David Dunn, Ph.D.
Principal - Researcher - Four Pillars Designer
With nearly 30 years of experience as a bilingual school administrator, Dr. David Dunn has dedicated his career to preparing students for a world shaped by technology, communication, and innovation. Born in Tanzania and raised in Mexico, he brings a global perspective to leadership, embracing cultural and linguistic diversity as essential strengths in modern schools.
David’s doctoral research focused on writing development. This, coupled with classroom instruction, led him to design the Four Pillars: Collaboration, Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Communication. These pillars form the foundation of his leadership philosophy and serve as a framework for empowering teachers and students across diverse learning contexts.
A longtime advocate for purposeful technology integration, David champions AI as a catalyst for strengthening, not replacing, core human skills. His vision shapes the direction of 4 Pillars Learning Lab and inspires leaders to create schools where thinking and innovation thrive together.
Amelia Hadley
A high school English and Journalism teacher with more than 16 years of classroom experience, Amelia is guided by one core belief: education should evolve at the pace students need, not the pace tradition dictates. When generative AI entered the public sphere, while many feared it, she saw possibility. To her, AI wasn’t a threat to writing or critical thinking. It was a tool to strengthen both.
As a former journalist, Amelia is passionate about amplifying student voice and building writing confidence. As an AI Coach, she helps teachers use AI as a pedagogical partner, ensuring it supports all learners, including multilingual students and those with IEPs. Her Ph.D. research focuses on how AI-based Socratic partners can elevate secondary students’ writing skills, creating more engaging and accessible learning environments.
Amelia is a practitioner, researcher, and innovator, committed to designing practical, classroom-ready strategies that make writing instruction more meaningful, equitable, and aligned with student success.
Teacher - AI Coach - researcher
our story
4 Pillars Learning Lab began with a primary goal: improve academic outcomes for all learners. Through cycles of action research, David and Amelia collaborated to develop instructional supports for multilingual learners and, later, exceptional learners. As a principal and longtime instructional leader, David brings a perspective that supports schoolwide change, while Amelia, as a classroom teacher, contributes a deeply practical understanding of what effective, sustainable implementation looks like for educators. Their classroom-validated work led to the publication of two writing workbooks designed to help teachers scaffold writing in practical, effective ways.
As their research evolved, generative AI reshaped the educational landscape. While many districts are unsure how to integrate AI, David and Amelia recognized its potential immediately. They saw that AI could amplify, not diminish, the very skills at the heart of rigorous learning.
The Four Pillars and AI complement each other. The Four Pillars provide the human foundation. AI provides the tools that help students and teachers activate those skills with purpose.
Together, these two forces form the core of 4 Pillars Learning Lab, a place where essential skills, innovation, research, leadership, and technology intersect to prepare students for their futures.
Two Perspectives.
One purpose.
The Four Pillars
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Collaboration
Collaboration is more than group work, it’s the ability to share ideas, leverage diverse perspectives, and co-construct understanding. We help teachers design structures where AI becomes an additional team member: offering feedback, brainstorming alternatives, and supporting shared writing tasks. Students learn how to collaborate ethically, effectively, and with confidence.
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Problem Solving
Problem solving requires creativity, adaptability, and strategic thinking. We help schools use AI to create dynamic, real-world tasks where students plan, test, and revise. AI models become tools for creativity, scenario testing, and decision-making, while the student remains firmly in the driver’s seat.
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Critical Thinking
Critical thinking is the heart of rigorous learning. Students must question, analyze, evaluate, and reflect, and AI gives them space to do so. With the right prompts and scaffolds, AI becomes a Socratic partner that deepens inquiry and strengthens metacognition. Teachers learn how to guide students from passive to active analytical reasoning.
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Communication
Strong written and verbal communication is essential for academic success and future careers. We support teachers in using AI to structure opportunities that promote discourse within the classroom. With AI as a coach, students learn to articulate ideas with precision and voice.
Mission - Vision - values
mission
At 4 Pillars Learning Lab, our mission is to empower educators with practical, research-based, AI-powered strategies that strengthen students’ capacity for critical thinking, effective problem solving, meaningful collaboration, and clear communication.
vision
Our vision is a future where all students learn in environments that seamlessly integrate the Four Pillars and AI, preparing them to navigate a world that demands adaptability, creativity, ethical decision-making, and clear communication. In this future, teachers use AI to gain more time for the human-centered work of mentoring, relationship-building, and inspiring learners.
values
Innovation: Schools should reflect the world students are entering.
Creativity: AI should amplify human thinking, not replace it.
Rigor: Engaging instruction builds strong thinkers.
Integrity: Ethical, transparent AI use is foundational to learning.
Ready to reimagine instruction, integrate AI purposefully, and
integrate the Four Pillars on your campus?