Lab Out Loud

In the latest installment of their Scientist Out Loud series, Dr. Terry McGlynn joins the Lab Out Loud podcast to discuss his research with ants and other insects found in tropical rainforests. Since 1995, Terry has been working out of La Selva Biological Station in Costa Rica studying ants as a model system. Instead of the boring ants we might find in North America, these tropical species are far more interesting and can teach us a lot about social interactions, organizing behaviors, and balancing ecosystems. Terry joins co-hosts Brian Bartel and Dale Basler to answer all of their ant questions, describe his path to become a myremocologist, and explain why we should care about ants in the world around us.

About the Guest:

Dr. Terry McGlynn is a Professor of Biology at Cal State Dominguez Hills and a Research Associate at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. His research program focuses on the experimental natural history of ants.

Show notes at: https://laboutloud.com/2021/05/episode-247-ants/

In an attempt to help students make visible connections between science and sound, Dr. Victor Minces and his team have created Listening to Waves - a suite of online tools that allow students to easily view, manipulate and generate sound. Sponsored by the National Science Foundation, Listening to Waves freely provides an online oscilloscope, signal generator, and spectrogram. Dr. Minces joins the Lab Out Loud podcast to share his appreciation of science and sound, explain how students can have fun exploring and playing with sound using his online tools, and describe how these tools have been helpful for learning science at home during the pandemic.

About the Guest: Working as a research scientist in the department of Cognitive Science at UC San Diego, Dr. Victor Minces has a background in physics, neuroscience, and the cognitive science of music. He is crazy about sound and is also an aspiring sound artist. Part of his intention with Listening to Waves is to spread that love.

Show notes at: https://laboutloud.com/2021/05/episode-246-listening-to-waves/

With a shift to online learning during the pandemic, students have relied on watching and creating more videos. But how has that impacted science education? To help answer that question, the Lab Out Loud Podcast invites Rhett Allain back to the show. Rhett shares some tips and suggestions for online learning - especially dealing with online math. Spoiler alert! He suggests that students make a video to showcase their learning. Rhett also describes his work as technical advisor at McGyver, then takes some time to geek out with co-hosts Brian Bartel and Dale Basler about science that is portrayed (or ignored) in pop culture.

About the Guest: An Associate Professor of physics at Southeastern Louisiana University, Rhett is also a physics blogger for Wired and Medium, creates videos for YouTube and serves as the technical consultant for the TV show McGyver.

Show notes:

https://laboutloud.com/2021/04/episode-245-pop-culture-science/

As schooling has expanded into our homes during the pandemic, it's no surprise that online resources geared towards learning at home have been extremely valuable. That's why Lab Out Loud's exploration into science at home connects them with Ben Finio and Svenja Lohner, both senior staff scientists at Science Buddies. With an emphasis on providing kid-friendly, bite-sized STEM learning activities for students to do at home, Science Buddies also offers a robust array of resources like science news, interactive simulations, NGSS-aligned lesson plans, and the powerful Topic Selection Wizard - a personalized science interest quiz designed to help students find a project that fits their own interests. Listen to the podcast, then visit Science Buddies to find your next science activity, no matter where your classroom is located!   Show notes at: https://laboutloud.com/2021/04/episode-244-science-buddies/

Lab Out Loud's exploration into distance learning takes on new meaning this week, as they discover what's next from the Perseverance rover that recently landed on Mars. To guide them in the conversation, co-hosts Brian Bartel and Dale Basler welcome Brandon Rodriguez to the show. A chemist by training, Brandon teaches high school chemistry and physics while working as an Education Specialist with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory where he provides resources and training for K-12 schools. Brandon joins Lab Out Loud to remind us of the impossible task of landing a rover on Mars, shares what we can expect to learn from the Perseverance mission, and provides a little advice for students interested in working for NASA and other STEM fields.

Show notes at: https://laboutloud.com/2021/03/episode-243-perseverance/

Igniting Science Curiosity Across Africa As the Lab Out Loud Podcast continues to explore how science education has adapted during the pandemic, a new science TV show out of Africa caught their eye. In part created to accommodate learning at home through broadcast television, N*Gen has grown into a Pan-African TV show that encourages science across borders and allows African children to see themselves as scientists. With a STEM focus, episodes include engaging animations, hands-on experiments, tips for healthy living and clips from teachers across the continent. To learn more about N*Gen and how it's made, co-hosts Brian Bartel and Dale welcome Irene Nyangoma (a teacher in Uganda, writer and main host), Joy Kiano (a teacher in Kenya and science writer), and Gosia Lukomska (producer) to the show. Listen now, then watch N*Gen on the Africa Channel or on YouTube!

Show notes at: https://laboutloud.com/2021/03/episode-242-ngen/

This week, the Lab Out Loud podcast talks with Mallory Wills, a biology and earth science teacher at George Washington High School in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. In August 2020, Cedar Rapids and other parts of the Midwest were slammed by a derecho - an intense storm with straight line winds that damaged every school in the Cedar Rapids system. In the wake of the devastation, Mallory applied for a SSP (Science for Society and the Public) STEM Research Grant, hoping that the grant would provide much needed funding to help start a research club. Adapted for online learning, the award of $1000 provided take home STEM kits that helped Mallory provide hands-on learning opportunities in an online learning environment. Mallory joins co-hosts Brian Bartel and Dale Basler to describe the damage inflicted by the derecho in her district, how she has been using the SSP award to help her students conduct research in an online learning environment, and to remind us of the resilience, unanticipated benefits and the hope that can shine through tragedy.

Show notes at: https://laboutloud.com/2021/02/episode-241-learning-science-through-tragedy

This week, the Lab Out Loud podcast talks with India Carlson, a botany and environmental horticulture teacher at Ballard High School in Seattle, Washington. In a typical year, India's students spend a significant portion of time working in the school garden and greenhouse. Faced with the unique challenges of learning science at home this year, India decided to clone a plant for every one of her students to use at home for learning, experimentation, and even finding joy. India joins co-hosts Brian Bartel and Dale Basler to talk about the logistics of sending plants home, the unexpected benefits of the program, and how this experience has prompted her students to appreciate more of the environment around them.

Show notes at: https://laboutloud.com/2021/02/episode-240-sending-plants-home/

Lab Out Loud's guest this week is Dr. Steffania Kapsetaki, a postdoctoral research fellow at Arizona State University at the Arizona Cancer & Evolution Center. Joining Lab Out Loud from Greece where she is working remotely during the pandemic, Dr. Kapsetaki is studying chimerism across the tree of life and its potential impact in triggering cancer. Representing a relatively new field of research in life science, chimerism occurs when organisms contain cells from other organisms. Dr. Kapsetaki joins co-hosts Brian Bartel and Dale Basler to talk about her research, how she is able to continue her work through the pandemic, and how discoveries in chimerism might impact our health and understanding of life science.

Show notes at: https://laboutloud.com/2021/01/episode-239-dr-steffania-kapsetaki/

This week, the Lab Out Loud podcast explores Meet The Lab, a new educational resource from PBS Wisconsin Education designed for middle school science classrooms. Similar to their #ScientistOutLoud series, Meet the Lab introduces students to real world issues, scientific practices and concepts, and also to the people that work together to research and solve problems using science. To guide them through this new resource, co-hosts Brian Bartel and Dale Basler are joined by Megan Monday, Executive Producer at PBS Wisconsin in the Education Department and Travis Tangen, Education and Outreach Manager at the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF). Listen to the show to learn more about Meet the Lab, its focus on connecting students to real life researchers and why their work matters, and how the project can help students develop their own STEAM identities.

Show notes at: https://laboutloud.com/?p=5111