youtube-nocookie.com and open.spotify.com, or use the options below.This week on TechCheck for grades 6–8: Google turned on its Gemini AI tab inside Google Classroom for students of all ages, on by default, and school leaders learned about it from the news; 24 of 45 candidates in Chicago's first-ever election for all 21 school board seats signed a pledge for a three-year AI ban; a cyberattack in Springfield, Massachusetts took down email, phones, buses, lunch systems, and nurses' medical records, closing 66 schools for a week; FIRST Tech Challenge revealed its new robot game, BIOBUZZ; astronomers found 84 never-before-seen X-ray objects hiding in public telescope data; and an AI-generated volcano video went viral during a real eruption — we break down the clues that exposed it. Civics- and systems-thinking-ready. IN THIS EPISODE
A reusable 6–8 worksheet and a copy-your-own Google Form. Same template every week, so students learn the routine once.
6 quick polls, a story-of-the-week vote, and a 5-question quiz. Answers are anonymous and count toward your class on the grade-band leaderboard. This one has closed — results and answers are up.
Middle School Innovators
Apple and Spotify carry the full show; use the feed URL for a Grades 6–8-only subscription.
8 min 📺 🎧 This week on TechCheck for grades 6–8: Common Sense Media rated ChatGPT for Teens 'Unacceptable Risk' after 4,000+ test …
8 min 📺 🎧 This week on TechCheck for grades 6–8: Ataraxos beat a Stratego world champion in a game where half the board is hidden;…