Pop and Play

This week, Nathan and Haeny sit down with Dr. Jacqueline Simmons and Dr. Sarah Gerth van den Berg of the Black Paint Curriculum Lab at Teachers College, Columbia University to talk about their new podcast, Curriculum Encounters! They have an expansive, some might even say playful, approach to curriculum design. They ask us to think about the curriculum of all kinds of spaces and activities, beyond formalized plans for school lessons.

Curriculum Encounters is coming out February 27, 2025! Subscribe now on Apple, Spotify, or anywhere you listen, and learn more on their website. 

Please take our listener survey! We could really use your insight and opinions, and we want to hear your ideas for Pop Off topics and future guests! 

Access a transcript here. To learn about our guests, and more, visit our website. 

Our music is selections from Leafeaters by Podington Bear, Licensed under CC (BY-NC) 3.0.

Pop and Play is produced by the Digital Futures Institute at Teachers College, Columbia University. 

The views expressed in this episode are solely those of the speaker to whom they are attributed. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the faculty, administration, staff or Trustees either of Teachers College or of Columbia University. 

This March 11th, another season of Pop and Play is about to roll into your podcast feeds! This season, Haeny and Nathan are exploring children’s media. By talking with game designers, performers, artists, and kids, we’ll examine what it takes to make children’s media and how kids relate to it. And of course they play games and find out “what’s poppin.” 

For transcripts of this episode, to learn about our guests, and more, visit our website. 

Our music is selections from Leafeaters by Podington Bear, Licensed under CC (BY-NC) 3.0.

Pop and Play is produced by the Digital Futures Institute at Teachers College, Columbia University. 

The views expressed in this episode are solely those of the speaker to whom they are attributed. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the faculty, administration, staff or Trustees either of Teachers College or of Columbia University. 

As researchers of kids’ play and pop culture, Haeny and Nathan have a few frequently asked questions they get from adults. These include, how much screen time is okay (if any)? How do I design or assess play in my curriculum? Is this game okay for my kid? Search no further! They’re here to bring you the answers you crave. Or will they do that annoying professor thing and wind up just turning them into more questions? Listen to find out!

Please take our listener survey! We could really use your insight and opinions, and we want to hear your ideas for Pop Off topics and future guests! 

For transcripts of this episode, to learn about our guests, and more, visit our website. 

Our music is selections from Leafeaters by Podington Bear, Licensed under CC (BY-NC) 3.0.

Pop and Play is produced by the Digital Futures Institute at Teachers College, Columbia University. 

The views expressed in this episode are solely those of the speaker to whom they are attributed. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the faculty, administration, staff or Trustees either of Teachers College or of Columbia University. 

We’re back with a new annual tradition(?)! It’s our New Year’s bonus episode - and it’s still January so the year is still new! Nathan and Haeny talk about some of their favorite pop culture topics from 2024, things they want to say goodbye to from last year, and hopes for play and pop culture in 2025. Disclaimer: Haeny and Nathan are not expert sources on the slang the kids are using. 

Please take our listener survey! We could really use your insight and opinions, and we want to hear your ideas for Pop Off topics and future guests! 

For transcripts of this episode, to learn about our guests, and more, visit our website. 

Our music is selections from Leafeaters by Podington Bear, Licensed under CC (BY-NC) 3.0.

Pop and Play is produced by the Digital Futures Institute at Teachers College, Columbia University. 

The views expressed in this episode are solely those of the speaker to whom they are attributed. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the faculty, administration, staff or Trustees either of Teachers College or of Columbia University. 

Gun Violence research and hope might not usually sound like they go together, but this week’s special Pop Off guest, Teachers College Professor Sonali Rajan, is here to share progress made in this often challenging field. Sonali Rajan is Professor of Health Promotion and Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. She also holds a secondary appointment in the Department of Epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health.

Organizations Sonali mentioned in this episode:

Research Society for the Prevention of Fireaarm-Related Harms

Teachers Unify

Check out Sonali’s podcast on Gun Violence Research, (Re)Search for Solutions!

Op-Eds by Sonali:

As we reimagine schooling, let’s reimagine gun violence prevention, too (Hechinger Report)

Opinion: It’s been 25 years since Columbine. This is what we’re still getting wrong about school shootings (LA Times)

Please take our listener survey! We could really use your insight and opinions, and we want to hear your ideas for Pop Off topics and future guests! 

For transcripts of this episode, to learn about our guests, and more, visit our website. 

Our music is selections from Leafeaters by Podington Bear, Licensed under CC (BY-NC) 3.0.

Pop and Play is produced by the Digital Futures Institute at Teachers College, Columbia University. 

The views expressed in this episode are solely those of the speaker to whom they are attributed. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the faculty, administration, staff or Trustees either of Teachers College or of Columbia University. 

This week, Nathan and Haeny are talking about “parents’ rights.” Having rights sounds great, but what do people mean when they talk about “parents’ rights”? How is that phrase used in service of the agenda of certain adults, and how does it position those adults in relationship to the rights of kids and other parents?

Please take our listener survey! We could really use your insight and opinions, and we want to hear your ideas for Pop Off topics and future guests! 

For transcripts of this episode, to learn about our guests, and more, visit our website. 

Our music is selections from Leafeaters by Podington Bear, Licensed under CC (BY-NC) 3.0.

Pop and Play is produced by the Digital Futures Institute at Teachers College, Columbia University. 

The views expressed in this episode are solely those of the speaker to whom they are attributed. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the faculty, administration, staff or Trustees either of Teachers College or of Columbia University. 

Sometimes we hear “it’s not the time for that” when it comes to play or diving into pop culture in difficult times. When times are hard, we might feel guilty about doing things that seem frivolous. But Haeny and Nathan are here to push back on the idea that there’s something wrong with playing—or when we don’t perform the “right” kind of “serious” response—when we deal with challenges, loss and grief.

Check out the zine Haeny mentions in the episode here.

Please take our listener survey! We could really use your insight and opinions, and we want to hear your ideas for Pop Off topics and future guests! 

For transcripts of this episode, to learn about our guests, and more, visit our website. 

Our music is selections from Leafeaters by Podington Bear, Licensed under CC (BY-NC) 3.0.

Pop and Play is produced by the Digital Futures Institute at Teachers College, Columbia University. 

The views expressed in this episode are solely those of the speaker to whom they are attributed. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the faculty, administration, staff or Trustees either of Teachers College or of Columbia University. 

This week, we’re going all the way back to season one with “Future Dreaming”. In this episode Haeny talks about speculative fiction and creative reimagining with Ebony Elizabeth Thomas, Olu Animashaun, and Lalitha Vasudevan.

We’re bringing you this re-release (originally released April 27, 2021) in case you missed this great conversation the first time. We’re going to bring a few older episodes back into the feed as we keep working on Season 5 and get ready to talk about children’s media (and other things) with a great set of new guests. 

Please take our listener survey! We could really use your insight and opinions, and we want to hear your ideas for Pop Off topics and future guests! 

For transcripts of this episode, to learn about our guests, and more, visit our website. 

Our music is selections from Leafeaters by Podington Bear, Licensed under CC (BY-NC) 3.0.

Pop and Play is produced by the Digital Futures Institute at Teachers College, Columbia University. 

The views expressed in this episode are solely those of the speaker to whom they are attributed. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the faculty, administration, staff or Trustees either of Teachers College or of Columbia University. 

It’s Halloween! Haeny and Nathan are here to frighten and delight you with some Halloween opinions in a just-for-fun holiday “Pop Off”! Do you have takes on costumes, candy, and scary movies? Follow @popandplay pod and send your thoughts! As a bonus, you’ll get to see the costumes Haeny and Nathan wore for this episode!

Please take our listener survey! We could really use your insight and opinions, and we want to hear your ideas for Pop Off topics and future guests! 

For transcripts of this episode, to learn about our guests, and more, visit our website. 

Our music is selections from Leafeaters by Podington Bear, Licensed under CC (BY-NC) 3.0.

Pop and Play is produced by the Digital Futures Institute at Teachers College, Columbia University. 

This episode was edited by Adrienne Vitullo and Billy Collins. Website design and support by Abu Abdelbagi. Social media by Meier Clark, Blake Danzig, and Adrienne Vitullo. Produced by Haeny Yoon, Nathan Holbert, Lalitha Vasudevan, Billy Collins and Joe Riina-Ferrie at the Digital Futures Institute, Teachers College, Columbia University. 

Pop Offs are short bonus episodes of Pop and Play where we bring you short, more timely shows between main seasons of Pop and Play. This week: everyone wants to talk about AI, in education just like everywhere else! Is AI the solution to everything? Is it the downfall of everything? Or maybe, just maybe, could it be something in between? Nathan pops off about the way some AI tools are currently being used for teaching, and suggests alternative ways we could think about AI in classrooms and other learning environments. 

Please take our listener survey! We could really use your insight and opinions, and we want to hear your ideas for Pop Off topics and future guests! 

For transcripts of this episode, to learn about our guests, and more, visit our website. 

Our music is selections from Leafeaters by Podington Bear, Licensed under CC (BY-NC) 3.0.

Pop and Play is produced by the Digital Futures Institute at Teachers College, Columbia University. 

This episode was edited by Adrienne Vitullo and Billy Collins. Website design and support by Abu Abdelbagi. Social media by Meier Clark, Blake Danzig, and Adrienne Vitullo. Produced by Haeny Yoon, Nathan Holbert, Lalitha Vasudevan, Billy Collins and Joe Riina-Ferrie at the Digital Futures Institute, Teachers College, Columbia University.