Science for the classroom and beyond
Our guest this week is ecologist & author Caren Cooper. As an Associate Professor at North Carolina State university, Dr. Cooper also works with the Chancellor’s Faculty Excellence Program on Leadership in Public Science. She is an advocate of citizen science, believing that anyone, anywhere at any time, can help conduct genuine scientific research. In her new book, Citizen Science: How Ordinary People are […]
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In this installment of On the Lookout, we explore another device in the world of desktop fabrication. Recently, we were able to test out Carvey – a tabletop 3D carving machine from Inventables. Right out of the box, we discovered Carvey to be a remarkably easy to use tool appropriate for younger learners. Solidly built, Carvey’s small footprint can easily sit […]
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Our guest this week is Sonia Epstein, the Executive Editor of the Museum of the Moving Image’s online publication Science & Film. Supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Science & Film is devoted to exploring the intersection of science and film and enhancing the public’s understanding of science and technology. Sonia joins us to talk about Sloan films and the […]
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Making his third appearance on Lab Out Loud, we welcome Rhett Allain back to the show. As an Associate Professor of physics at Southeastern Louisiana University, Rhett is also an avid blogger for Wired Science. In addition to his consultant work for MythBusters, Rhett has recently added another impressive accolade to his resume: Technical Consultant for the TV show MacGyver (2106). Rhett joins […]
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Two science teachers call the Butterball Turkey Talk-Line! To prepare for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, we decided to consult with a professionally trained expert who could answer all of our important turkey questions. This isn’t our first turkey-related post… Dale shares his Thanksgiving lesson plans Hear guest from National Wild Turkey Federation Do you like the show? Please rate us and leave a comment […]
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Making his third appearance on Lab Out Loud, we welcome Dr. Ken Roy back to discuss safety in science classrooms and other potentially harmful areas (such as makerspaces). This fall, Ken launched the NSTA Safety Blog to share commentaries on the latest safety issues, legal standards and better professional practices. Ken reminds us about important science safety practices such as yearly safety training, […]
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Have you ever relied upon a lab or resource so much that you don’t know what you would do without it? This mini-lab episode discusses such a tool that was lost and then found again – Mihara Naoki’s Ramp and Roll. Originally developed in 1995 to assist introductory physics students understand the simple motion of ball rolling on a ramp, […]
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Making his fourth appearance with Lab Out Loud, we welcome Fred Ende back to the show. As the Assistant Director of Curriculum and Instructional Services for a cooperative educational service in New York, Fred regularly designs, takes part in, observes, evaluates, and delivers professional development. Most recently, Fred has written a book on professional development entitled Professional Development That Sticks, […]
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Our guest this week is former astronaut Stephen Frick, Director of Strategic Planning and Operations at the Lockheed Martin Space Systems Advanced Technology Center. Lockheed Martin and Discovery Education have partnered to launch the next phase of Generation Beyond – an initiative to use science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education to prepare today’s middle school students for deep space […]
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This week we talk sex with Dr. Carin Bondar (specifically, we discuss how science teachers can use sex to teach biological concepts). As biologist, writer and presenter, Dr. Carin Bondar hosts an independent web series called Wild Sex and has just released her second book, also titled Wild Sex. Listen to the show to hear ideas on how you might utilize biological sex to teach […]
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As students are returning to school, they might be hunting for Pokémon with the wildly popular PokémonGo app. Part of the game allows students students to evolve their Pokémon into other pocket monsters. But is this an accurate portrayal of biological evolution? Can science educators actually use PokémonGo to teach evolution or other scientific concepts? To help answer some of these questions, we are happy to welcome Dr. […]
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This week’s episode is a Mini-lab. Mini-lab episodes are shorter versions of the same shows you find at laboutloud.com. To close season nine, we discuss new technologies such as 3D printers, virtual reality and drones. These newer technologies have recently caught our attention and we are exploring how they might be used in the science classroom. We also talk with Benjamin Schrom, product manager at […]
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Our guest for this mini-lab episode is Dr. Tom Hart – penguinologist and lead researcher for Penguin Watch. Penguin Watch is a project that collects images of penguins and other seabirds from cameras scattered throughout the Southern Ocean. These images are shared online where citizen scientists can easily identify adult penguins, chicks and eggs. Listen to the show to hear how you and your […]
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This week’s episode is a Mini-lab. Mini-lab episodes are shorter versions of the same shows you find at laboutloud.com. As a former biology teacher and now product manager at PASCO Scientific, Mike Blasberg has witnessed a transformation in how students collect data in the science classroom. Mike joins us to talk about the evolution of sensors, how we can use a smartphone to collect and analyze […]
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At SXSWedu, we were fortunate to see littleBits founder and CEO Ayah Bdeir unveil the new littleBits STEAM set (watch here). In fact, we were quite impressed to hear about their gender neutral design and see examples of students using the sets to solve real problems. We immediately knew that we had to find out more about this invention-based learning tool, so we are proud to welcome littleBits’ […]
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From NOVA Education, we welcome outreach coordinator Ralph Bouquet to showcase NOVA Labs – a free digital platform featuring games that foster authentic scientific exploration. With engaging interactives and informative videos, NOVA Labs allows students to participate in an area of active research where they can analyze and play with the same data that scientists use. Listen to the show to see how your students can participate […]
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NOTE: This is a re-release of episode 130 – one of our most popular episodes that we did in the summer of 2015. Since they first released Good Thinking! last summer, The Smithsonian Science Education Center has been hard at work producing many more of these wonderful, short-format videos to support K-12 science educators. Listen to the episode for the first […]
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We had so much fun talking movies with Andy Howell, so we continued talking with him about his work as scientist at Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network (LCOGT) and Adjunct Faculty in physics at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Andy joins us (again) to talk about studying supernovae, his work with robotic telescopes, and how science really happens. Links: Andy […]
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In February, the journal Science published an article entitled “Climate Confusion Among U.S. Teachers” that has been attracting a great deal of mainstream media attention. Examining a nationwide survey of how middle school and high science teachers address climate change in their classes, the article reveals some encouraging insights and uncovers a few areas for improvement. To help us better […]
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Our guest this week is Andy Howell, scientist at Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network (LCOGT) and Adjunct Faculty in physics at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Besides studying supernovae and working with robotic telescopes, Andy (with James Darling) has been working on a podcast to evaluate the scientific content in movies and the portrayal of scientists in media. Called […]
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