Learning Unboxed

Travel is a wonderful thing, and so much learning can happen while doing it. Creating opportunities for learning takes a lot of work however, and it isn’t always accessible. How can we make it easy for anyone to learn as they travel? That’s the goal of the Smithsonian Adventure Labs. Anne-Marie Gilliland a volunteer organizer at the Smithsonian Castle. Adventure Labs is an app based on the idea of...

How do we get our kids through childhood and teenage years to adulthood? The world is changing rapidly, and that’s leaving young adults with having to make important decisions about their future—without knowing if the advice that worked for their parents, or even their peers, will work for them in the future. Things like whether or not college is necessary, what jobs will be around in the next fiv...

How do we create good stewards of Mother Nature from a young age and give our kids a well-rounded education—while having fun? Jessica Kaknevicius is the Vice President of Education at Sustainable Forestry Initiative where she leads the initiative to advance environmental literacy, stewardship, and pathways to green careers. She also leads and directs Project Learning Tree. Sustainable Forestry Ini...

Food is essential to our lives, but kids rarely get a chance to understand where it comes from – or how to participate in the process. Jim Bruner is the farmer extraordinaire at the Mezzacello, an urban farm in the middle of downtown Columbus which hosts programs that expose local kids to urban farming. We discuss how last year’s events went and what lessons he’s learned that will be applied as th...

When given trust and resources, students can do some incredible things. One Stone is a student-led and directed nonprofit that makes students better leaders and the world a better place. Through allowing students to pursue their passions and interests, they learn to become more confident, empowered, and self-sufficient. Jesse Ross is the director of senior partnerships at One Stone. He’s joined by...

Elly Blanco-Rowe is an expert in K-8 mathematics, with over 20 years of experience in teaching, coaching, and school leadership. We’re talking about Teaching Matters, a national New York City-based nonprofit whose mission is to close the opportunity gap of a radically unequal education system for underserved and historically marginalized children. We take a look specifically at their Math Accelera...

High school is a critical age for students. As our kids’ social lives expand, it can be harder to keep them interested in learning. And the skills that they are taught in school may not be the most readily applicable for their future. So what can be done to improve that system? Giant Leaps Learning provides an after school enrichment program that helps prepare creative and curious students for lif...

Little Inventors is a creative education organization that inspires imagination by taking young peoples’ amazing ideas seriously. Dominic Wilcox is a British artist and designer who creates innovative and thought provoking work that is shown in galleries and museums across the world, as well as the founder of Little Inventors. Mark Muzzin is a K-12 STEM consultant for the Macomb Intermediate Schoo...

Today’s guest has had a remarkable journey in the innovation and entrepreneurship space within education. His name is Josh Chernikoff and he is an innovative entrepreneurship advisor and strategist with over 20 years of experience in education, broadcast journalism, sales, marketing, and communications. He’s used that unique combination of skill sets and applied them to a wide range of work. We he...

Let’s talk about a place, a program, and a whole ecosystem all living under one name: IslandWood. Washington-based IslandWood is an environmental education nonprofit that believes there are many paths to creating a more sustainable and equitable world. Megan Karch, our guest today, has been the CEO of IslandWood since 2018. She sees, and tells us all about, the magic in the science and intention b...

Rachel Shreve has been involved in Cooking with Kids, a nationally recognized nonprofit organization based in Northern New Mexico, since 2006. It is dedicated to educating and empowering children and families to make healthy food choices through hands-on learning with fresh, affordable ingredients. We talk about nutrition, healthy foods, and the lifelong learning experiences that can take place be...

Reading and literacy are skills we can often take for granted, but they aren’t as accessible as we might think. Many children – and parents alike – don’t have access to reading material that can allow them to learn at their own pace. That’s where Worldreader and their mission comes in. The Worldreader website and app offer a digital library of books as part of their Keep Children Reading US progra...

Archaeology is one of the best examples of STEM education you can find. But it can take a lot of effort to get meaningful programming, access, and opportunity into communities as it relates to archaeology and local history.  Joining us to talk about this is Dr. Alexandra Jones. She’s the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Archaeology in the Community and is an education leader focused on commu...

This week, we’re talking about diversity and inclusion as it relates to the STEM fields and how we can continue working towards a more inclusive industry.  Dr. Jose Morey is an MD known as the first “intergalactic doctor.” He’s also a leader in technology and innovation, and the founder and CEO of Ad Astra Media, a STEAM edutainment company that provides role models and educational content to enco...

Andrea Ferrero is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Pockets Change, a nonprofit that provides curriculum workshops and professional development to build financial literacy and resilience through Hip Hop pedagogy. If you’re not sure what that means, we dive into all of that and more in this episode, including the difficulties involved in teaching finances in school, understanding different p...

Michael W. Dennis is the Vice President of Legal, PMO, and Innovation for CAS. He earned his PhD in biochemistry from the Ohio State University, and JD from Capital University. In this episode, we discuss the advancement of individual communities on a global scale. CAS is looking to make science and data accessible across the globe, fueling innovation, curating information, and advancing scientifi...

As always on this podcast, we’re excited to have conversations about innovative opportunities for students, for schools, and in this case, for professionals as well. In this episode, we cover a new program called Mentor Ship. Joining the conversation is Rania Ajami, an award-winning filmmaker and founder of several successful entities and organizations centered around creating modern programming f...

We know that the traditional education system doesn’t work for most people, but rarely do people set out to come up with solutions on their own. We talk to Vivian Shen, the founder of Juni Learning, about what subjects give students the most value throughout their lives, how Juni is doing things differently from the traditional school system, and how to prepare kids for the real world. To learn mo...

In this episode of Learning Unboxed, we take another field trip, this time, to the New Albany Intermediate School. Our guide is Pete Barnes, a twenty-five year veteran of education with eighteen of those spent serving young people in New Albany schools. He shares his fresh take on curriculum work involving pollinator gardens, outdoor education, and environmental science – and why it makes such a b...

Communion is an aspect of education that we rarely discuss, but it can have a tremendous impact on students’ personal outlooks and futures.  Christopher Travers is a scholar, minister, writer, speaker, and curator of communion. Anchored in an ethic of love, his work explores the intersection of spirituality, race, and gender among Black men. Joining him is Derrick Tillman-Kelly, who serves as the...

Dan McClure draws on over thirty years of experience in order to, in his words “choreograph ambitious, messy change”. Now, he’s turning his attention to the education landscape, with a focus on which pieces are and aren’t relevant to make the whole thing run as efficiently as possible. If you haven’t noticed, a lot has changed since our current education system was built. But, there aren't man...

Many people shy away from talking about middle school, but it’s an important topic. Middle school is often where we make or break a kid’s future – and there is so much opportunity and potential during middle school to shape them for the rest of their lives. Andrew Ravin and Denise Daniels join us to discuss what Workshop Middle School does differently and how they’re rethinking the structure of th...

Mara Mintzer from Growing Up Boulder gives us the scoop on their youth-friendly city initiative, a program established to include the voices of children in the decisions of local government, focusing on things such as public spaces, transit, and housing.  If kids are going to be affected by these decisions, doesn’t it make sense to at least hear what they have to say? Involving children – especial...

In this episode, I connect with Jeneille Branen and Erin Corwine, the powerhouses behind the Palouse Prairie Charter School in Moscow, Idaho. As a credited EL institute, it’s exemplary in executing the EL Education philosophy (formally known as  Expeditionary Learning).  We discuss what makes the Palouse community and curriculum unique, the intentionality behind their rigorous hiring process, inte...

Sal Gordon, the Head of Teaching and Learning at Green School Bali, is here to explain the mission statement and vision behind the school in Bali which has now grown into a global movement.  Sal spent 12 years in formal education and, at the end of his journey, realized that all he’d really learned along the way was how to learn. That’s what inspired him to join Green School; it matched up with hi...