Key Takeaways
- Overture Games uses a paper‑and‑pencil method to teach elementary students AI concepts, keeping screen time low while still letting them see AI‑generated results.
- The program reaches hundreds of children in Illinois and Massachusetts, partnering with both private and public schools and youth centers.
- Students enjoy hands‑on projects—creating songs, games, and characters—while learning to spot AI errors such as unrealistic body parts or misspelling‑sensitive outputs.
- While kids can produce impressive AI‑assisted work, many still struggle to define what artificial intelligence actually is.
- Experts are divided: some praise the tactile, collaborative approach for fostering creativity and safety, whereas others argue that prompting alone is not the core AI literacy skill young learners need.
- Access to AI education remains uneven, with wealthier districts far more likely to train teachers; Overture’s free, grant‑funded offerings aim to bridge that gap for under‑resourced communities.
Program Overview and Classroom Dynamics
In a bustling after‑school room at the Rebecca K. Crown Chicago Youth Center in South Shore, eight‑year‑old Matthew Uriosdegui grabbed a pencil and worksheet, brainstorming lyrics and instruments with his friends for a song celebrating the last day of their program. “Beatboxing with his group, Matthew pitched creating a rap. The group agreed, and together they penciled in answers to fill‑in‑the‑blank questions,” the article notes. Their instructor, Dallas Godina, later transferred the handwritten notes into Suno, an AI music‑composition tool, allowing the children to hear several AI‑generated versions and choose the one that matched their vision. This blend of low‑tech brainstorming and high‑tech output exemplifies Overture’s core model: students create ideas on paper, while instructors alone operate the AI systems.
Founders’ Vision and Pedagogical Shift
Overture was founded in 2022 by Northwestern graduates Aspen Buckingham and Steven Jiang, who initially built an online tool to help kids compose music. As AI surged, they observed schools wrestling with how to introduce the technology safely. Jiang recalled, “You could feel this sense of huge fear and anti‑innovation approach coming from the school, not because they don’t think it’s a great technology, but because they don’t know how to introduce it to the students.” The duo pivoted to a paper‑and‑pencil curriculum that limits direct student interaction with AI interfaces, aiming to satisfy parental and school concerns about screen exposure while still delivering tangible AI experiences.
Reach and Partnerships
Today, Overture serves several hundred students across 36 schools and youth centers in Illinois and another 18 in Massachusetts. Of the 38 partner institutions documented by the Sun‑Times, 27 are private schools, reflecting the startup’s early traction in well‑resourced settings. Buckingham acknowledged that forming public‑school partnerships took “a little more time,” but the company is steadily expanding its client base as demand for AI literacy grows. The program’s 10‑week after‑school cycle costs roughly $300 per student, while single‑day summer workshops are priced at $120; many sites receive grant funding that makes the classes free for families.
Learning Through Play: The “Real or AI” Game
A favorite activity in Overture’s classes is the “Real or AI” guessing game, where students examine images and decide whether they are photographs or AI‑generated. At the Crown Youth Center, Godina displayed various pictures on his laptop, prompting learners to hunt for tell‑tale clues. Matthew walked up, scrutinized a piano image, and noted, “He noticed music notes on the sheets, rather than scribbled writing, a precise detail that he said likely meant the photo was real. He was correct.” Through such exercises, children discover common AI shortcomings—like flawed body proportions or excessive lighting—while sharpening their observational skills.
Student Creations and Skill Transfer
Beyond image discrimination, Overture guides groups to develop full projects: original songs, characters, storylines, and simple video games. Matthew and his peers invented a blue bunny hero that defeats an evil “cactus cat” in an AI‑powered world they designed together. By the end of the course, each team has produced an imaginary universe complete with assets generated by AI based on their hand‑drawn prompts. Matthew also reported a personal side benefit: “Since then, Matthew said his spelling has gotten ‘25% better.’” He summarized the lesson succinctly: “Sometimes AI makes mistakes… It’s just a tool.”
Expert Perspectives on Prompt‑Centric Learning
Not all educators agree that teaching children to craft prompts is the most valuable AI literacy skill. Victor Lee, an education professor at Stanford, cautions, “The question we have to ask is: Is prompting the most important skill to learn? I would say a lot of AI literacy experts say no.” He argues that elementary instruction should focus on broader concepts—understanding AI’s role, ethics, and societal impact—only when tied to clear learning goals. Lee believes discussions about AI errors and limitations may be more beneficial than having youngsters repeatedly feed prompts into models.
Alternative View: Hands‑On Creation as Retention Booster
Elizabeth Radday of EdAdvance champions a more tactile approach, asserting that “there’s a big difference between kids that are doing things to create a final project, versus clicking through something and just watching videos, or learning about AI through watching someone else do it.” In Overture’s setting, students draw characters by hand, write descriptive prompts, and iteratively refine them to steer AI outputs toward their imagined designs. Radday sees this as a way to extend children’s capabilities: “AI tools can help a second grader do what used to be a really high‑level skill… That’s where we really think about AI extending and accelerating what kids can do, not just replacing critical thinking.”
Understanding Gaps and the “What Is AI?” Question
Despite their project success, many participants still struggle to articulate a definition of artificial intelligence. At the Crown Youth Center, third and fourth graders could explain how their blue bunny defeated the cactus cat, yet “most students couldn’t answer the question, ‘What is AI?’ beyond describing it as ‘fake’ or ‘not real.’” This highlights a common pitfall: learners can manipulate AI outputs without grasping the underlying mechanisms—a gap that experts warn may limit long‑term competency.
Equity Challenges and Community Impact
Access to AI education remains sharply divided by district wealth. A recent RAND study found that 43% of low‑poverty districts had trained teachers on AI use, while only 6% of high‑poverty districts reported the same training. Devin Swift, who oversees science and technology programming for Chicago Youth Centers, stressed, “The question isn’t whether their students should learn about AI, but how to make sure young people from the under‑resourced communities they serve have access.” Overture’s grant‑supported, free‑to‑families model directly addresses this disparity, aiming to bring AI literacy to Black and Brown youth on Chicago’s South and West sides.
Parent Reactions and Home‑Spillover Effects
Parents generally welcome Overture’s paper‑first philosophy, appreciating the balance of creativity, collaboration, and limited screen time. Alice Raflores of Longfellow Elementary said she enrolled her second grader as soon as spots opened, noting, “When he saw the flyer for different enrichment programs, he saw ‘AI,’ he saw ‘games,’ and he’s like, ‘Mom, I want to do this one!’” She values the program’s emphasis on teamwork and handwriting, viewing AI as “one tool of many” in her child’s toolkit.
Conversely, some caregivers observe heightened enthusiasm for screen‑based AI experimentation after class. Maggie Wurzbach, whose 10‑year‑old attends St. John Berchmans, reported, “His creativity and his desire to learn things and ask questions increased by taking that class… But his interest in computers has also grown.” She acknowledged that parents must “set up the safeguards and the expectations” to channel that enthusiasm productively at home. Raflores echoed this, sharing that her son often declares, “I want to do AI, I want to build something,” prompting her to encourage him to wait for structured, adult‑guided projects.
Conclusion: A Model Under Scrutiny
Overture Games illustrates an emerging educational niche: using low‑tech, collaborative methods to introduce young learners to AI while mitigating concerns about screen exposure and safety. Its students enjoy tangible creative outcomes—songs, games, characters—and develop practical skills like spotting AI inaccuracies and improving spelling. Yet, as experts point out, the ability to prompt AI does not equate to a deep understanding of what artificial intelligence is, how it functions, or its broader societal implications. The program’s success in reaching under‑served communities through grant funding offers a promising avenue for equity, but ongoing dialogue among educators, parents, and policymakers will be essential to refine how best to prepare children for a world increasingly shaped by AI.
https://www.wbez.org/education/2026/06/21/can-kids-learn-to-use-ai-without-touching-a-screen-this-chicago-after-school-program-is-betting-on-it