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 even helps teachers in obtaining GM seeds for use in the classroom. Valerie joins co-hosts Brian Ba...
Mar 13, 2017•32 min
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 sensation Dr. Marian Diamond. Gary joins co-hosts Brian Bartel and Dale Basler to discuss the film, reve...
Feb 27, 2017•25 min
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 with Beyond the Elements, where he will explore and share the mysteries of the molecular world. But ...
Feb 13, 2017•36 min
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, these tools are also providing students with an opportunity to learn career and college ready skill...
Jan 23, 2017•28 min
Lab Out Loud co-hosts Brian Bartel and Dale Basler welcome ecologist & author Caren Cooper to the show. 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 Changing the Face of Discovery, Dr. Co...
Jan 09, 2017•31 min
In this special On the Lookout installment of Lab Out Loud, co-hosts Brian Bartel and Dale Basler explore another device in the world of desktop fabrication as they recently tested out Carvey - a tabletop 3D carving machine from Inventables. Right out of the box, they discovered Carvey to be a remarkably easy to use tool appropriate for younger learners. Solidly built, Carvey’s small footprint can easily sit on a tabletop, and features an enclosed frame that keeps the workspace relatively clean ...
Dec 19, 2016•8 min
This week, Lab Out Loud talks with 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 co-hosts Brian Bartel and Dale Basler to talk about Sloan films and the recently released teacher’s guide that includes information on 46 short films...
Dec 12, 2016•24 min
Making his third appearance on Lab Out Loud, co-hosts Brian Bartel and Dale Basler 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 Lab Out Loud to discuss Macgyver, his role in screen science, and th...
Nov 28, 2016•17 min
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. Show Notes at: http://laboutloud.com/2016/11/episode-155-butterball-hotline/
Nov 21, 2016•10 min
Making his third appearance on Lab Out Loud, co-hosts Brian Bartel and Dale Basler 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, our duty of care when working with students in foreseeable...
Nov 07, 2016•35 min
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 to assist introductory physics students understand the simple motion of ball rolling on a ramp, Ramp and Roll's unique user-friendly interface calculates and graphs the position, velocity and acceleration of the ball all in real time while the ball is rolling. Liste...
Oct 31, 2016•10 min
Making his fourth appearance on Lab Out Loud, co-hosts Brian Bartel and Dale Basler 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 has sat through, observed, and delivered a lot of professional development. Most recently, Fred has written a book on professional development entitled Professional Development That Sticks, where he seeks to answer how to approach professional development i...
Oct 24, 2016•43 min
Lab Out Loud welcomes 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 exploration. With engaging online curriculum, a virtual field trip, and a video challenge for s...
Oct 10, 2016•23 min
This week co-hosts Brian Bartel and Dale Basler talk sex with Dr. Carin Bondar (specifically, they discuss how science teachers can use sex to teach biological concepts). As biologist, writer and presenter, Dr. Bondar hosts an independent web series called Wild Sex and has just released her second book, also titled Wild Sex. Listen to Lab Out Loud to hear ideas on how you might utilize biological sex to teach concepts such as population biology, evolution and other concepts in your secondary sci...
Sep 26, 2016•32 min
As students are returning to school, they might be hunting for Pokémon with the wildly popular Pokémon GO 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 Pokémon GO to teach evolution or other scientific concepts? To help answer some of these questions, Lab Out Loud co-hosts Brian Bartel and Dale Basler are happy to welcome Dr. Luke Holbrook to the show...
Sep 12, 2016•30 min
To close season nine, co-hosts Brian Bartel and Dale Basler discuss newer technologies such as 3D printers, virtual reality and drones. These newer technologies have recently Lab Out Loud's attention and they are exploring how they might be used in the science classroom. Lab Out Loud also talks with Benjamin Schrom, product manager at Google for Education. Ben shares a taste of Google Expeditions and how it might be used in all classrooms to enhance learning using virtual reality. Show Notes at:...
Jun 06, 2016•9 min
This week, Lab Out Loud co-host Brian Bartel talks with 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 Lab Out Loud to hear how and your students can help monitor penguins and other seabirds with just the click of a mouse. Sho...
May 23, 2016•7 min
As a former biology teacher and now product manager at PASCO Scientific, Mike Blasberg has witnessed a transformation in how students can 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 data, and discusses the capabilities and features of the new wireless sensors available from PASCO scientific. Shownotes at: http://laboutloud.com/2016/05/episode-146-pasco/...
May 09, 2016•8 min
At SXSWedu , co-hosts Brian Bartel and Dale Basler were fortunate to see littleBits founder and CEO Ayah Bdeir unveil the new littleBits STEAM set. In fact, they were quite impressed to hear about littleBits' gender neutral design and see examples of students using the sets to solve real problems. Wanting to find more about this invention-based learning tool, Lab Out Loud is proud to welcome littleBits' Education Program Manger Erin Mulcahy and Product Designer Dave Sharp to the show. Listen now...
Apr 25, 2016•31 min
From NOVA Education, Lab Out Loud welcomes 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 in science by tracking cloud movements, designing biomolec...
Apr 11, 2016•21 min
Lab Out Loud had so much fun talking movies with Andy Howell, so they 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 co-hosts Brian Bartel and Dale Basler (again) to talk about studying supernovae, robotic telescopes, and how science really happens. Show notes at: http://laboutloud.com/2016/03/episode-143-andy-howell/
Mar 07, 2016•15 min
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 better understand the impact of this article, Lab Out Loud welcomes Dr. David Evans, Executive Director of NSTA, to the...
Mar 01, 2016•30 min
Co-hosts Brian Bartel and Dale Basler discuss movies and science with scientist, writer and podcaster Andy Howell. Besides studying supernovae and working with robotic telescopes (at Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network (LCOGT) and the University of California, Santa Barbara, Andy has been working on a podcast to evaluate the scientific content in movies and the portrayal of scientists in media. Called Science vs. Cinema, the pilot episode examines a Lab Out Loud favorite: The Martia...
Feb 22, 2016•25 min
Lab Out Loud's guest this week is Shaun Whitehead, space engineer and founder of Thumbsat. Dreaming of once becoming an astronaut, Shaun now provides the engineering reality to put experiments in space with Thumbsat - a thumbsize platform for space exploration complete with microcontroller, camera, radio, GPS and temperature sensors. Thumbsat data can be harvested through Thumbnet, a global network of monitoring stations - which can even be built by schools. Listen to Lab Out Loud to hear Shaun ...
Feb 08, 2016•33 min
At Lab Out Loud, we love data collection. That's why we are happy to welcome Chrystian and Rebecca Vieyra to the show. Working as an app developer and high school physics teacher, this husband and wife team developed Physics Toolbox - a suite of apps that use the built-in sensors inside smartphones to complement the current probeware used in classrooms. Listen to the show to hear more about Physics Toolbox and how it can be used to easily collect data in your classroom. Show notes at: http://lab...
Jan 25, 2016•36 min
Co-hosts Brian Bartel and Dale Basler are proud to welcome fellow science podcaster Ainissa Ramirez to Lab Out Loud. As scientist, inventor and self-proclaimed science evangelist, Ainissa is the host of Science Underground - a new, two-minute podcast that delivers a science topic in an enjoyable and easy to understand fashion. Listen to the show to hear Ainissa discuss the importance of science communication, the inspiration for her topics, and how you might use these audio nuggets in your scien...
Jan 11, 2016•17 min
Lab Out Loud welcomes Matt Hartman, the content coordinator for eCYBERMISSION, to the show. Sponsored by the Army and administered by NSTA, eCYBERMISSION is a web-based STEM competition for 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th grade teams tasked with proposing a solution to a real problem in their community. Matt joins co-hosts Brian Bartel and Dale Basler to talk us about the competition and its alignment to the Next Generation Science Standards. In addition, Lab Out Loud even gets a special opportunity to ta...
Dec 21, 2015•21 min
Our guest this week is Todd L. Pittinsky, professor in the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Stony Brook University. Todd and Nicole Diamante (a doctoral candidate in engineering at Stony Brook) recently wrote an article that caught our eyes. In "Going Beyond Fun in STEM" (Phi Delta Kappan) Pittinsky and Diamante suggest that perhaps after the Mentos geyser demonstration, science teachers might only get "a bottle of flat Pepsi and too many students who still arrive at college academ...
Dec 07, 2015•25 min
Do your students have a vision for the future? Then they might be motivated to enter the 23rd Annual Toshiba/NSTA annual ExploraVision competition. Through problem solving, critical thinking and communication skills, this K-12 science competition encourages students to imagine and explore a vision of a technology 20 years into the future. To help explain what ExploraVision is and how to participate, co-hosts Brian Bartel and Dale Basler welcome Arthur Eisenkraft (Professor of Science Education a...
Nov 23, 2015•25 min
This week, Lab Out Loud welcomes IRIS (the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology) to the show. Michael Hubenthal (senior education specialist) and John Taber (Director of Education and Public Outreach) join co-hosts Brian Bartel and Dale Basler to talk about the educational opportunities in seismology and earth science available from IRIS. Listen to Lab Out Loud to learn how you can use IRIS's recent earthquake teachable moments, earthquake browser, and how you can search for seismol...
Nov 09, 2015•23 min
