079 | 60% Prepared: Teaching Math in the Age of AI with Chris Ippolito | October 7, 2026

<p>Pam sits down with longtime friend Chris Ippolito, Emerging Technology Coordinator at Singapore American School, to ask what&#39;s left to teach in math class now that AI can handle the computation. They land on cognitive residue, courage, and the belief that a student can figure it out.</p><p><strong>Full episode description:</strong></p><p>A friendship across continents and decades. Pam and Chris taught at the same school and pushed their sons on the same playground swings. Now he&#39;s on the other side of the world in Singapore, working as the Emerging Technology Coordinator at Singapore American School, teaching the school&#39;s first AI elective, and co-hosting the podcast &quot;Up Against Reality&quot; with his friend Larry.</p><p>Chris and Pam talk about what&#39;s actually worth teaching now that AI can do most of the computational work a math classroom used to demand. Chris explains the low floors, wide walls, high ceilings framework he builds every project around, why he intentionally shows up 60 percent prepared, and why he thinks courage in math class was never about getting the right answer. Pam and Chris dig into what &quot;cognitive residue&quot; means, the thinking that stays with a student long after the specific problem is forgotten, and why that residue, not the answer key, might be the real point of school in the age of AI</p><p><strong>Key takeaways:</strong></p><ul><li><p>Real courage in math class looks like trying something, watching it break, and staying in the room anyway, not getting the right answer on the first try.</p></li><li><p>The residue of a thought process, the thinking itself, is the actual goal of math class, not the specific procedure or formula.</p></li><li><p>Low floors, wide walls, high ceilings: a low barrier to start, no cap on where a student takes an idea, and room for every level of learner to get something real out of it.</p></li><li><p>Showing up 60 percent prepared leaves room for the other 40 percent to come from students.</p></li><li><p>Ask three, then me: pointing students toward each other before stepping in yourself builds the belief that they can figure it out.</p></li></ul><p><strong>Notable quotes:</strong></p><ul><li><p>&quot;The residue of that thought process is the goal.&quot;</p></li><li><p>&quot;It&#39;s not courage to get the answer right. It&#39;s courage to try something and break it.&quot;</p></li><li><p>&quot;Maybe there&#39;s a space in there for math to be branded in that manner, th