Natasha Singer, reporter for the New York Times and author of the new book Coding Kids: Big Tech’s Battle to Remake Public Schools, joins the Lifelong Kindergarten podcast to discuss the growing influence of big technology companies in children’s education -- and the backlash against it.

At a time when many people are expressing concerns about screen time and social interactions online, the Scratch online community serves as a counter-example, providing opportunities for young people to develop as creative, curious, caring, and collaborative learners. In this episode of the Lifelong Kindergarten podcast, former Scratchers Gwyn Chilcoat and Syl Foisy, now both PhD students, discuss how their childhood experiences with Scratch continue to influence their work and their lives.

Randi Weingarten, author of the book “Why Fascists Fear Teachers,” joins the Lifelong Kindergarten podcast to discuss how teachers and schools must help students prepare for active participation in a pluralistic, democratic society.

Want to learn more about microschools? These intentionally small schools serve as experimental testbeds for new approaches to education and learning. In this episode, I talk with Lizette Valles, who started a microschool in Los Angeles, and then started the California Microschool Collective to connect and share ideas with founders of other microschools.

Too often, young people from marginalized communities are viewed in terms of their deficiencies instead of their strengths. Jaleesa Trapp discusses how young people can leverage their often-overlooked skills, creativity, and lived experience to create new opportunities for themselves and their communities.

Fueled by the book The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt, many people blame mobile phones and social media for the rise in teen anxiety. But Peter Gray, a leading authority on the role of play in children’s lives, has a different explanation. His research shows that reduced opportunities for self-directed play and rising pressures at school are the most important factors underlying the increase in anxiety and other mental-health issues among teens.

Carmelo Presicce joins Mitch Resnick to discuss the Learning Creative Learning (LCL) online course and community, where people from around the world come together to learn about creative learning as they engage in creative learning experiences. Carmelo focuses especially on his approach for creating a culture of caring within the LCL community -- and discusses why caring communities are more important than ever for countering the technological and political disruptions in today’s world.

What if classrooms were organized more like design studios, providing students with opportunities to create projects based on their interests -- and supporting their development as self-directed learners? Harvard professor Karen Brennan joins me to discuss ideas and stories from her new book: “Start with Questions: The Classroom as Design Studio”

In the late 1980’s, the government of Costa Rica initiated a bold program to transform education by introducing computers to schools throughout the country. Eleonora Badilla Saxe, one of the leaders of the initiative, joins Mitchel Resnick to discuss the early success of the initiative -- and also the challenges of sustaining values and innovation over time.

Sal Khan, founder and CEO of Khan Academy, joins Mitch Resnick to discuss how new AI technologies will open new possibilities but also pose new challenges for learning and education. What skills and ideas will become more important? And who (or what) will drive the learning process?