Lab Out Loud

Join Lab Out Loud this week as hosts Brian Bartel and Dale Basler talk to Illah Nourbakhsh, author of Robot Futures.  As Professor of Robotics at The Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, Illah has been building and thinking about robotics for most of his life.  Illah joins Lab Out Loud to talk about his book, our potential future with robots and how students should be inspired to lear...

Co-hosts Brian Bartel and Dale Basler invite Karen Worth to the show to discuss NSTA's recent adoption of a position statement in Early Childhood Science Education.  In addition to helping write the position statement, Worth serves as faculty member at Wheelock College where she teaches courses in elementary education and science education to pre-service and in-service teachers.  Listen to Lab Out...

Join co-hosts Brian Bartel and Dale Basler and they talk about Snowy Owls with Ryan Brady. As research scientist with the Wisconsin DNR,  Ryan serves as the  Wisconsin Bird Conservation Initiative Bird Monitoring  Coordinator.  Listen to Lab Out Loud as Ryan talks about this winter's snowy owl irruption, how to connect with other birders, and how you might be able to find snowy owls in your own re...

This week we welcome Fred Ende back to the show. Fred recently had an article published in the Science Scope (January 2014) discussing the use of stories in assessments.  Fred talks to us about his experience with story assessments, his student results and how you can create your own story assessments. Show notes at: http://laboutloud.com/?p=2686

As the nation thaws out from record lows, co-hosts Brian Bartel and Dale Basler thought it would be a good time to chat with meteorologist Jeff Last about our cold weather.  Jeff is a Warning Coordination Meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Green Bay, WI. Listen to Lab Out Loud as Jeff explains the Polar Vortex, and discusses our cold weather and atmospheric phenomena that can be ob...

As professor of physics at Georgia Tech, Schatz has been running a Massive Online Open Course (MOOC) for introductory physics with laboratory.  Schatz talks to Lab Out Loud about his experience with the class, how the online lab requirements work, and his plans to expand it. Show notes at: http://laboutloud.com/?p=2661

Imagine the chemistry set of the 21st century; that's the idea behind a new  competition.  SPARK, The Science Play and Research Kit competition, is a project of the Society for Science & the Public, in collaboration with the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.  To learn more about the competition, Lab Out Loud contacted Janet Coffey - program officer at the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.  Liste...

This week hosts Brian Bartel and Dale Basler explore the world of sensors by talking with Mark Wagner - engineer and designer of Sensordrone. Sensordrone is a handheld sensor that wirelessly connects to your smartphone to measure temperature, humidity, light, carbon monoxide levels, and other environmental conditions. Listen to the show to hear Mark talk to Lab Out Loud about Sensordrone, the hist...

This week hosts Brian Bartel and Dale Basler explore everyday science found on BrainStuff with guest Cristen Conger.  As host of BrainStuff and Stuff Mom Never Told You, Cristen talks to Lab Out Loud about her work as a writer and host, and how she gets her ideas and does her research.  Listen to Lab Out Loud and explore everyday science explained on BrainStuff. Show notes at: http://laboutloud.co...

For our 100th episode, we welcome Glenn Branch to the show.  Glenn is the Deputy Director for the National Center for Science Education. Glenn talks to us about the center, how they support climate change education, and how the NCSE can defend science in your classroom.

This week Lab Out Loud welcomes Rhett Allain back to the show.  As an Associate Professor of physics at Southeastern Louisiana University, Rhett is an avid blogger for Wired Science at  Dot Physics. Show notes at: http://laboutloud.com/?p=2585

To kickoff season seven of Lab Out Loud, hosts Brian Bartel and Dale Basler talk with science teacher Paul Anderson from Bozeman, Montana.  Paul has been creating videos for science education for many years, and recently has made a collection of videos to guide science educators through the Next Generation Science Standards. Show notes at: http://laboutloud.com/?p=2563

For Lab Out Loud's final episode of the season, hosts Brian Bartel and Dale Basler talk with Exo Labs CTO and co-founder, Jeff Stewart.  As a new startup in science education, Exo Labs recently released their Focus microscope camera and iPad App. Replacing the eyepiece on any standard microscope, the Focus camera streams a high quality image to the iPad screen where it can be recorded and shared....

This week we talk about LEGO Mindstorms with Caroline Hanson.  As teacher and member of the LEGO Education Advisory Panel, Caroline routinely uses LEGOs to teach her enrichment courses in reading, math, academic competition, and STEM topics to students at Aspen Middle School in Aspen, Colorado.   Catherine talks to us about her experience with LEGO Mindstorms in the classroom and gives us a previe...

This week hosts Brian Bartel and Dale Basler talk with David Delgado, lead of the Imagine Mars project from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.  The Imagine Mars Project gives students a chance to work with scientists and engineers to build and design a future human community on Mars.  Listen to Lab Out Loud to learn about the project and other educational outreach opportunities from JPL. Show notes at...

We catch up this week with Deborah Blum.  Blum first joined us on Periodicity to talk about science journalism.  Since then, Blum has written "The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York."  Blum talks to us about poisons, forensic medicine, and literacy in the science classroom. Show notes at: http://laboutloud.com/?p=2427

Prompted by listener feedback, hosts Brian Bartel and Dale Basler talk week with Sherri Smith Dodgson.  As "Miss Science," founder of Discover Science 4 Kids, and co-founder of SciPreneur, Dodgson has been a science educator both in and out of the classroom.  Dodgson talks to Lab Out Loud about her experiences working with getting kids interested in science. Show notes at: http://laboutloud.com/?p...

Listen this week as we talk with Doug Paulson - STEM Integration Specialist for the Minnesota Department of Education. Doug gives us insight into Minnesota's statewide initiative to increase STEM content in primary classrooms.

This week we talk with Dr. Yan Wong - evolutionary biologist and co-host of BBC's "Bang Goes the Theory".  Dr. Yan joins us to talk about the show (now available on BBC America), tell us about doing science in public, and gives us some of ideas of science demonstrations you can do in your classroom.

To prepare for this week's episode, Dale and Brian had to do some homework: spit into a tube. Carrying our DNA, this tube was mailed to 23andMe for analysis. Now that we have our results, we were able to talk with Emily Drabant - a research community manager (with a PhD in neuroscience) at 23andMe. Show notes at: http://laboutloud.com/?p=2343

With the recent release of the the Next Generation Science Standards second draft, co-hosts Brian Bartel and Dale Basler caught up with Ted Willard, Program Director for NSTA.  In his role at NSTA, Ted supports teachers in the implementation of the Next Generation Science Standards.  Ted guides Lab Out Loud on the important points of the second draft, where to find more resources and how to review...

To kick of the new year, we caught up with Dr. Ken Roy to discuss safety in the science classroom (and throughout the school).  Serving as the Safety Compliance Consultant for NSTA, Ken often writes about safety for the Science Teacher and for Science Scope.  Ken talks to us about OSHA's recent adoption of the Globally Harmonized System for the Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS), which...

Our guest this week may have some insights for you.  We talk with Randy Bell - co-author of "Technology in the Secondary Science Classroom," and Associate Dean and Professor of Science Education in the College of Education at Oregon State University.   Show notes at:  http://laboutloud.com/?p=2296

This week we talk to Christian Eatough, a science teacher from Sydney, who is getting students to ask the questions (using the Question Formulation Technique) and using the questions as the basis of practical work (rather than formulaic textbook activities). Show notes at:  http://laboutloud.com

This week we learn about a new digital resource called NASA Wavelength.  Organized by topic and audience level, NASA Wavelength delivers a powerful search of Earth and space science resources funded through NASA's Science Mission Directorate. Show notes at: http://laboutloud.com/?p=2254