Learning Unboxed

Welcome to our special series about shifting to a more student-lead ecosystem! Usually we take the month of July off, but this year we’re going to re-examine episodes with the theme of empowering students and communities to determine their own needs and successes. Kids today are different. Compared to high school graduates in 2000, today’s graduates are less likely to have a driver’s license (80%...

Welcome back to our special series about shifting to a more student-lead ecosystem! Usually we take the month of July off, but this year we’re going to re-examine episodes with the theme of empowering students and communities to determine their own needs and successes. Sheryl Cababa researches and designs educational products and services on behalf of philanthropists and investors. In this episode...

Welcome to our special series about shifting to a more student-lead ecosystem! Usually we take the month of July off, but this year we’re going to re-examine episodes with the theme of empowering students and communities to determine their own needs and successes. In today’s episode, Kavita Tanna, founder of Global Reconnect, speaks about our interconnectedness, not just as human beings, but as cr...

Humans think in story. Story is not just a way to connect with others, it’s how we connect to ourselves and how we navigate our world. At Just Bloom School, adults and children learn how to tap into their innate story-telling abilities to develop creativity and resilience. Head educator Sarah Lagrotteria joins us today to tell us more. Sarah has trained Special Ops members, business leaders, and t...

The traditional educational ecosystem is not built to reflect kids’ lived experiences and development. It has almost arbitrary divisions: School, after school, and summer; school districts and nonprofits; test scores and behavior. Byron Sanders and Big Thought want to change that ecosystem. Big Thought is a Dallas-based organization that creates youth programming, convenes other educational organi...

Lesley Slaughter’s job as Senior Vice President of Soliant is to examine how to close the gap between the number of healthcare professionals and the increasing number of patients requiring care. Recently she has been focusing on school settings as the location of care and health professionals like speech pathologists, sign language interpreters, special ed teachers, etc. According to a survey cond...

Getting to see a live wild animal up close beats staring at a screen for just about anybody, big or small. Our guests today have witnessed that firsthand and are building out their family education program based on it.  We are joined today by Seth Oglesby and Susan Zelinski from Arc of Appalachia’s Nature is Neat program. They are in the early growing stages of the South-Central Ohio program, brin...

Play is powerful. Not only is it critical to the individual development of children, but it can create schoolwide cultures of inclusion, celebration, and healthy conflict resolution. No one knows this better than our guest on the show today, Elizabeth Cushing, CEO of Playworks.  For almost 30 years, Playworks has worked to give kids a safe, healthy, inclusive recess experience. They partner with s...

Almost ten years ago, Tom Thorpe wanted to create a learning environment that was embedded in the community and shaped around individual students. Today, REDI Lab, a “school within a school,” is physically located in a Denver Housing Authority neighborhood and sees over 100 students create their own learning path every year. As our guest today, Tom tells us the origin story and evolution of the Re...

If a student misses even a single building block in their math education, they will struggle in future lessons. In math, every concept builds on itself. That’s why developing an excellent math curriculum is so critical… and so difficult. Today our guests are Tammy and Marc Goldberg, education innovators with Mathnasium. They’ve helped the company revamp its curriculum to help both instructors and...

Christian Martinez knows firsthand what it’s like to be a young immigrant in America: The language barrier, financial stress, feeling alone and hopeless. That’s why he does what he does today. Christian is the founder and community innovator for The Camino Program and he’s our guest on the show today. Christian tells us  about the Camino program, not just what it does, but how it makes its partici...

In 2015, Norris School District came to Johnna Noll with a learner-centered educational consultant’s dream request. The tiny school district’s residential population consisted of a treatment center for kids, and it asked Johnna to help it transform into a learner-centered, trauma-invested, constantly evolving program. Of course, she said yes.   Johnna joins the show today to tell us about what the...

How do you even begin to create systems change in education? Our guest today is Rob Collins. He manages the Innovative Learning Network in the Kentucky Department of Education. Rob gives us a peek into what systems change looks like right now for the state of Kentucky.   We dive into the teaching initiatives that the Kentucky Department of Education is undertaking in this area. Rob tells us about...

It’s time to get free from oppression, both inside the classroom and out: internalized oppression, interpersonal oppression, ideological oppression, institutional oppression. That’s what Dr. Michelle Sadrena Pledger is here to talk with us about today. Michelle is the Founder of Living for Liberation and is also the Director of Liberation at the High Tech High Graduate School of Education. Her spe...

Big Brothers Big Sisters of New York City is the nation's first and the city's largest youth mentoring organization. Chief Program and Innovation Officer Michael Coughlin joins us today to tell us about their newest iteration of mentoring: their workplace mentorship program. Starting sophomore year, students are paired with corporate professionals who act as their career mentors through hi...

Steve Heath calls himself a “professional confuser.” In a world where kids are defined by grades, test scores, attendance, and behavior, Steve’s organization asks them what they want to do and then helps them do it. Steve is executive director and co-founder of FabNewport. FabNewport provides underserved youth with the opportunity to learn how to code, sew, design, prototype, run CNC machines, and...

Students often face the double burden of experiencing trauma then feeling isolated and powerless. Educators don’t always know when to step in and what tools to offer. Jenna Edwards’ new book, “Aggressive Optimism,” seeks to fix that. “Aggressive Optimism” is a novel based on Jenna’s own experience with a devastating accident and resulting PTSD. The coming-of-age book is written for high school stu...

Fred Rogers was an incredible learning scientist before the term even existed. That’s the basis of Ryan Rydzewski’s and Gregg Behr’s new book, “When You Wonder, You're Learning: Mister Rogers' Enduring Lessons for Raising Creative, Curious, Caring Kids.” Today they join the show to share what they learned while writing the book. Fred engineered every aspect of Mr. Rogers' neighborhood...

Today we’re joined by Quamid Francis, the former Executive Director of City Year New York. His program places and supports Student Success Coaches in 17 New York City public schools. The Student Success Coaches’ number one priority is to build trusting relationships with students. Based on these trusting relationships, student attendance increases, behavioral incidences decrease, and entire famili...

In this episode of Learning Unboxed, we are thrilled to welcome Ellen Erlanger and Kathy Meyer, co-directors of professional learning at the Partnerships for Authentic Learning and Leadership. They bring a wealth of experience and insights into the transformative power of authentic learning—a pedagogical approach that bridges academic content with real-world applications, preparing students for su...

The most important thing adults can provide young people in their learning journey is a caring relationship. That is the fundamental belief that drives Jim Bailey in his work as co-founder and executive director at Rock Tree Sky, a self-directed learning community. In this episode, Jim and Annalies discuss adults’ roles in making space for young people to tap their innate curiosity and problem-sol...

In this episode of Learning Unboxed, we're thrilled to welcome Stephanie Lewis, the Director of Relationships at Remake Learning, a network that's spearheading the transformation of education in the Pittsburgh region. Remake Learning is not just about innovative education; it's about building a community that fosters engaging, relevant, and equitable learning experiences for all. Steph...

In this episode of Learning Unboxed, we have the pleasure of hosting Tiffany Nelson, the Director of Programs and Evaluation at Wings of Hope. Wings of Hope, a global humanitarian organization, has been utilizing aviation to impact vulnerable communities since 1962. Our main topic of discussion is their innovative SOAR into STEM program, which integrates aviation and STEM education to redefine edu...

In this episode of Learning Unboxed, we're exploring the inspiring world of educational innovation with Ian Shimizu, the navigator at Inspire High, a pioneering edtech program based in Japan. Inspire High is revolutionizing the way teenagers connect with the world, offering interactive sessions with creative minds from diverse fields. It's about bringing real-life stories and experiences i...

In this episode of Learning Unboxed, we have the pleasure of hosting Meagan Naraine, the co-founder of Culturally Relevant Science (CRS). CRS is an innovative non-profit organization dedicated to making STEM education more inclusive and engaging for underrepresented groups. Founded as a YouTube channel during the pandemic, CRS has grown significantly, offering a range of educational resources that...