Lab Out Loud

For the second episode in a three-part series on place-based education in science, Lab Out Loud welcomes Kevin Krasnow to the show. As ecologist, researcher and educator at Teton Science Schools, Kevin is currently studying the differences in field research by comparing the outcomes from inquiry research, citizen science, and adventure hike experiences for middle/high school students. Kevin joins...

Lab Out Loud is proud to present a three-part series on place-based education in science. To kickoff this series, co-hosts Brian Bartel and Dale Basler welcome Ethan Lowenstein, Ph. D. (professor of curriculum and instruction at Eastern Michigan University and Director of the Southeast Michigan Stewardship Coalition) and Greg Smith (emeritus professor of education from the Lewis & Clark College Gr...

Lab Out Loud's guest this week is Neal Manegold, director of Minecraft Education. Many listeners are probably familiar with Minecraft, and a few might even know about Minecraft Education Edition, which builds on the open-world game while promoting creativity, collaboration and problem solving in a teacher supervised environment. Now students can learn some science in the Minecraft world with the r...

How do you address controversial science issues in your classroom instruction? This week Lab Out Loud welcomes the co-authors of a recent Phi Delta Kappan publication that might give you some insight in how to help prepare students to become scientifically literate citizens by incorporating socioscientific issues in the classroom. David Owens (College of Education, University of Missouri), Troy Sa...

Lab Out Loud's guest this week is Sabari Raja, co-Founder & CEO of Nepris. Acting as matchmaker for classrooms to scientists (and other professionals), Nepris tackles the heavy lifting of finding professionals eager to provide educational outreach in their field of expertise. Sabari joins co-hosts Brian Bartel and Dale Basler to talk about the history of Nepris, its goal of creating equity of acce...

A few years ago, Lab Out Loud showcased Clifton Roozeboom’s PocketLab - a small, rugged wireless sensor platform that could easily collect a suite of common measurements while simultaneously reporting to a device for data visualization and analysis. A few years later, with newer and less expensive sensors, PocketLab has developed a novel product that can now measure air quality. Called PocketLab A...

With the growing implementation of engineering principles and Makerspaces in our schools, Lab Out Loud decided to reach out to science fiction writer Cory Doctorow to chat about his most recent novel Walkaway. Set in a near future ruined by ecological and technological catastrophe, Walkaway is a story about scarcity and surviving outside the default limits of societal norms. But Walkaway also offe...

This week on Lab Out Loud, Hakhamanesh Mostafavi, PhD student in the Department of Biological Sciences at Columbia University and co-author of a recent paper, Identifying genetic variants that affect viability in large cohorts, joins co-hosts Brian Bartel and Dale Basler to talk about the evidence for and examples of continuing human evolution. Show notes at:  https://laboutloud.com/2017/12/episod...

This week we're proud to introduce their youngest guest ever on the show. Ten year old Elaina Garg and her younger sister Kaylie wrote The Organic Coloring Book with the help of their father Neil, a professor at UCLA. Designed to help kids learn about common chemicals around them, the Organic Coloring Book features over 25 pages of chemicals to draw, complete with Cheesy the Mouse as a guide for t...

Making his third appearance on Lab Out Loud, we welcome science storyteller Sam Kean back to the show.  As author of The Disappearing Spoon and The Violinist's Thumb, Sam has a new book out called Caesar's Last Breath: Decoding the Secrets of the Air Around Us.  Sam joins us to talk about how a chemistry thought problem lead to the title of his new book, why we should care about the air around us,...

It's Mole Day! Celebrated on October 23, Mole Day recognizes Avogadro's number (6.02 x 10^23), which is a basic unit of measurement in chemistry. Lab Out Loud co-hosts Brian Bartel and Dale Basler discuss mole day, reminisce on how they have celebrated it, and celebrate Maurice Oehler, the founder of the National Mole Day Foundation. How do you celebrate Mole Day? Leave a comment at laboutloud.com...

Science degrees can be found in the most intriguing careers. This week Lab Out Loud talks with Becca Ransohoff, an analytical chemist for MadTree Brewing in Cincinnati, Ohio. In June, MadTree released Entropic Theory (a hoppy, juicy IPA) with a special can launch party whereby a portion of the proceeds were donated to iSPACE, a local non-profit that promotes education of science, engineering, tech...

Continuing with a theme of teacher created content, Lab Out Loud is proud to share Matt Blackman's physics games and apps. As physics teacher and adjunct instructor at Rutgers Graduate School of Education, Matt founded The Universe & More where he creates educational games and apps such as Crack the Circuit and Action Graphing. Matt joins co-hosts Brian Bartel and Dale Basler to talk about his gam...

As the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) takes full effect this fall, educators might be curious to know how this new legislation affects STEM education. To help us navigate through ESSA, Lab Out Loud welcomes James Brown to the show. As executive director of the STEM Education Coalition, James works with the Coalition to raise awareness in Congress, the Administration, and other organizations abo...

From Math for America, Lab Out Loud welcomes John Ewing (President) and Megan Roberts (Executive Director) to the show. With a goal of making teaching a viable, rewarding and respected career, MƒA provides a mechanism that encourages professional STEM educators to engage in their subject matter while working in a collaborative and supportive environment. In practice, MƒA's fellowship program engag...

To kickoff season 11, Lab Out Loud welcomes Christopher Preece to the show.  As a high school chemistry teacher, Chris recently created  Che[M]ystery -  a graphic novel that teaches chemistry concepts. Written by Preece and illustrated by Josh Reynolds,  Che[M]ystery  follows the adventures of two kids as they gain superpowers, fight a radioactive monster and learn some science along the way. Chri...

To close season 10, co-hosts Brian Bartel and Dale Basler welcome back Dr. Sean B. Carroll - award-winning scientist, writer, and educator. Dr. Carroll's new book, The Serengeti Rules, examines the fundamental question of how life works as he uncovers the rules that determine the number of species in an environment and the diversity within that community. What this molecular biologist learns in th...

This week, Lab Out Loud welcomes Darlene Cavalier to the show. In addition to her position as Professor of Practice at Arizona State University's Center for Engagement and Training, Darlene is the founder of SciStarter - an online community to designed to help people find, join and contribute to science through both formal and informal research projects and events. Darlene joins co-hosts Brian Bar...

This week, Lab Out Loud welcomes Matt Brady to the show. Along with wife Shari, these two high school science teachers have been working to bring pop culture into the classroom to increase student engagement and understanding of science. Their website The Science Of helps broadcast these ideas and strategies with the goal of providing a place for popular culture to act as a springboard to science...

Fredi Lavjardi teaches marine science at Carl Hayden High School in Phoenix, where he is also coach of Falcon Robotics - an extracurricular high school STEM program that won the 2004 MATE National Underwater ROV championships with their robot "Stinky," besting juggernaut teams such as MIT.  This inspiring story was originally covered by Wired Magazine, expanded by the same author into a book, and...

Co-hosts Brian Bartel and Dale Basler recently discovered EO Kids - a web publication that brings engaging science stories from NASA's Earth Observatory to a younger audience. Published with support from NASA's Landsat, Terra, and Aqua missions, EO Kids provides kid-friendly content in a PDF that can be easily downloaded or printed. Each issue of EO Kids also features hands-on activities, experime...

Valerie Bayes joins Lab Out Loud this week to talk about modern agriculture. As the K-12 STEM Outreach Lead for Monsanto, Valerie is busy engaging educators in modern agriculture where cross-cutting concepts like engineering, math, and biology are used to solve important problems in our world today. Through Monsanto's STEM page, Valerie assists educators in finding powerful classroom resources and...

Lab Out Loud’s guest this week is Gary Weimberg, co-director of the PBS documentary “My Love Affair With The Brain: The Life and Science of Dr. Marian Diamond.” Produced and released in collaboration with AAAS and Scientific American, and narrated by The Big Bang Theory’s Mayim Bialik, this upcoming documentary showcases the life and work of engaging professor, inquisitive learner and YouTube sens...

Lab Out Loud is proud to welcome David Pogue to the show. As tech critic for Yahoo Tech, correspondent for CBS News Sunday Morning, and columnist for Scientific American, many listeners might recognize Pogue as host of many NOVA science specials. In 2012, he shared his exploration of the periodic table with the wildly popular NOVA special Hunting the Elements. Now he'd like to continue that story...

Co-hosts Brian Bartel and Dale Basler welcome Zach Kaplan to Lab Out Loud. As founder and CEO of Inventables, Kaplan hopes to inspire and enlist a new wave of makers with tools like Carvey (a desktop 3D carving machine) and Easel (a simple and free cloud-based app for 3D design to carving). In schools, with an increased focus on engineering and a push to include more STEAM classes and Makerspaces,...