KidsLab - a podcast for parents and educators passionate about STEAM education
69 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 3 years ago - ★★★★★ - 4 ratingsKidsLab is a podcast for parents, educators and everybody interested in STEAM education. STEAM - that’s Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts & Mathematics - all the good stuff! In each episode, your host Sven Haiges introduces an educational project, service or even a toy and speaks to a key person such as one of the creators or founders. From time to time, we also chat with experienced STEAM educators and book authors who share their lessons learnt with us. https://kidslab.dev
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Episodes
The Kookaberry with John Phillips
February 24, 2020 19:00 - 35 minutes - 24.3 MBIn this episode, we’re talking to John Phillips, Director of the AustSTEM Foundation about the Kookaberry - which is like the BBC micro:bit for Australia with some really interesting twists! I got in touch with John via Damien George, who is the creator and key maintainer of MicroPython, a python implementation for microcontrollers. And as you may guess now, the Kookaberry is running MicroPython, too. While the Kookaberry can be programmed in visual and textual ways, the features that make ...
Deaf Kids Code with Shireen Hafeez
February 17, 2020 19:00 - 31 minutes - 21.9 MBIn this episode, we’re talking to Shireen Hafeez, the founder of an organisation called Deaf Kids Code - and as you may guess, this organisation’s goal is to promote, inspire, empower, and spark the innovative spirit of people who are deaf or hard of hearing through the world of programming. The shownotes and a full transcription of this episode is available at https://kidslab.dev/2020/02/17/deaf-kids-code-with-shireen-hafeez/
The BBC micro:bit with Giles Booth
February 10, 2020 18:00 - 34 minutes - 23.7 MBWe’re talking to Giles Booth about the BBC micro:bit. Giles is the Educational Content Manager at the BBC Microbit Foundation, and also used to teach Computer Science and ICT in primary and secondary schools in London. The BBC micro:bit is a device about half the size of a credit card, plugs into a computer via a micro usb cable and then can easily be programmed via some web-based editors. In the end you download the compiled program with the click of a button in one of the editors and drag...
The Crafty Kid's Guide with Helen Leigh
February 03, 2020 19:00 - 34 minutes - 23.5 MBThis interview is with Helen Leigh - she is a creative technologist, author and maker with a focus on playful use of new technologies. In this episode, we’re also looking at The Crafty Kid’s Guide to DIY Electronics - a book she has written which is filled which awesome projects for parents and their kids. But besides this, we’re discussing the recent Chaos Communication Congress in Leipzig, projects such as the mi:mu glove for kids and way more crafting and electronics projects. https://k...
Math Renaissance with Rodi & Rachel Steinig
January 27, 2020 19:00 - 32 minutes - 22.2 MBIn this episode, we’re talking to Rachel and Rodi Steinig about Math Renaissance, a book all about mathematics and how math education can be evolved in the classroom. Together, Rodi and Rachel have written the book Math Renaissance which originally got successfully kickstarted a few years back and it’s all about growing math circles, changing the classroom and creating sustainable math education. https://kidslab.dev/2020/01/27/math-renaissance-with-rodi-and-rachel-steinig/
Sasha Savvy Loves to Code with Sasha Ariel Alston
January 20, 2020 18:00 - 19 minutes - 13.1 MBWe’re talking to Sasha Ariel Alston, the author of Sasha Savvy Loves to Code - a children’s book that inspires girls to pursue STEM activities in a fun way. Sasha is from Washington, DC and she is a college student majoring in Information Systems at Pace University in New York City. With nine successful internships in the tech and business industries, she is a sought-after speaker to encourage youth to explore educational and career opportunities in STEM. So the book ‘Sasha Savvy Loves ...
The KUBO Robot with Rikke Paaskesen
January 13, 2020 19:00 - 29 minutes - 20 MBRikke Paaskesen is the Educational Curriculum & Community Manager at KUBO Robotics, a Denmark-based edtech company. She is a teacher and educational sociologist and has a broad teaching experience with children and youngsters but has also been teaching students and adults. KUBO is a two-wheeled, little robot with color LEDs and also some sound effects. While there is an app available, it’s just used to update the robot in case of updates. To program the robot, the kids use so-called TagTil...
Calliope Mini with Stephan Noller
January 06, 2020 19:00 - 29 minutes - 20.5 MBWe’re talking to Stephan Noller, a German internet-entrepreneur and one of the key persons of the Calliope mini founding team. The Calliope mini is an educational microcontroller board that can easily be programmed by kids via the web-based editors. The Calliope mini is a single board computer that plugs into a computer via USB and can then be programmed via some web-based and mostly block-based editors. It is originally based on the BBC micro:bit that you might have heard of but augments ...
Making & Hacking with Mitch Altman
December 31, 2019 18:00 - 32 minutes - 22.3 MBWe’re talking to Mitch Altman - a Berlin-based hacker and inventor, best known for inventing TV-B-Gone (a universal tv remote that turns out EVERYTHING), Mitch is a featured speaker at hacker conferences, he is an international expert on the hackerspace movement, and he is very known for teaching introductory electronics workshops. He is also Chief Scientist and CEO of Cornfield Electronics. https://kidslab.dev/2020/01/01/making-hacking-with-mitch-altman/ Episode Photo uses “Portrait phot...
The Public Lab Community Microscope Kit with Mimi Spahn Sattler
December 30, 2019 19:00 - 21 minutes - 14.6 MBIn this episode, we’re talking to Mimi Spahn Sattler. She is the Education Manager at Public Lab and is also an hands-on educator focusing on making environmental science and research accessible for all. We discuss the Community Microscope Kit but also some other Public Lab Projects, such as the Balloon Mapping Kit that originally started this organization. Public Lab is all about breaking down barriers of access, making science as approachable as it can be and involve everybody in this proc...
Hello Ruby with Linda Liukas
December 23, 2019 18:00 - 29 minutes - 20.2 MBIn this episode, we’re talking to Linda Liukas - Linda is the author and illustrator of Hello Ruby, a children’s picture book series about the whimsical world of computers, as well as the founder of Rails Girls, a global movement to teach young women programming in over 300 cities. Linda is a totally exceptional person. She’s originally from Helsinki, Finland. She’s created Kickstarter campaign for her book Hello Ruby in 2015 and this project totally went through the roof - by end she gathe...
Robo Wunderkind with Anna Iarotska
December 16, 2019 17:00 - 30 minutes - 20.7 MBWe’re talking to Anna Iarotska, the CEO and co-founder of Robo Wunderkind, an award-winning edtech company that provides innovative early education solutions which are currently in use in over 200 schools worldwide. The company Robo Wunderkind is based in Vienna, Austria, and they currently sell a couple of robotic kits. These kits include a selection of kid-friendly, easy to connect blocks. The Blocks can easily be connected, they just snap together! Besides having a really compelling ed...
The SkyWeather Raspberry Pi Weather Station with Dr. John Shovic
December 09, 2019 18:00 - 28 minutes - 19.7 MBIn this episode, we’re talking to Dr. John Shovic from SwitchDoc Labs. John is the Chief Technical Officer and co-founder of SwitchDoc Labs and he his team has created the SkyWeather Station, which is a do-it-yourself cloud connected Weather Station and an excellent project if you and your kids or students want to learn about the Weather and the sensors used to measure it. https://kidslab.dev/2019/12/09/skyweather-the-raspberry-pi-weather-station-with-dr-john-shovic/
Snap! Visual coding with Jens Moenig
December 02, 2019 17:00 - 28 minutes - 19.9 MBIn this episode, we’re talking to Jens Moenig. He is the co-founder and Lead Programmer of Snap! - a free, visual and educational programming language. Snap! is based on the blocks-based concepts of Scratch, but includes some extensions that make it suitable for a serious introduction to computer science. For example, it has been used to teach "The Beauty and Joy of Computing" - an introductory course in computer science at the University of California in Berkeley. To get started, just visit...
The Smartibot AI-robot with Ross Atkin
November 25, 2019 17:00 - 24 minutes - 16.7 MBWe’re talking to Ross Atkin, the creator of both the Crafty Robots and the Smartibot. The smartibot is a cardboard robot that can be controlled via your smartphone. You can even use your smartphone as a brain of the robot and make it chase people, animals and vehicles using artificial intelligence. One very cool feature that you don’t often find in other robots: the parts of the Smartibot can be re-used to build proper robots out of almost anything. Episode Image with Ross: Copyright Andy ...
The Sculpto+ 3D printer with Martin Moos
November 18, 2019 20:00 - 27 minutes - 18.8 MBWe’re talking to Martin Moos, Head of Sales and Customer Service at Sculpto. Sculpto is a Denmark-based 3d printing company that Kickstarted the Sculpto+ 3D printer in 2017. The Sculpto+ is a polar 3D printer, which means it has a rotating base element which is quite uncommon among 3d printers - but it works really perfectly and the printer therefore does not take up a lot of space. The printer also comes completely pre-assembled and you’re up and printing pretty much after you connected it ...
The Kamibot Pi with Asaph Kim
November 18, 2019 19:00 - 23 minutes - 16.1 MBOn this show, we’re talking to Asaph Kim, Chief Design Officer and co-founder at 3.14 - a robotics edutech startup from South Korea which created the Kamibot educational robot. Their startup did already create and produce the Kamibot v1, a robot that can be dressed with paper crafts for kids to learn programming. And at the time of releasing this podcast episode the next version of Kamibot, the Kamibot PI is live on Kickstarter and it will have some exciting new features. https://kidslab.de...
Squishy Circuits with Dr. AnnMarie Thomas
November 18, 2019 18:00 - 23 minutes - 16.1 MBIn this very first episode, we talk to Dr. AnnMarie Thomas, the founder and director of the Playful Learning Lab at the University of St. Thomas. Squishy Circuits is about making dough that can be conductive or insulating. It’s like playdough, but the dough either conducts electricity or not. Using these two types of dough and a couple of food colors, you can create very “squishy” experiments for younger children - add a few batteries, leds, buzzers or motors and you are ready for a workshop...
The Trailer
November 09, 2019 10:00 - 1 minute - 1.34 MBShownotes This is Episode 0 - the trailer - and I just quickly want to tell you what this will be about. STEAM - that’s Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts & Mathematics - all the good stuff! In each episode, I’ll introduce an educational board, toy or game and I will speak to a key person such as one of the creators or founders. And from time to time, we will also chat with experienced STEAM educators who share their lessons learnt with us.