KidsLab - a podcast for parents and educators passionate about STEAM education

In this episode, I am talking to Lorraine Underwood about her book Save the World with Code. It’s a book filled with great projects for the Raspberry PI, Adafruit Circuit Playground and the BBC micro:bit. Lorraine is originally from Ireland and now lives in the UK with her husband and two young boys. She is a trained secondary school teacher in Information Communication Technology and currently works at Lancaster University as a Senior Teaching Associate, teaching Applied and Creative Co...

I am talking to Dale Lane, the creator of Machine Learning for Kids - an extension to Scratch that allows kids to train their own ML models and use them from their Scratch programs.As Dale writes on his website, he’s a father of two exhausting kids, a software developer for IBM in the UK, a mobile and gadget obsessive, a charity trustee and an all-round geek. Dale is with IBM for more than 16 years now. During his career, he came across many of IBM’s Artificial Intelligence and Machine L...

In this episode, I am talking to Dr. Sam Aaron, the creator of Sonic Pi. Sonic Pi is a code-based music creation and performance tool.Sam is the creator of Sonic Pi, and also an educator, musician, and was previously also a researcher at the University of Cambridge in the UK. He has created and contributed to an impressive array of open source projects - just one of them is Sonic Pi, which we’re focusing on for this episode. Sonic Pi, is an essential part of the so-called live coding mus...

In this episode, I am talking to Miriam Tocino about her children’s book series Zerus and Ona in which she explores the world of computers. As Miriam writes on her website, she is a mom, software developer and programming teacher dedicated to making computers more approachable, friendly and easy to understand to get children (and parents!) all excited about technology.Miriam originally studied architecture but once she met her husband, a video game programmer, her life changed. Inf...

In this episode, I am talking to Joern Alraun, managing partner at Calliope gGmbH about the Boson Starter Kit for the Calliope Mini Single Board Computer. Jørn is an interaction designer, co-founder of several companies with a focus on developing digital learning toys and he is a member of the Interaction Design Association.More importantly, at least for this interview, he is a managing partner at Calliope gGmbH so he is well aware of everything that concerns the Calliope Mini sing...

In this episode, I am talking to Kristen Reed and Paul Goldenberg from Education Development Center, near Boston, MA, USA. Education Development Center is a global nonprofit that advances lasting solutions to improve education, promote health, and expand economic opportunity. Kristen Reed is an expert in early childhood and elementary mathematics, and she is dedicated to helping children, families, and educators find the fun and challenge of engagement in mathematics.Paul Goldenberg is a...

In this episode, I am talking to Dr. Andrew Robinson about the CodeBug - a cute, programmable, light-up wearable for everyone.Andrew is the project leader for CodeBug a director of an engineering consultancy and part time lecturer in Manchester, where previously he completed his PhD in low power embedded processors. Andrew is passionate about education and engineering and can trace his enthusiasm for electronics and computers back to building a working model lighthouse aged 5. His work ...

I am talking to Joshua Zimmerman, the founder of Brown Dog Gadgets. Brown Dog Gadgets sells inexpensive so-called make-and-take projects that kids can take home once they are finished with their classroom activities. Originally a middle school teacher, Joshua found it very annoying as a teacher that all the fun science activities his students were doing had to be disassembled at the end of each class. This is pretty much how Brown Dog Gadgets came to be.

We’re talking to Tat Leong, the CTO of Codomo from Singapore about Potato Pirates, a fun coding game for the whole family.The Codomo team is made up of pioneer students from the Singapore University of Technology and Design, where problem-solving via design thinking was a central component of their studies. Their first Kickstarter was a game called Potato Pirates. Potato Pirates is a coding card game that is designed to get children to learn 10 hours of programming concepts in just...

Today on the show, we’re talking to Pranati Bagchi, the founder of The Lavender Spaceship Project in Singapore. Pranati, the founder of the Lavender Spaceship Project, is a mathematics teacher with many years of global teaching experience across the United States, Singapore and India. She has a Master of Education from Rutgers University, USA and a Masters degree in Mathematics from India. She is also a STEM certified teacher from National Institute of STEM Education, USA and holds a cer...