We hear, frequently, that the global education system is broken, and as a result, we spend billions of dollar trying to fix it. But the K-12 system isn’t actually broken at all – it’s working exactly as it was designed, 100 years ago, and it’s obsolete.
Evelyn Van Til has her fingers in oh so many pies: she's a cultural architect, she works in apprenticeships as a consultant at Apprenti, and she's incredibly active in the Central Ohio communities around technology, computer science education, and more.
There is an expectation today that you can use technology, whether or not you see yourself working in tech. From retail, food service, and warehousing logistics to the more obvious careers in tech and cutting-edge innovation that you see at startups, technology simply touches every aspect of work today.
We are seeing transformation at every level, and it's important that we meet it with a strong foundation to set us up for the future.
To learn more, visit: pastfoundation.org
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Learning Unboxed is produced in part by Crate Media
Recorded by Eric French at WOSU Studios in Columbus, Ohio
Grady Burrows leads the talent initiative at BioEnterprise, a non-profit accelerator for the biomedical space. They find talent and train them in the pharmaceutical, medical device, and health IT industries. These fields are growing rapidly, locally and globally, and their job to grow and diversify talent is increasingly important to society.
To learn more, visit: pastfoundation.org
Resources:
Learning Unboxed is produced in part by Crate Media
Recorded by Eric French at WOSU Studios in Columbus, Ohio
The Innovation Lab is the PAST Foundation's "test kitchen," where we brainstorm the creation of summer STEM experiences for the students. And today, we're talking to two of the people responsible for creating these experiences: Ashley Price, Assistant Director of Bridge Programs at the PAST Innovation Lab, and Laura Bloch, a student at Columbia University who is working towards her master's degree in Instructional Technology and Media.
Laura and Ashley walk us through the challenges of leading diverse groups of students, embracing failures both in children and as teachers, and creatively linking real world problems with education-based solutions.
Resources:
Learning Unboxed is produced in part by Crate Media
Recorded by Eric French at WOSU Studios in Columbus, Ohio
Joining us today is Kelly Preheim. Kelly is a kindergarten teacher in Armour, South Dakota. Armour is a small, rural town in South Dakota, with a population of only 800 people.
Kelly is passionate around birds, and she found a way to teach everything in kindergarten through the lens of birds, from creating bird houses to field guides to help out their community. She also started the Chickadee Club as a way to keep kids who were leaving her classroom engaged with her and with their interest in birds and in nature.
To learn more, visit: pastfoundation.org
Resources:
Learning Unboxed is produced in part by Crate Media
Recorded by Eric French at WOSU Studios in Columbus, Ohio
When people talk about education, they rarely talk about agricultural education — but there are infinite possibilities for careers that are available to explore in this space! Luckily, we're joined by two people who are well prepared to guide us through this possibility space: Chris Baker, Executive Director of the Ohio Farm Bureau Foundation, and Marissa Mulligan, Extension Educator with 4-H Youth Development and the Explore Ag Program within Ohio State Extension.
To learn more, visit: pastfoundation.org
Resources:
Learning Unboxed is produced in part by Crate Media
Recorded by Eric French at WOSU Studios in Columbus, Ohio
We're back on the road. This time, we are in the beautiful, bustling city of Cape Town, South Africa – and we have an incredibly special treat! Because we have the opportunity to visit with Russell Stevens, Head of Education of the Two Oceans Aquarium.
Two Ocean Aquarium sits in a perfect location for marine education, primed to be one of the most impactful education programs in the world. Because many developing nations are looking to the future and the future of the environment, and they're putting a greater premium on student understanding so that they can participate within the blossoming ocean economy, or blue economy.
This is just part of the work that Russell and his team do every day as part of their mission to save the planet with this very, very creative Marine Sciences program.
To learn more, visit: pastfoundation.org
Resources:
Learning Unboxed is produced in part by Crate Media
Recorded by Eric French at WOSU Studios in Columbus, Ohio
Today's guest is René Van Blerk, who is the Senior Educator and Senior Curation of Education and Interpretation of the Van Gogh Museum, who helped shape one of the most creative and innovative programs that I've seen in a long time. It's called Vincent's Traveling Case. René wanted to find ways for families to engage with the art they were viewing when they weren't right in front of it. Museums can be busy, they can get hectic, and you can continue thinking about the stories being told while searching for someplace quiet.
To learn more, visit: pastfoundation.org
Resources:
Learning Unboxed is produced in part by Crate Media
Recorded by Eric French at WOSU Studios in Columbus, Ohio
Today, we are continuing our conversation about the critically important role of the arts in communities and education. To guide us through this conversation, we sit down with Cindy Meyers Foley, the Executive Deputy Director for Learning and Experience at the Columbus Museum of Art.
To learn more, visit: pastfoundation.org
Resources:
Learning Unboxed is produced in part by Crate Media
Recorded by Eric French at WOSU Studios in Columbus, Ohio
Today, we have a wonderful teacher and a student joining us today, Amanda Schaeffer and Neel Mawalkar.
Amanda is an art teacher out of Hilliard City Schools, which is one of the suburbs of Columbus, Ohio. She teaches both Art and Ecology, very STEAM-focused, in part of Hilliard City Schools Innovation Learning Campus.
Neel is a 10-year old student who just finished up the 5th grade at Wickliffe Elementary School, which is also in the suburbs of Columbus in Upper Arlington. Next year, Neel is going to be celebrating his journey into middle school, and he wants to be a scientist one day when he grows up.
Resources:
Learning Unboxed is produced in part by Crate Media
Recorded by Eric French at WOSU Studios in Columbus, Ohio
Today, we're going to be talking about music and the role of arts, music, and technology in education – and we're going to be doing that by learning more about the unique and innovative program here in Columbus. GROOVE U is a post-secondary two-year music industry career program focusing on music industry entrepreneurship, with a heavy emphasis on experiential and applied learning. And, impressively, the program boasts a 96% job placement in-field among all its graduates.
Our guests are Dwight Heckelman, the founder and Director at GROOVE U, and Nicholas Burgett, a Metro Early College High School graduate who spent some time as a student at GROOVE U. Nicholas is going to give some insight into how GROOVE U is interacting with the K-12 space in some really intriguing and interesting ways, as well as his perspective on learning in these different learning environments.
To learn more, visit: pastfoundation.org
Resources:
Learning Unboxed is produced in part by Crate Media
We are joined by awesome guests who know a thing or two (or ten) about what happens when you take your kids out of the classroom, out of the building, and you go into the field. Pam Hayes is the Early College Coordinator for Metro Early College High School in Columbus, Ohio and Sheli Smith is the Chief Academic Officer at the PAST Foundation and the PAST Innovation Lab.
But this is not just a conversation about outdoor education. This is a conversation about how we can truly scaffold kids to have meaningful experiences in an early college setting that is really tied to helping these kids solve problems in the world. The program that these two women have done together is really one that stands out as not just a case study for great STEM education but a case study for how you can work very creatively within your community to make the opportunities and experiences that students can have very, very tangible.
To learn more, visit: pastfoundation.org
Resources:
Learning Unboxed is produced in part by Crate Media
Recorded by Eric French at WOSU Studios in Columbus, Ohio