← Samantha Keppler 🎥 Watch 🧮 Calculators Material School
🍎 An initiative by Samantha Keppler

Material
School

Giving kids a material education in an AI world. 🎨📚

Material School combines rigorous research with the experiences of district leaders, teachers, and parents to enable meaningful, material learning experiences in an AI world.

🎥 Watch the episodes 🧮 Try the calculators

Three pillars

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Smarter supply choices

Understanding which supplies and materials students, teachers, and schools most need.

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Efficient procurement

Getting those materials where they're needed quickly and affordably.

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Technology supports

Using technology and AI — often behind the scenes by adults — to strengthen hands-on, material learning.

Resources for

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Education Leaders

Research and calculators for decision support.

Start here →
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Teachers

Evidence and links to support material purchases.

Start here →
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Parents

Communities working to create material schools.

Start here →

Tools you can use 🧮

Free calculators that provide decision support.

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Cell Phone Ban Plan Calculator

Lockers or pouches? Enter your enrollment and dismissal time and a formula works out how much equipment you need to buy.

Try the calculator →
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School Partnership Calculator

Nonprofit partners fill resource gaps, but they take resource to start and operate. This calculator figures out how many partnerships your school can operate each year. There's a district view too, for comparing schools with different resource levels.

Try the calculator →

🎥 Watch

Episodes

Subscribe on YouTube →

Every topic includes two videos: A Guest Speaker conversation with someone who knows the problem first-hand, and a short Efficiency Eval that summarizes the operational take-away for material schools. Watch either first.

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AI for IEPs

About 15% of students have an IEP and managing IEPs is resource-intensive. AI looks like the obvious fix, and it isn't that simple.

AI for IEPs: Material School Guest Speaker, with attorney Allison Hite
🎤 Guest Speaker · 20 min

AI for IEPs

Allison Hite, an attorney who advises districts, on what student data privacy law actually prohibits — and where AI still can help.

 Material School Efficiency Eval: AI for IEPs
📋 Efficiency Eval · 4 min

Stop Asking It to "Make For Me"

Using AI for general advice or summaries can avoid the privacy restrictions. Can still save time without the violation.
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Elementary science kits

Forty-nine states expect science in every elementary grade. Meeting that takes physical stuff — seeds, soil, bulbs, wires — and somebody has to buy and maintain it.

Elementary Science Kits: Material School Guest Speaker, with Professor Betsy Davis
🎤 Guest Speaker · 26 min

Elementary Science Kits

Betsy Davis, who chaired the National Academies committee on elementary science, on what teaching science materially needs.

 Material School Efficiency Eval: Science Kits
📋 Efficiency Eval · 5 min

The Trade-off Districts Are Actually Making

Science kits are expensive but can save teacher and staff effort cobbling together resources. When are they worth it?
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Show & Tell

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.

💌

Say hello

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 →