.
What students will learn
- What AI really is (and what it is not)
- How AI systems learn from data
- How to communicate clearly with AI tools
- How people and AI can work together creatively
- Why ethics, safety, and fairness matter
- How AI is used in real-world problem solving
The position we teach from
Here is something a New York Times reader wrote recently that captures our position on AI in student work better than we could:
Language is not merely how we express ourselves. It is one of the ways we become ourselves. We write in order to find out what we think, we revise in order to discover whether or not we believe it, and we speak, stumble, clarify, retract, and try again in order to understand the space between ideas and truth.
If a student outsources their writing to an AI, they are not just skipping a homework assignment. They are skipping the process by which they figure out what they think. Adventures in AI is designed to build the judgment kids need so that when they eventually do use AI tools, they use them as a support for thinking, not a substitute for it.
Why start this at 3rd and 4th grade
By 3rd and 4th grade, students have enough reading and reasoning maturity to grapple with ideas like "how does a machine learn from examples" or "why might an AI be confidently wrong." Any younger and the concepts get abstract. Any older and they may have already picked up bad habits from unsupervised AI use.
The reason Pinecone still teaches writing by hand, still insists on real reading, and still spends serious time on revision is the same reason we built Adventures in AI. All of these are about strengthening the underlying skill of thinking, which is what makes a person capable of using AI wisely rather than being used by it.
Advanced workshops by request
Once the beginning workshop is well-established, we plan to offer advanced workshops for older students. These will be scheduled based on request. If you have an older child interested in a next-level AI workshop, let Vivian know during your consultation call and we can build a group when there is enough interest.
Where Adventures in AI students come from
The workshop draws Pinecone families and neighbors from Evergreen, Silver Creek, The Villages, Santa Teresa, and across the broader East San Jose Aborn corridor. Sessions happen at the Villages Parkway learning center.
Areas we serve
- Adventures in AI for Evergreen students
- Adventures in AI for Silver Creek students
- Adventures in AI for Santa Teresa students
- Adventures in AI in East San Jose
- See all areas we serve
Frequently asked questions
- How old does my student need to be for Adventures in AI?
- The first-level program is designed for 3rd and 4th graders. It builds on reading and reasoning skills that most kids have started developing by this age, without assuming any coding or tech background.
- Is this a coding class?
- No. Adventures in AI is about literacy, not programming. Students learn what AI can and cannot do, how to communicate with it clearly, when to trust it, and when not to. Whether they eventually learn to code is a separate question we do not address.
- How long is the workshop?
- The beginning workshop runs for six weeks. Sessions are interactive, discussion-based, and age-appropriate, with sorting activities, games, creativity challenges, and real-life examples that make complex ideas accessible.
- Are there workshops for older or more advanced students?
- Advanced workshops are offered based on requests. If you have an older student interested in a next-level AI workshop, let Vivian know and we can build a small group when there is demand.
- Do you teach students how to use ChatGPT for homework?
- No. That is not what this program is for, and it is actually the opposite of what we teach. If a student uses AI to skip the thinking, they lose the entire benefit of the assignment. What we teach is how to use AI as a tool that supports thinking rather than replacing it.
- Is this a required part of Pinecone?
- No. Adventures in AI is an optional workshop. Students do not need to be enrolled in another Pinecone program to participate, though many participants are Pinecone families who add it to their existing schedule.
- Why does Pinecone offer this if you are skeptical of AI in schoolwork?
- Because our students are going to encounter AI whether we teach them about it or not. The question is whether they encounter it with a critical eye and a strong foundation, or without. We would rather they have the foundation.
Interested?
If you would like to enroll a 3rd or 4th grader in the next beginning workshop, or you have an older student interested in an advanced workshop, talk to Vivian. She can walk you through the current schedule and confirm a spot.