AI Sandbox: A Summer Learning Playground

Whether you’re a leader, part of the crowd, or on the explorers or evolvers path, summer is perfect time to move beyond theory into a practical exploration space designed to transform uncertainty into informed leadership in the age of AI in education.

Wharton professor Ethan Mollick believes the key to AI adoption is treating it as an “organizational learning challenge, not merely a technical one.” Mollick encourages feedback loops between three areas: leadership, crowd, and lab.

• Leadership – Instead of spending time on ethical conversations or blanket policies, Mollick suggests leaders provide boundaries for experimentation and encourage employees to use AI anywhere it is ethically and legally possible.
• Crowd – The crowd is made up of those who figure out how to use AI to help get their own work done. Learning to use AI well is a process of discovery. People who truly understand their specific role and responsibilities can easily determine when an AI tool is useful or not for their day-to-day tasks.
• Lab – The lab is a cross-functional team that takes ideas and solutions from the crowd, iterates, tests, and distributes to others. The lab builds benchmarks for your school, identifying what to measure and how when it comes to AI tools and use.

Similarly, strategist Ian Symmonds describes three paths forward for schools and AI adoption. He begins by categorizing the four ages of education.

• Knowledge Age (1950s–1990s):
  Content was scarce and controlled. Mastery meant memorization, and assessments were standardized and summative.
• Skills Age (1990s–Early 2000s):
  Schools began emphasizing skills and competencies over rote content.
• Adaptive/Assisted Learning Age (Present):
  Students can access, synthesize, and begin creating new understanding through AI-assisted platforms. Learning becomes personalized, contextual, and increasingly fluid.
• Generative Age (Coming Fast):
  Concepts, designs, and ideas once imagined solely by human minds are now being co-created by machines.

Symmonds is concerned about schools’ current approach to AI: “Understanding where we are on this continuum is essential. Too many schools are operating with models and mindsets rooted in the Knowledge or early Skills Ages, unaware that the ground has shifted beneath them.”

Symmonds suggests three paths forward for schools.

• Explorers: Just beginning to ask the right questions. What is AI? Where does it fit?
• Evolvers: Actively experimenting and integrating AI tools into curriculum and operations.
• Trailblazers: Reimagining the very purpose and process of school considering what AI makes possible.

The Structured Sandbox Model

The term “sandbox” can take on different meanings. Harvard, Facebook Meta, and many government agencies have created their own technical AI sandboxes. These platforms provide a safe environment for experimentation and development that offer the ability to explore different AI models, algorithms, and datasets without the risk of affecting the institution’s systems or compromising their data. In a different format, Stanford has its AI Tinkery, a physical campus space where students, staff, and faculty explore, play, and tinker with generative AI together.

In this deck, we share Mike Kentz’s Structured Sandbox Model. Inspired by the freedom of summer vacation, this playground approach invites school leaders and educators to rediscover their curiosity while developing practical AI competencies in a low-stakes environment. Like building sandcastles at the beach, this framework encourages experimentation, creative failure, and rebuilding—essential skills for leading AI integration in schools.

June 25 Essentials

AI Tools and Platforms Worth Exploring

We’ve curated collection of AI tools and platforms specifically selected for school leaders and educators. Just as summer invites exploration and play without the pressures of the academic year, use the sandbox model outlined above to create a safe space to experiment, learn, and envision new possibilities. The goal isn’t mastery of every tool but developing the confidence to evaluate its potential.

June 25 Essentials