KidsLab - a podcast for parents and educators passionate about STEAM education

I am talking to Rafael Hostettler, he’s the guardian and project lead of Roboy - a very exciting robotics project of Devanthro GmbH. Late last year, they’ve also kickstarted and released a children’s book called Roboy & Lucy.Rafael is Roboy’s legal guardian and project lead. He has an Master in Computational Science and Engineering from ETH Zurich, Switzerland and works towards his PhD at the robotics and embedded systems lab at the Technical University of Munich. He’s a true robotics enthusiast and played a huge role in the history and development of Roboy. Roboy is an advanced humanoid robot and research project that was originally developed at the AI Lab of the University of Zurich. Right after its unveiling, Rafael adopted the robot and moved with it to Munich. As already mentioned, Roboy is all about humanoid robotic design - the human body is the blueprint. This means Roboy has a skeleton and muscles for example - and uses a lot of AI in each of the sub-systems of course. We’ll definitely chat about Roboy a lot during the interview, but the focus is actually on a children’s book called Roboy & Lucy that Rafael helped to kickstarted and fulfill in 2019. The book is now available in both English and German and also in digital and print format. The book teaches about friendship, curiosity, and the use of technology for a good purpose.

Today on the show, I am talking to Camilo Parra Palacio, the founder of Otto DIY - it’s all about 3D printable robot components and project kids to take your STEAM learning to new levels.Camilo is a Product Design Engineer and the Founder of Otto DIY. He’s a Designer by profession, roboticist and 3D printing enthusiast by passion. Born in Colombia a drive for adventure and pursuing his dreams took him to China in 2014, while working in Shanghai for a multinational inflatable toy manufacturer, he wondered upon the very first Hackerspace in China. There he started playing, learning and experimenting with DIY robots. At that time DIY robots were only accessible to professionals, and not well known to the general public. After coming up short with finding an easy to make robot for all ages, he realized what he needed to do. Bring to the market an open source robot that anyone can make. He bought a 3D printer and in a couple of months the iconic shape of Otto was made functional.Since then thousands of people started using Otto all around the world due to it’s simple Do-it-yourself home assembly attributes. Otto DIY is headquartered in Czech Republic, the center of Europe where the term robot and the best open source 3D printer was created. Thanks to Otto DIY open source nature, it has become one of the most popular 3D printable robot designs in the world. And by the way: Otto is the first-ever Open Source Hardware certificated project from the Czech Republic!

I am talking to Bambi Brewer about the new Finch Robot 2.0. Bambi is the director of Engineering at Birdbrain Technologies, the creators of the Finch Robot. Bambi works from the beginning to the end of the development process to design new products, ensure software is reliable and easy to use, and create curriculum pathways to help take robotics projects to the next level. She has a bachelor in math and physics from Rhodes College, and a Ph.D. in robotics from Carnegie Mellon University. She has experience in education at all levels and has been designing robotics curricula since 2013. In her free time, she raises a teenager and knits obsessively.Let’s have a look at the Finch Robot v2, BirdBrain’s latest creation. It’s of course the successor of the popular first Finch Robot and a big shift is the use of the BBC micro:bit as a computational brain of this robot. The finch is a robot that targets kids from Kindergarten to college and allows them to experience their coding creations in a hands-on, physical way. The micro:bit already features quite a few sensors, such as the accelerometer or buttons. But Finch 2.0 adds even more cool stuff: a whiteboard marker holder, color LEDs, buzzer, light sensor, distance sensor and even line tracking sensor. It’s powered by a rechargeable battery that lasts 7+ hours. And little details make it special for me - things as visual markers on the wheels so you can count the iterations easily. That’s the geeky hardware bit - the software looks even more exciting with block-based programming in all forms and apps as well as text-based coding supported. We go into details in the interview.

In this episode, I am talking to Joern Alraun, managing partner at Calliope, about the next version of the Calliope Mini Single Board Computer - Calliope Mini v2.That’s the second time that I interview Joern and the third time we discuss the Calliope Mini - it’s simply a very cool board I guess. Jørn is an interaction designer, co-founder of several companies with a focus on developing digital learning toys and he is a member of the Interaction Design Association. As you might recall, Joern is the managing partner at Calliope gGmbH and in the last interview with him about the Boson Starter Kit for Calliope Mini, he already mentioned that a Calliope Mini v2 is coming soon.The Calliope Mini is an educational board for kids to learn coding - if you need details about the Calliope Mini in general, please be sure to look at the shownote links at kidslab.dev for the specific Calliope Mini episodes. So now the v2.0 of Calliope Mini is out, featuring a memory chip which can hold up to 25 programs. Even better, the Calliope Mini v2 already ships with 25 programs, which means the board can now be used right out of the box, without prior programming. That makes a huge difference when you think of a typical classroom situation and want to get started exploring the board.

In this episode, I am talking to Birgit Schlotter about KryptoKids - KryptoKids is German online project and game about online privacy. Birgit is an information technologist and educational expert, focusing on media pedagogy. Since 2018, she is working at the office of youth media culture in North-Rhine Westfalia, which is a part of Germany. There, her main occupation is around data privacy and security. KryptoKids is a adventure game for kids from 8 years on about privacy. That’s a topic, that is often overlooked and I am so happy we finally cover this topic also when it comes to STEAM education. The game involves digital and analog elements - an iPad app combines these elements, so at some point kids have to scan codes with the iPad in their real environment for example. These are the three main topical blocks covered: data privacy, data security and finally location data. All the analog material which is required for using KryptoKids is available free of charge on their website. Other options include the rental of all devices and material needed as well as a professional coach that will help delivering the courses.

In this episode, I am talking to Dave Hrynkiw, the president of Solarbotics. Solarbotics is selling educational robotic kits for any skill level. My interviewee, Dave, is the President of Solarbotics Ltd., a hobby robotics company based in Calgary, Canada. He started out with a Mechanical Engineering background in typical Alberta format - designing down-hole oil tools. As he has always had a fondness for clever mechanics, he educated himself in analog and digital electronics. At that time, robotics interest was high and he started designing small, well-documented robot kits.As the name suggested, Solarbotics specialty is in Solar powered electronics. But they also stock unique parts for robot builders, such as gear motors, solar cells, or just simple parts that you need to know will work.For example, they are selling the SolarSpeeder v2 which is a model car project kit that can cover 3 meters in under 40 seconds in direct sunlight. The kit requires soldering and assembly - but detailed instructions are provided. In this episode, I’d love to focus on electricity and solar-powered project kits. Teaching our kids the possibilities of renewable energies is a great topic and I am happy to explore this topic together with Dave.

In this episode, I am talking to Natasha Dzurny from TechnoChic. TechnoChic Tech-Craft Kits provide resources, inspiration and supplies for crafters to explore technology and techies to explore craft.Natasha is the founder of TechnoChic and she is using her passion for arts and crafts and DIY tech to transform the way the world understands and creates with technology. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Advertising Design from the Savannah College of Art and Design and a Masters Degree in Interactive Telecommunications from New York University, and has spent her professional career in education and design positions, including teaching Final Cut Pro in the SoHo Apple Store, and designing projects for companies like Brown Dog Gadgets and LittleBits. Natasha is an experienced workshop facilitator and teacher, and loves to share her passion with students, crafters, and companies. She’s always looking to collaborate and share tech-craft projects with other makers! TechnoChic.net is a great place to go for inspiration for DIY, tech-inspired and crafty projects. The project kits that Natasha sells online are very expressive and I am sure that many kids will proudly use them in their everyday lives once they make them. For example, there is the “Be a Unicorn” DIY kit which includes all materials to create a flashy, LED-lit unicorn headband. Or the “Watch me Sparkle” Kit which turns a reusable shopping bag into a flashy art project. Natasha is on a mission to shatter conventions around traditional thinking: tech is for boys and creativity is for girls. Hence, “technochic” - short for “Technology should be chic”. A nod to the fact that most tech is designed by men and therefore masculine, but it should be more chic!

I am talking to Debra Ansell - she’s the creator of the blog Geek Mom Projects and the founder of Bright Wearables - they sell hackable and customizable accessories for kids.Debra is a technophile mom of three boys and always looking for new projects to tackle. I love what she wrote in the about me section of her blog: “I decided to start blogging because, as Adam Savage of Mythbusters says: “…the only difference between screwing around and science is writing it down.” “So her blog, geekmomprojects.com, is filled with creative projects ideas for those who want to make stuff together with their kids. Most projects include some kind of LED lighting, laser-cutting or the popular BBC micro:bit. The projects Debra shows you to make also look really terrific, check the shownotes at kidslab.dev for the links to the Teeny Tiny Edge-Lit Trophy or the Edge-Lit Pendant for example. Some of the projects will require you to get access to a laser cutter, so now you have finally a really good reason to sign up for the makerspace close to you!

I am talking to Bridget Hegarty about the SpinWheel. The SpinWheel is a small, colorful, programmable, wearable kit to facilitate student exploration of physics, engineering, and computer science.Bridget is part of the SpinWheel Team, a group of volunteers with a passion for teaching science and building beautiful things. She is a postdoc researcher in Environmental Engineering at the University of Michigan. As a kid, Bridget was always asking “why?” Luckily, her parents put up with her incessant questioning and taught her to love the process of discovering new information. Bridget continues to pursue answers to her questions as a researcher, studying the microbes that survive in buildings. Outside of the lab, she shares her love of science and engineering by designing and leading activities that help participants, particularly girls, envision themselves as engineers. Through SpinWearables, she is excited to develop educational kits to inspire the next generation of engineers.The SpinWheel is a colorful wearable programming kit. It can be “just” a stylish, cool, accessoire, but can also be programmed to be way more via the popular Arduino IDE. For example you can turn it into a step counter, a compass or an exploration tool for color and vision. No prior knowledge is required to program the spinwheel and it also comes with an educational guide that introduces you to the basics.

In this episode, I am talking to Nicholas Tollervey about CodeGrades but we’re also touching on some of his other projects like PyperCard and the Mu Editor.I took the following from an O’Reilly book author page, but I think it’s a great description for Nicholas: Nicholas is a classically trained musician, philosophy graduate, teacher, writer and software developer. He's just like this biography: concise, honest and full of useful information.Nicholas develops software that helps folks learn the skills and knowledge they need to imagine, develop and program the stuff they want. In addition to writing software, he spends a lot of time researching and thinking about how people learn, use and create with code.So when it comes to education and coding education in particular, I think the one thing that all his projects have in common is the programming language Python. CodeGrades, PyperCard, the Mu Editor - they’re all about Python. CodeGrades - is an educational platform for learners, teachers and mentors - it’s Nicholas’s latest project. PyperCard - is a GUI framework, a graphical user interface framework, for beginner coders.The Mu Editor is a very popular editor for beginner python projects, it’s also often used for hardware boards such as Adafruit’s Circuit PLayground which can be programmed using Python.

In this episode, I am talking to Rob Bennet, the Co-Founder and CEO of Pixel Press. With Bloxels, one of their services, kids can create their own interactive games.Bloxels is one of his creations that started 7 years ago. Bloxels is all about building video games, a topic that you can imagine resonates very well with kids. According to their website, more than 20k educators are using Bloxels in their classrooms today.Games, Characters, Art and and Backgrounds - those are the elements you will start building and don’t worry, the bloxel web/iOS/Android apps will help you to get started. Even building a character is lot’s of fun and you can of course try out your creations during this processWhen it comes to building the game itself, it’s a bit like Minecraft in 2D - you place enemies, dangerous elements, water and so on on the game canvas and can then immediately try it out. It’s a lot of fun - but what is probably the most important thing is, it turns kids from consumers into creators of their own games.

In this episode, I am talking to James Robinson about the Raspberry PI. The Raspberry Pi is a series of small single-board computers with the common goal to promote teaching of basic computing in schools and in developing countries.James is a senior learning manager at the Raspberry Pi Foundation. As a former teacher he is passionate about supporting teachers develop and apply effective teaching approaches for computing pedagogy and training. James enjoys learning new maker skills from knitting and croquet to programming and 3D design. He’s a bit of a space enthusiast as well as an adult fan of lego and has combined his passions to send Lego minifigs to near space using a Raspberry Pi. So what is the Raspberry PI all about. There is actually no such thing as a single Raspberry PI, The Raspberry Pi ecosystem now consists of a range of single board computers and accessories like it’s camera or sense-hat board. The hardware is developed by the Raspberry PI Foundation in the UK and since the first model in 2012 their products have been in high demand.Over the years and with more powerful models of the Raspberry Pi released, many researchers and also developers for commercial projects started using the Raspberry PI. But still, the educational roots are strong and lot’s of educational software and projects are available for this small, low cost computer.This is the first episode that focuses exclusively on the Raspberry PI and together with James, we’re trying to give you a good overview of the Raspberry Pi itself,the educational software and content that are available. There is literally a universe of Raspberry Pi projects out there, so we’ll focus on some of our favourites and highlight these.

In this episode, I am talking to Deborah Carter about New Tech Kids - it’s a technology academy in Amsterdam which teaches primary school aged kids about tech innovation.Deborah is the CO-FOUNDER & MANAGING DIRECTOR of NewTechKids. In 2014, she made the leap into entrepreneurship to launch NewTechKids. With a son enrolled in Dutch primary school, she looked around for a place where he and other children could fall in love with technological innovation and computer science and learn how to be innovators and inventors. When she couldn’t find it, she decided to create it.NewTechKids is a technology academy in Amsterdam, the Netherlands which teaches primary school aged kids about technological innovation: computer science, programming, design and critical thinking about the implication of technology. NewTechKids teaches during school, after school and during school vacations. They even teach overseas in places like the Middle East and Switzerland.

In this episode, I am talking to Johannes Engelke, the initiator of ScoutLab. ScoutLab is part of a German scouting club and organizes workshops and events around topics such as the internet, electronics or the maker movement.Full disclosure, Johannes is a long-time colleague at SAP and the idea for this episode arose during a coffee corner chat. Johannes Engelke is also a Scout since his 10th birthday. He started in a small group in Hamburg where he also did his first steps as a group leader. Later he started digitizing the German VCP Scouts. He helped building Websites, doing social media and organized the office IT in Hamburg. His current mission is to integrate digital topics into the education curriculum of young scouts.At SAP Labs Munich, Johannes engages in a local initiative called STEAM Kids that teaches kids the basics of coding during one day workshops at SAP.

I am talking to Amir Baradaran, the CEO and Co-Founder of Foldio. Foldio creates foldable educational toys that work with the well-known Calliope Mini board.Amir is part of the founding team of Foldio, a company that has its roots at the University of Saarland, Germany. A small team of student researchers took on the challenge to create an educational system that includes paper-based printed circuit boards. Printed circuit boards are essential for modern day electronics and computers, but normally these are quite stiff and non-flexible boards. The team at Foldio researched how these electric circuits can be printed onto normal paper, which has the benefit that you can fold it and thereby create stunning 3d shapes with a bit of hand-crafting. Paper is obviously quite cheap, but more importantly it’s a material that kids are very familiar with. Foldio is combining a well-known material, paper, with circuits and sensors to teach kids computer science. Their products work in combination with the Calliope Mini educational board, which is well-known here in Germany and by now sold globally as well. Their first product - the foldio starter kit - includes instructions for several so-called missions for the kids and also some information for the parents. Also included are of course the colorful paper-based circuit boards.

In this episode, I am talking to Anna Gilbertson and Alana Aamodt from Momentix Toys. They make toys that use chain reaction machines to teach critical STEAM skills to kids 7 and up.My two interviewees make up the founding team of Momentix Toys - Anna and Alana. They met in college while studying physics and that’s also where the idea for Momentix first came up and started to develop.Momentix Toys has been kickstarted early 2020 is still quite on track despite the Corona Pandemic. I cannot wait to try it out, really. Momentix Toys is all about building chain reaction machines to teach STEM skills. Kids can build chain reaction machines using the building blocks that are provided, then they combine it with typical household items and - voila - there’s a chain reaction machine that waits to be tried out.

In this episode I am talking to Neil Fraser, the inventor of Blockly. Blockly is a JavaScript library for building visual programming editors.Neil works as a software engineer at Google in Mountain View, California, USA - for more than a decade. In his spare time he’s an active maker and tinkerer and also created a variety of open source software. Neil is also the initial creator of Blockly - a JavaScript library for building visual programming editors. We’ve covered block-based, visual programming in quite a few episodes now, but one can really say that Blockly has had a huge impact on the edtech world, if not even THE biggest impact. Block-based programming uses interlocking blocks to create code, that means there is no syntax to get wrong such as in text-based coding. Block-based coding is a great way for kids - but also their parents and teachers - to learn about computer programming. The colorful blocks and the built-in validation mechanisms make it easy to create functional programs while reducing the issues that beginners often have.

This episode features an interview with Bernat Romagosa about MicroBlocks, which can be used to program common educational boards such as the BBC micro:bit, Calliope Mini or the Adafruit Circuit Playground Express.So what is MicroBlocks all about? MicroBlocks is a new programming language inspired by Scratch, that runs right inside microcontroller boards such as the BBC micro:bit, the Calliope Mini or Adafruit’s Circuit Playground Express.After installing the MicroBlocks editor and flashing the MicroBlocks firmware once, you can quickly upload new code or change existing programs - it’s just takes a second. Of course, the usual suspects for visual coding blocks are available, such as various logic blocks, loops, blocks for controlling the input and output of the micro:bit such as the input pins and LEDs or various math blocks.

This episode features an interview with Dennis Baldwin, the creator of DroneBlocks. DroneBlocks teaches STEM and the real-world application of drone technology.Droneblocks is block-based programming for drones. After connecting the Wifi of a Laptop. Tablet or Smartphone, the students can connect to the drone and run their missions. Missions are sets of blocks, typically beginning with a takeoff, followed by various commands such as fly forward, yaw right, etc. and finally - of course - you want to land the drone. With drones such as the Ryzerobotics Tello and some indoor propeller guards, you can easily perform an indoor workshop with a whole class of kids.

In this episode, we’re talking to Sebastian Friedrich, the CEO and Co-Founder of Tinkertoys. Tinkertoys allows kids to design their own toys online which will then be 3D printed and delivered to their homes. So what is Tinkertoys all about? In short, it’s all about showing kids what they are capable of constructing. Using Tinkertoys, kids can create their own toys via an easy to use web-based editor. Once a design is finished, you can choose to have it produced by Tinkertoys and delivered right to your home. If you own a 3D printer, you can also choose to download the 3D model files free of charge and print them at home. Besides offering these 3D construction and printing services for parents and their kids, Tinkertoys now also offers special licenses, webinars and management software for schools and teachers.

In this episode, I am talking to Lorraine Underwood about her book Save the World with Code. It’s a book filled with great projects for the Raspberry PI, Adafruit Circuit Playground and the BBC micro:bit. Lorraine is originally from Ireland and now lives in the UK with her husband and two young boys. She is a trained secondary school teacher in Information Communication Technology and currently works at Lancaster University as a Senior Teaching Associate, teaching Applied and Creative Computing to undergraduate students.Her book - Save the World with Code - that just recently got published in May 2020, includes 20 fun projects for the Raspberry Pi, the Adafruit Circuit Playground Express and the BBC micro:bit. She’s really chosen the top educational boards out there with the biggest communities - that’s a guarantee for a lot of fun and if needed excellent support, too. And the really cool thing is that very often you can choose which tool to use for the particular project - so for most of the 20 projects, you get to choose which computing board you want to use!

I am talking to Dale Lane, the creator of Machine Learning for Kids - an extension to Scratch that allows kids to train their own ML models and use them from their Scratch programs.As Dale writes on his website, he’s a father of two exhausting kids, a software developer for IBM in the UK, a mobile and gadget obsessive, a charity trustee and an all-round geek. Dale is with IBM for more than 16 years now. During his career, he came across many of IBM’s Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning offerings, such as IBM Watson. While his work at IBM most definitely prepared him to build something like Machine Learning for Kids, this educational offering was built entirely in his free time.So what exactly is Machine Learning for Kids? It allows kids to train their own machine learning models to recognise text, numbers, images, or sounds. Just years ago this was only possible for developers with specialized knowledge - making this learning available to kids is absolutely phenomenal. The trained models can later be used in Scratch, which then combines Machine Learning with visual, block-based coding. After integrating with Scratch, Kids can simply drag visual code blocks into the editor to make use of the machine learning models.

In this episode, I am talking to Dr. Sam Aaron, the creator of Sonic Pi. Sonic Pi is a code-based music creation and performance tool.Sam is the creator of Sonic Pi, and also an educator, musician, and was previously also a researcher at the University of Cambridge in the UK. He has created and contributed to an impressive array of open source projects - just one of them is Sonic Pi, which we’re focusing on for this episode. Sonic Pi, is an essential part of the so-called live coding music scene and was originally built and designed specifically for education. The fact that it is now an important part of the live coding scene plays a huge role for education, too, as many of the children in workshops or at school will find it super inspiring and motivational to know that some of the top artists in this genre are making use of Sonic Pi. In the shownotes, I’ll put a link to a recent article in the NY Times that describes this fascinating development of the music scene.

In this episode, I am talking to Miriam Tocino about her children’s book series Zerus and Ona in which she explores the world of computers. As Miriam writes on her website, she is a mom, software developer and programming teacher dedicated to making computers more approachable, friendly and easy to understand to get children (and parents!) all excited about technology.Miriam originally studied architecture but once she met her husband, a video game programmer, her life changed. Infected by the colorful and creative side of technology and geeky discussions with her husband, she taught herself to program. Ever since, she's been working as a software developer, educator, writer, artist and now also as a mom.She doesn't want her and other kids to miss the creative and colorful side of technology and therefore created the picture book series Zerus and Ona. They are the two main characters in the series, a zero and one who live inside computers in the so-called Binary World.

In this episode, I am talking to Joern Alraun, managing partner at Calliope gGmbH about the Boson Starter Kit for the Calliope Mini Single Board Computer. Jørn is an interaction designer, co-founder of several companies with a focus on developing digital learning toys and he is a member of the Interaction Design Association.More importantly, at least for this interview, he is a managing partner at Calliope gGmbH so he is well aware of everything that concerns the Calliope Mini single board computer which is used at schools and workshops to teach kids about logic and coding.So the Boson Starter Kit for Calliope includes an extension board and several sensors and actuators. These can be plugged into the extension board easily with the provided cables. Everything comes in a nice case and DFRobot even included some getting started cards that show where each sensor or actuator needs to be connected as well as a simple visual coding example - and believe me: these cards really make a difference in a workshop setting.

In this episode, I am talking to Kristen Reed and Paul Goldenberg from Education Development Center, near Boston, MA, USA. Education Development Center is a global nonprofit that advances lasting solutions to improve education, promote health, and expand economic opportunity. Kristen Reed is an expert in early childhood and elementary mathematics, and she is dedicated to helping children, families, and educators find the fun and challenge of engagement in mathematics.Paul Goldenberg is a distinguished scholar and internationally known expert in mathematics education. He designs innovative, evidence-based mathematics and computer science instructional resources for learners and teachers. For over 40 years, he has developed curricula that take advantage of and build upon learners’ natural curiosity. Kristen and Paul are investigating whether learning computer programming can help young children with mathematics. For this they worked on special projects in Snap! - a visual programming language that we’ve covered before - check the shownote links for the full episode with Jens Moenig about Snap!

In this episode, I am talking to Dr. Andrew Robinson about the CodeBug - a cute, programmable, light-up wearable for everyone.Andrew is the project leader for CodeBug a director of an engineering consultancy and part time lecturer in Manchester, where previously he completed his PhD in low power embedded processors. Andrew is passionate about education and engineering and can trace his enthusiasm for electronics and computers back to building a working model lighthouse aged 5. His work was also used as the prototype of the BBC micro:bit that defined a new class of device.

I am talking to Joshua Zimmerman, the founder of Brown Dog Gadgets. Brown Dog Gadgets sells inexpensive so-called make-and-take projects that kids can take home once they are finished with their classroom activities. Originally a middle school teacher, Joshua found it very annoying as a teacher that all the fun science activities his students were doing had to be disassembled at the end of each class. This is pretty much how Brown Dog Gadgets came to be.

We’re talking to Tat Leong, the CTO of Codomo from Singapore about Potato Pirates, a fun coding game for the whole family.The Codomo team is made up of pioneer students from the Singapore University of Technology and Design, where problem-solving via design thinking was a central component of their studies. Their first Kickstarter was a game called Potato Pirates. Potato Pirates is a coding card game that is designed to get children to learn 10 hours of programming concepts in just 30 minutes without computers. Codomo has also designed a curriculum that integrates with Scratch, making coding less intimidating, more engaging, and lots of fun.

Today on the show, we’re talking to Pranati Bagchi, the founder of The Lavender Spaceship Project in Singapore. Pranati, the founder of the Lavender Spaceship Project, is a mathematics teacher with many years of global teaching experience across the United States, Singapore and India. She has a Master of Education from Rutgers University, USA and a Masters degree in Mathematics from India. She is also a STEM certified teacher from National Institute of STEM Education, USA and holds a certificate in International Baccalaureate MYP Design.​So as Pranati writes on their website - lavenderspaceship.com - she finds STEM fascinating and has a deep appreciation for its potential to create an impact in the world. She firmly believes that we need to equip our children with the innovative capacity that will help them make technological advances in the future.

Today on the show, we’re talking to Borja Latorre, co-creator of “The Ifs” - and educational toy which is similar to If This Then That for the physical world and of course it’s for kids. Our interviewee, Borja, is a software developer with over 15 years experience in research & development for scientific applications. He holds a B.Sc. in Physics and a M.Sc. and Ph.D in Computer Science. Borja truly believes that technology has the potential to make the world a better place. In 2013, he co-founded Makeroni, a non-profit organization to create digital craft projects with social impact. The Ifs is his first hardware product, accompanied by his teammates Luis, Esther and Ferugs, on which they’ve been working for more than 2 years before launching on kickstarter.The Ifs originally launched on Kickstarter just before Christmas in 2019 and unfortunately did not meet its funding goal of $200.000 - but in the end more than 50% got funded which also shows that there was clear interest.

Since 2019, Viktoria is the Lead for the Munich location of the HABA Digitalwerkstaetten. She originally studied Economics at the Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich and she is also a trained Ergo Therapist. The HABA digital workshop spaces offer after-school activities for kids and they are spread across Germany. By now there are 10 locations in Germany and Viktoria is leading the Munich one. The workshops and classes are targeted towards kids between 6 to 12 years old and the goal is to help kids learn about our digital world in a playful way. But besides content for Kids, they also offer content for families, teachers and educators as well as companies.

In this episode I am talking to Lenore Edman from Evil Mad Scientist Labs about their extremely cool but also very educational project kits such as the egg-bot, which is a drawing robot for eggs!Lenore is the Co-Founder of Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories and currently lives in Sunnyvale, California - if you don’t know that’s the “heart of the silicon valley” according to the city brochure of Sunnyvale - but seriously, it could not be more central in the valley.Established in 2006, Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories strives to live up to its motto, “Making the World a Better Place, One Evil Mad Scientist at a time,” serving as a resource for budding evil mad scientists everywhere.

In this episode, we’re talking to Brandon Satrom about his book Ellie Saves the Day - it’s a story about electricity and circuits for the next generation of maker girls and boys! Brandon's day job is all about IoT, so a big chunk of this episode we discuss what IoT is all about and how teachers and kids can understand its' concepts. A tinkerer at heart, Brandon's love for electronics extends back to the Nintendo Entertainment System he would take apart and reassemble when simply blowing on the cartridges didn't work. Brandon is also a lover of story and has written and published several books and short stories. He lives in Austin, TX with his editor-in-chief and wife Sarah and three boys.So when it comes to children’s books - Brandon has published two so far and both were initially successfully funded on Kickstarter. First, there was “Ed Gets His Power Back” back in 2017 and then a year later, the children’s book “Ellie Saves the Day” was launched. Both books share a common theme, which is to discover electronics through the power of story.

In this recording, Rikke Paaskesen from KUBO robotics explains how they are switching to virtual meetings and what activities parents and teachers can do at home with their kids or students. There is a full episode with Rikke about KUBO Robotics available here. Background:At the beginning of last week (March 16th to be exact), it became obvious to me here in Munich, Germany, that the Corona Virus will severely impact our lives. While I was working from home already for more than a week, suddenly the schools closed and our three kids were also at home. This special episodes are recorded directly by former interviewees and I kept artwork and editing to a minimum to get these out as quickly as possible. I hope that many will find these snippets interesting and will find a helpful resource and tipps in these challenging times!

We're talking to Jonathan Austin, CTO of the micro:bit foundation about coding the BBC micro:bit via the text-based python programming language. When it comes to programming the micro:bit, the Python Editor allows you to use the Python programming language - which is text-based and non-visual in comparison to the MakeCode editor. To be exact, you can use MicroPython on the micro:bit. MicroPython is a lean and efficient implementation of the Python 3 programming language that includes a small subset of the Python standard library and is optimised to run on microcontrollers and in constrained environments.

In this episode, we’re talking to Solomon Menashi, the CEO and Co-Founder of BlocksCAD. BlocksCAD is a cloud-based 3D modeling tool that encourages users to learn math, computational thinking and coding concepts through visualization and designing models to be 3D printed.BlocksCAD is a cloud based 3d modelling tool, which means kids and teachers can simply use their web browser and a block-based visual coding language to create 3d shapes. By dragging blocks such as cubes & spheres into the workspace and by applying set operations such as union or difference and combining this with conditional blocks or loops, even complex 3d shapes can be created. While having a lot of fun creating these models, the kids learn about logic, coding and mathematics.

This recording is done directly by the SpinWearbles team, including Bridget Hegarty, Stefan Krastanov and Samantha Pagan. They describe how their university work moved online into virtual labs and workshops and also how it affects their current Kickstarter project The SpinWheel. They'll host a free online event on April 4th for parents & teachers to learn more about STEAM activities for their students. A future episode with Bridget from SpinWearables is already scheduled - be sure to subscribe to the KidsLab podcast!Background:At the beginning of last week (March 16th to be exact), it became obvious to me here in Munich, Germany, that the Corona Virus will severely impact our lives. While I was working from home already for more than a week, suddenly the schools closed and our three kids were also at home. This special episodes are recorded directly by former interviewees and I kept artwork and editing to a minimum to get these out as quickly as possible. I hope that many will find these snippets interesting and will find a helpful resource and tipps in these challenging times!

This recording is done directly by Pen Holland from York, UK. Besides describing the current situation in the UK, she explains how they virtualized their research workshops due to the Corona virus and what our kids can learn from these times: be resilient, Be Kind!The full episode with Pen Holland and Sarah Wyse about Pieter the Seed Eater is here! Background:At the beginning of last week (March 16th to be exact), it became obvious to me here in Munich, Germany, that the Corona Virus will severely impact our lives. While I was working from home already for more than a week, suddenly the schools closed and our three kids were also at home. This special episodes are recorded directly by former interviewees and I kept artwork and editing to a minimum to get these out as quickly as possible. I hope that many will find these snippets interesting and will find a helpful resource and tipps in these challenging times!

Today on the show, we’re talking to Sergei Urban, the creator of the TheDadLab. It’s mission is simple: teaching science through play!Sergei is a stay-at-home father who started TheDadLab as a way to inspire fun activities others can do from home while educating their children and spending more quality time with them. Sergei also published a book with these activities and experiments, which includes 50 science projects. It already got translated to 7 languages and even more languages are coming soon.

This recording is by Solomon Menashi, the CEO and Co-Founder of BlocksCAD. BlocksCAD is a cloud-based 3D modelling tool that encourages users to learn math, computational thinking and coding concepts through visualization and designing models to be 3D printed. Follow the links in the shownotes of this episode for a special parents guide as well as information for educators and schools. The full episode with Solomon about BlocksCAD is here.Background:At the beginning of this week (March 16th to be exact), it became obvious to me here in Munich, Germany, that the Corona Virus will severely impact our lives. While I was working from home already for more than a week, suddenly the schools closed and our three kids were also at home. This special episodes are recorded directly by former interviewees and I kept artwork and editing to a minimum to get these out as quickly as possible. I hope that many will find these snippets interesting and will find a helpful resource and tipps in these challenging times!

This recording is by Brandon Satrom from Austin, Texas, USA. He and his wife are long-time home schoolers and he does provide lot's of great advice for all parents who find themselves suddenly in this situation. The full episode with Brandon wil be released on April 14, 2020 - please be sure to subscribe to the KidsLab Podcast if you have not done this so far. Background:At the beginning of this week (March 16th to be exact), it became obvious to me here in Munich, Germany, that the Corona Virus will severely impact our lives. While I was working from home already for more than a week, suddenly the schools closed and our three kids were also at home. This special episodes are recorded directly by former interviewees and I kept artwork and editing to a minimum to get these out as quickly as possible. I hope that many will find these snippets interesting and will find a helpful resource and tipps in these challenging times!

In this recording, Pranati Bagchi, Founder of The Lavender Spaceship Project from Singapore explain the local situation. While schools are still open, measures of social distancing have been undertaken and her daughter already has online classes. If you are interested to hear more about Scratch, we have a full episode with Eric Rosenbaum about it. Background:At the beginning of this week (March 16th to be exact), it became obvious to me here in Munich, Germany, that the Corona Virus will severely impact our lives. While I was working from home already for more than a week, suddenly the schools closed and our three kids were also at home. This special episodes are recorded directly by former interviewees and I kept artwork and editing to a minimum to get these out as quickly as possible. I hope that many will find these snippets interesting and will find a helpful resource and tipps in these challenging times!

This recording is done directly by Marc Pous, the founder and CEO of the IoT platform thethings.io from Barcelona, Spain. He's got young kids at home that are learning to read - so he's focusing on experiments like conductive dough for example. He's also describing how they are teaching the teachers in Scratch and using the BBC micro:bit. Here's a full KidsLab Podcast Episode about Conductive Dough: Squishy Circuits with Dr. AnnMarie Thomas!Background:At the beginning of this week (March 16th to be exact), it became obvious to me here in Munich, Germany, that the Corona Virus will severely impact our lives. While I was working from home already for more than a week, suddenly the schools closed and our three kids were also at home. This special episodes are recorded directly by former interviewees and I kept artwork and editing to a minimum to get these out as quickly as possible. I hope that many will find these snippets interesting and will find a helpful resource and tipps in these challenging times!

I am sharing our situation here in Germany, we're close to Munich and schools are closed since the beginning of the week. We use a mix of digital technologies to work and also educate the kids - lot's of video-conferencing via Google Hangouts, sharing via Google Classroom and various messengers. Background:At the beginning of this week (March 16th to be exact), it became obvious to me here in Munich, Germany, that the Corona Virus will severely impact our lives. While I was working from home already for more than a week, suddenly the schools closed and our three kids were also at home. This special episodes are recorded directly by former interviewees and I kept artwork and editing to a minimum to get these out as quickly as possible. I hope that many will find these snippets interesting and will find a helpful resource and tipps in these challenging times!

This recording is done directly by Giles Booth, the Educational Content Manager at the BBC Microbit Foundation. He's describing the current Corona / Covid19 situation in the UK and how it impacts their lifes. He's also describing great resources for remote teaching with the BBC micro:bit - one should note that some lessons don't even require a physical micro:bit!https://classroom.microbit.org/Interview with Giles Booth about the BBC micro:bit:https://kidslab.dev/2020/02/10/the-bbc-microbit-with-giles-booth/Background:At the beginning of this week (March 16th to be exact), it became obvious to me here in Munich, Germany, that the Corona Virus will severely impact our lives. While I was working from home already for more than a week, suddenly the schools closed and our three kids were also at home. This special episodes are recorded directly by former interviewees and I kept artwork and editing to a minimum to get these out as quickly as possible. I hope that many will find these snippets interesting and will find a helpful resource and tipps in these challenging times!

In this episode, we’re talking to Dr. Pen Holland and Dr. Sarah Wyse about Pieter, the Seed Eater. This project is really cross-over, there’s lot’s of biology, math and computer science involved. Dr Pen Holland is a lecturer in ecology, and a RPi certified educator at the University of York. She is also is a quantitative ecologist whose interests range from using simple models to understand complex ecological problems, to developing novel ways to teach, disseminate research, and engage people in the biosciences. Dr Sarah Wyse is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Bio-Protection Research Centre, based at Lincoln University, NZ. Sarah is a plant ecologist whose current research focus is on quantifying seed dispersal potential to model the invasion risk of introduced conifer species in New Zealand. The Seed Eater project, or “Pieter, the Seed Eater” is a project which combines many different sciences and skills, such as ecology, mathematics and digital making. I coined it a “crossover project” for me internally, as so many different sciences intersect.https://kidslab.dev/2020/03/16/pieter-the-seed-eater-with-pen-holland-and-sarah-wyse/

In this episode, we’re talking to Eric Rosenbaum - mainly about Scratch, which is a block-based visual programming language. But there is so much more he’s involved with, for example Makey Makey, Drawdio or Singing Fingers. The first line of Eric’s biography says it all - it reads: “I design for creative play”. This could not be more true just look at the array of creative educational projects he was and is involved with. Foremost, there is Scratch - a block-based visual programming language and online community targeted primarily at children. We have mentioned Scratch many times and finally we’re talking with Eric, wo is currently working with the Scratch Team at MIT Media Lab.https://kidslab.dev/2020/03/09/scratch-with-eric-rosenbaum/

In this episode, we’re talking to Andrea Mayr-Stalder about TurtleStitch. TurtleStitch allows kids to visually code a stitching path, export it and then have a real embroidery machine produce it!Andrea Mayr-Stalder is an artist, educator and the project lead for TurtleStitch and is from Vienna, Austria. Turtlestitch is based on Snap!, a browser-based educational programming language, and is used to generate patterns for embroidery machines.(c) episode image with Andrea is by Georg Oberweger.

In 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 it stand out are around the usefulness for teachers in the classroom right from the start, without internet connection and without extra computers.https://kidslab.dev/2020/02/24/the-kookaberry-with-john-phillips/

In 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/