Learning Unboxed

We’re talking to Ohio State graduates, Ruby Xun and Melissa Liang, who reached the finale of Best of Student Startups (BOSS) last year. While Covid-19 derailed execution plans for their sustainable fashion platform, Twirl, the applied learning experience at BOSS endowed them with useful insights for creating, maintaining, and growing a business.We imagine the different ways entrepreneurship could be integrated into a high-school program, and how familiarizing students with everyday business skills earlier on could help navigate a future in a way that textbooks and blackboards cannot.To learn more, visit: pastfoundation.orgResources:BOSS: The Best of Student StartupsLearning Unboxed is produced in part by Crate MediaRecorded by Eric French at WOSU Studios in Columbus, Ohio

Groundwork USA shares our mission to move youth from the classroom to the forest, learning and thriving in the great outdoors.Today, Curt Collier and Lucy Crespo talk about how they’re combating environmental and socio-cultural barriers to getting kids outdoors, to make the mountains mainstream for urban youth.We discuss the cultural and generational shifts towards environmentalism, effective community engagement, past project highlights, and the different ways our teachers can integrate our great national parks into the national curriculum.To learn more, visit: pastfoundation.orgResources:Website: groundworkusa.orgLearning Unboxed is produced in part by Crate MediaRecorded by Eric French at WOSU Studios in Columbus, Ohio

Tim Mitchell, executive director of The Alabama School of Fine Arts (ASFA), has mastered the (seemingly) impossible: he’s curated a hugely-successful fine art, math, and science institution — within the state’s public school system. With 85-95% scholarship rates for college — compared to the national average of 15% — it’s clear that their diverse student body is thriving. However, it’s the magic of marinating the world of STEM and STEAM together that makes this remarkable school stand out for us here at Learning Unboxed.Creating synergy between science and arts is not only possible, it’s already happening! We hope this expansive conversation plants a seed of hope for our community looking to ignite more change within the archaic education system. To learn more, visit: pastfoundation.orgResources:Learn more about ASFA: www.asfa.k12.al.usFollow:@asfaschoolLearning Unboxed is produced in part by Crate MediaRecorded by Eric French at WOSU Studios in Columbus, Ohio

At just 23 years old, Imran Nuri is transforming the way America approaches philanthropy with his impactful non-profit, The 52 Million Project. His subscription-based program, which costs $1 a week, donated just over $30,000 to 52 different non-profits last year. By breaking down the barriers of donating, students, young professionals, and local communities have jumped on the philanthropy wagon, without having to break the bank. Today Shannon, Imran, and I discuss how the project began, the evolving dynamics of the giving back model, and how charitable efforts from childhood can create altruistic habits for later life. To learn more, visit: pastfoundation.orgResources:Donate: www.52millionproject.orgFollow: @52millionprojectConnect: Imran NuriLearning Unboxed is produced in part by Crate MediaRecorded by Eric French at WOSU Studios in Columbus, Ohio

Learning through seeing, thinking, and wondering is the educational utopia we’re striving to achieve, and thanks to teachers like Sabrina Walters and parents like Lori Trent from Upper Arlington City School, we’re closer to making it a reality. These forward-thinking educators reveal how creating an active dialogue between parents, teachers, and students can revolutionize the learning process. Their holistic model builds on the notion that learning is best delivered from a dynamic pool of voices and perspectives. For Sabrina and Lori, true learning exists in constructive, shared conversations and not in top-to-bottom instructions from a teacher to a student. To learn more, visit: pastfoundation.orgResources:Recreate the Dale Chihuly art project for your students: artsycraftsymom.com/10-dale-chihuly-art-projects-for-kids/Learning Unboxed is produced in part by Crate MediaRecorded by Eric French at WOSU Studios in Columbus, Ohio

If it involves getting more folks outside, learning, and protecting our environment, we are all about it here at the PAST Foundation. And that’s why we are so enamored with the programs offered by the National Park Service. And today, Julianne Geleynse from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is going to teach us about the Parks as Classrooms program, which is offered at a number of different parks around the U.S.To learn more, visit: pastfoundation.orgResources:Do you want to schedule a virtual program for your class? Send an email to grfm_education [at] nps.govNational Park Service’s Resources for EducatorsSmokieee’s at HomeLearning Unboxed is produced in part by Crate MediaRecorded by Eric French at WOSU Studios in Columbus, Ohio

Employment is a big conversation these days, for both those seeking employment and those seeking to hire, and the issues involved are numerous and complex. And this was a big conversation before 2020’s record unemployment numbers. Now? It’s simply one of the biggest conversations that needs to be had.So we sat down with Dr. Rachel Angel, President and CEO of Anexsis, which has developed an interactive software that engages young adults seeking employment called Peerro. Dr. Angel offers us a glimpse at the future of employment — as well as what we need to do, as a society, to ensure we have a workforce in the future.To learn more, visit: pastfoundation.orgResources:peerro.comInstagram: @peerro_Facebook: www.facebook.com/anexsisLearning Unboxed is produced in part by Crate MediaRecorded by Eric French at WOSU Studios in Columbus, Ohio

Yellowstone Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) is a paid — yes, paid — student residential employment and education program in which 64 teenagers live, work, play, learn, and grow in Yellowstone National Park. They stay in the park for just over a month to work on projects that improve the park for both visitors and mother nature, and one hour is set aside each day for purposeful education, leadership activities, and career development. And this is such an impactful program that about 20% of the current YCC staff were previously students who participated in the program!To learn more, visit: pastfoundation.orgResources:Learn more about the Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) ProgramLearning Unboxed is produced in part by Crate MediaRecorded by Eric French at WOSU Studios in Columbus, Ohio

The Ohio State University Center for Innovation Strategies has an incredible program called OnRamp, which is a corporate innovation idea accelerator driven by innovative students.  Given initial concepts generated by a sponsor, a group of students conduct customer validation and innovation techniques over a multi-week program to result in out-of-the-box solutions. This gives students from any area of the school an opportunity to experience what it’s like to work within a Lean Startup environment, working collaboratively with other students and a corporate sponsor to solve real-world problems.And today, we’re going to talk to three students who either have participated in or are currently participating in OnRamp:Drew Mayerson, a fourth-year scholar student at Ohio State, who is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration through the Max Fisher College of Business and OnRamp graduate.Szofi Wiksell, a sophomore at the Ohio State University with a double major in marketing and public polic

Today we’re covering a topic that we’ve never actually talked about on the program before: What do school boards do? Why would someone run for one? And is it really important?Really, it’s impossible to talk about what’s going on within our school without considering what’s going on within our school boards. So, we sat down with three newly elected school board members to hear why they were compelled to serve their communities in this capacity:John Jones, an experienced business owner, a former Huron City Council member, and a new member for Huron City School Board.Dr. Tina Pierce, a program manager for the John Glenn College of Public Affairs at the Ohio State University, CEO and Founder of WORTH (Working through Obstacles Reaching True Heights Foundation), and a new member of Columbus City School Board.Lori Trent, the communications and development guru here at the PAST Foundation, an art teacher, and a new member of the Upper Arlington School Board.To learn more, visit: pastfoundation.orgLearning Unboxed is

Project Zero is an educational research group at the Harvard Graduate School of Education dedicated to understanding and enhancing learning and thinking. This isn’t the first time we’ve talked about Project Zero on the show — and it probably won’t be the last! — because they are trying to make teaching, learning, and the future of work very relevant and right now. But the secret to this conversation is that work in progressive learning has been going on for many years and it's having quite the impact, so we actually have quite a few clues about where to go in the future.Our guests are Mara Krechevsky, a senior researcher from Project Zero, and Dr. Fred Burton, who has spent 44 years as an educator in progressive education, including 13 years as principal of Wickliffe Progressive Elementary School.To learn more, visit: pastfoundation.orgResources:Learn more about Project ZeroFind more resources created by MaraListen: “74 | Cultivating Creative & Civic Capacities | with Jennifer Lehe, Jason Blair, &

Yellowstone National Park is one of the most iconic spaces in the United States, if not the world, due to its unique geography and, increasingly, the sheer size of undeveloped land. Yellowstone also happens to be one of the most incredible classrooms in the world, and today we’re going to learn a little bit more about that. Our guest is Beth Taylor, the Youth Education Program Manager at Yellowstone National Park.To learn more, visit: pastfoundation.orgResources:Distance learning opportunities and activitiesLearn more about Yellowstone National ParkLearning Unboxed is produced in part by Crate MediaRecorded by Eric French at WOSU Studios in Columbus, Ohio

Our collective unwillingness to have conversations around things like mental health, familial mental illness, and addiction is really holding a lot of kids back from making it through the day in a strong, successful way — especially this year — but the 16 Strong Project is trying to change that.Learn how you can break the stigma around mental health with Samantha Wettje and Susan Solar.To learn more, visit: pastfoundation.orgResources:www.16strongproject.comInstagram: @16strongprojectTwitter: @16StrongProjectLearning Unboxed is produced in part by Crate MediaRecorded by Eric French at WOSU Studios in Columbus, Ohio

2020 has brought a lot of challenges. But at the same time, it’s brought a lot of opportunities to access educational resources from all around the world that were previously inaccessible to most people. And right now, there's an amazing opportunity — and necessity — to bring native voices into your teaching and learning every day.To teach us more about what it looks like to bring native voices into both formal and informal education spaces, we sat down with Colleen Call Smith, who serves as an education specialist in the National Museum of the American Indians Office of Education.To learn more, visit: pastfoundation.orgResources:Native Knowledge 360NMAI’s resources for teachersLearning Unboxed is produced in part by Crate MediaRecorded by Eric French at WOSU Studios in Columbus, Ohio

Can we create #ZeroDirt beds via a repeatable process that can be utilized in almost any urban environment — and on another planet?This is the question that we wanted to answer when we started #ProjectMartian. Inspired by our previous SOIL Lab Project and a forced pivot in the midst of a global pandemic, we wanted to show the community of Columbus what STEM looks like when deployed to feed people and innovate an industry while simultaneously changing the face of agriculture and sustainability in urban settings. So we launched #ProjectMartian at the PAST Innovation Lab and our partner site, Mezzacello, a 21st Century Urban Farm in Columbus.And PAST’s own Sultan of Systems, Jim Bruner, is the project director of this collaborative urban farming project. You may not guess it from his title, but Jim is a farmer at heart, and Mezzacello just so happens to be his passion project and urban farm. So, he really gets into the weeds about what's happening at the intersection between STEM, applied teaching and learni

When the PAST Foundation travels around the country to talk to policymakers, colleges, universities, and trade schools, there’s one topic that gets brought up in just about every conversation: manufacturing. So it’s clear there’s a bigger conversation we really need to have around STEM education and the future of manufacturing jobs.To help us parse out what needs to be done to get a new generation excited about the possibilities available in manufacturing — which might be more diverse and interesting than you think — and prepare them for the task, we are talking to two guests: Rosemary Coates and Ryan Edwards. Rosemary is the Executive Director of the Reshoring Institute, a 501c3 nonprofit collaborating with nine universities across the U.S. on a mission to support companies starting, restarting, or expanding manufacturing in the United States. Ryan was a summer intern with Reshoring Institute and is currently an MBA student at TCU University, and he shares how the firsthand experience during his internship p

Today we’re talking to a few of the people who participated in one of Ohio University’s most unique teaching programs: the STEM+ for All Teaching Fellowship. STEM+ is focused on supporting individuals  with science, technology, engineering, and math backgrounds — so people who do not already have a background in education — who seek to change their careers to become intervention specialist teachers. Part of the program involves hands-on training with a mentor teacher, and we’re lucky enough to be able to sit down with both two pre-service teachers currently going through the program and the mentor who has guided them throughout the year.Our pre-service teacher guests are Sorpresa Jones and Bailey Lohr, who are both in their third term in the STEM+ for All teaching fellowship, and our mentor teacher guest is Mary Schneider, a master teacher and PAST’s School Design Coordinator.To learn more, visit: pastfoundation.orgResources:Learn more about STEM+ Teaching for AllConnect with Mary on LinkedInListen: 044 | How

Karen Yager’s dream started three years ago when she was watching the 9th and 10th grade students at Knox Grammar School in New South Wales. Their academic results were lower than both older and younger students, and they lacked a sense of purpose. They were drifting.So she asked herself: How do we give them a sense of purpose? How do we get that passion, purpose, and mastery into their lives and really make them more agile?What they came up with was the Academy of Global Competency. Folks in the United States, in particular, should take note. This new initiative and building includes a certificate of global competency in K-12 that is achieved through microcredentials that come under the categories of agency, entrepreneurialism, altruism, advocacy, citizenship, deep learning, agility. We should all aspire to be this cool.To learn more, visit: pastfoundation.orgResources:“New Academy of Global Competency builds collaboration and community”Learning Unboxed is produced in part by Crate MediaRecorded by Eric Fren

Prior to the impacts of COVID-19 on teaching and learning many of us likely took facial expressions, hearing, listening, and general communication for granted. But distance, face masks, and lack of hugs in elementary settings and so many more daily disruptions have made it difficult to communicate effectively with those we are trying to teach. Join Alyssa and Ashely as they talk about strategies to stay engaged. 

As teachers, parents and out of school caregivers scramble in the midst of modified pandemic driven learning - many are reporting having to modify content almost on the fly. This special edition of Learning Unboxed is packed with tips and tricks for modification in a moment!