Giving kids a material education in an AI world. 🎨📚
Material School combines research with the experiences of teachers and parents to give clear, practical guidance about how to get kiddos the supplies and materials they need to learn and thrive.
Real decision-support for the people making everyday choices for kids.
How to prioritize material learning by buying physical supplies for kiddos cheaply and quickly.
Practical, evidence-backed recommendations for creating a material classroom.
How to support a hands-on, material education at home — beyond the screens.
It feels like the world is rushing to put everything on a screen. Material School is about the material — the books, paper, supplies, spaces, and hands-on tools that help children learn — and how to give every student a material education in the AI era.
Let's figure out, together, the physical tools, materials, and supplies our kids most need to learn. By pairing rigorous research with real stories from the front lines, we're building a material school for the AI era.
Understanding which supplies and materials students, teachers, and schools most need.
Getting those materials where they're needed quickly and affordably.
Using technology and AI — often behind the scenes by adults — to strengthen hands-on, material learning.
Free calculators that turn our research into a number you can take into a budget meeting.
Lockers or pouches? Put in your enrollment and dismissal time and a queueing formula works out how much equipment each option really takes — and why the two are not the same.
Try the calculator →Nonprofit partners fill the gaps a school budget doesn't cover. How many can your school operate each year? It comes down to how many you start each year and how long each one runs before you have to renew or replace it. There's a district view too, for comparing schools.
Try the calculator →🎙️ Tune in
Material School comes to life in three formats about the school materials — each named for a classroom ritual you probably know.
Real stories from teachers, principals, and school staff about the supplies in their classrooms — the ones that changed everything, and the ones that flopped. Sent in by you.
📣 Share your story
Email materialschoolusa@gmail.com — or leave a voicemail at (313) 306-7476.
I take a single classroom supply and run it through the material school framework---Buying One versus Buying Many---and give it a grade.
Conversations with experts who have something important to say about what it will take to make sure our kiddos get a material education.
First episodes coming soon — check back to listen. 🎧
Material School was founded by Samantha Keppler, a professor at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business. Want to collaborate, suggest a podcast guest, or just chat? I'd love to hear from you.
Get in touch →