The K12 Engineering Education Podcast

What is synthetic biology? Researcher and professor Dr. Xiaojing Gao introduces this cutting edge field. He explains how his lab at Stanford …

Learning in robotics doesn’t have to take weeks, if you can design, build, and test a robot in hours in a video game. Dan White, CEO of Filament Games, introduces RoboCo, their game meant to teach principles of …

Chicago educator and entrepreneur Scott Steward breaks down his teaching philosophy, rooted in getting to know his students. Steward founded Genius …

The Robotics Education and Competition (REC) Foundation has been running robotics programs for youth for years, including the widespread global competitions sponsored by VEX Robotics. Dan Mantz is the CEO of the REC …

Math is fundamental to engineering education and other disciplines. That’s part of why Richard Rusczyk wants to teach kids harder math than they …

Kids can learn CAD for 3D printing, but teaching it doesn’t have to be a hassle. David Seto and Michael Welch wrote a set of books to make teaching and learning the subject easier. They based it on their own …

Mechanical engineer Dr. Ada-Rhodes Short studies robot brains, having previously worked in industry and academia for commercial toy companies, NASA, Texas A&M, and more. She also advocates for diversity and …

The Silicon Valley Education Foundation (SVEF) is a nonprofit running several programs in K-12 STEM education, including its Computer Science …

The pandemic has spurred teachers like Amanda Hough to teach CAD remotely, but how do you do that if students don’t have the hardware to run resource-heavy CAD software? Amanda uses cloud-based CAD platform OnShape, …

STEM curriculum specialist Dr. Corey Hall shares tips and resources for teaching engineering effectively at the K-12 level in 2021, both during and …

The education system can change top-down, or bottom-up. Author Suzanne DeMallie wrote “Can You Hear Me Now?” – a book about how parents and teachers …

LEDs, or light-emitting diodes, have changed the world – and continue to do so. This energy-efficient electronics technology came from decades of …

How do you learn web development without a computer, or without any electronic device? Sam Taylor wrote a book to help learners do just that. As a …

Mishaal Ashemimry is an aerospace engineer and pilot who, after working for major aerospace organizations, formed her own aerospace startup to design rockets for small, low-Earth orbit satellites. As a Saudi American, …

Let’s make equations musical. Instead of visualizing equations on a graph, let’s listen to them on the piano, merging all our math and music knowledge. You can make two-dimensional x-y math equations audible – or …

Army Futures Command (AFC) is partnering with Austin Community College (ACC) in Texas to create a new Software Factory, which will be a software …

Schools have reopened in Fall 2020 amid the COVID19 pandemic, and educators are putting in overtime to make it work. Four educators speak about …

How do you make an audio-based course to teach science topics to kids? Podcast creator, teacher, and musician Marshall Escamilla explains. Marshall is a co-creator of the highly rated Tumble Science Podcast for Kids. …

Model railroading is uniquely primed for doing educational outreach today, says Stacey Walthers Naffah, President of Milwaukee-based Walthers. Walthers is a major model railroading company, distributing and …

These teachers know tech. Steve Dembo and Victoria Thompson teach in K-12 and are also educational technology consultants. Steve is a middle school …

The nonprofit Beyond Benign specializes in developing and disseminating educational resources in green chemistry – like how to create bioplastics, or …

Rachel describes how her small Texas school district can function in the middle of COVID-19. As a school district administrator, she has to organize …

As a biomedical engineer in orthobiologics, Neil Thompson still had to do a lot of public speaking. He was a self-professed awful public speaker, …

The South-by-Southwest education conference for 2020 is cancelled, due to emergency declarations related to COVID-19. Pius and Rachel discuss what happens next, for educators in Texas and across the country.

Related to …

Casey Lamb and Roger Horton work with the nonprofit organization Schools That Can. Schools That Can aims to promote real-world learning in …

Project manager and software engineer Rick Kennedy is running for US House Representative for District 17 in Texas, in the 2020 Democratic primary. After decades working in tech, and after Trump was elected, Rick …

How do you “develop your practice” as a teacher and administrator? Rachel and Pius discuss this question and share their thoughts on going deeper into their careers as educators, all after a dinner of Austin barbecue.

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Hugo Fruehauf, one of the co-inventors of GPS, explains the nitty-gritty of what GPS is. He also details his critical engineering work on the GPS subsystem of the atomic clock. Hugo was one of four recipients of the …

Like much of the world, Australian educators are increasingly embracing STEM education for younger students. Chris Perkins is one such teacher at …

What does a chemical engineer do? What makes a good one? What should young people know about the field? Chemical engineer Will Mullen helps us …

What should you look for in your first engineering job? How do you bridge high school, college, internships, and then finally full-time work? Is …

What do young people think about STEM fields today? Michigan STEM educator Danielle Boyer talks about her perspective as a recent high school …

Distributed systems rule much of new technology today, as software programs exist across multiple computers, servers, phones, and smart devices. How …

Cybersecurity needs more professionals working in the field, and guest Nicole Bushong from Houston shares why. She explains critical issues today in …

How can you teach universal design to kids and teens? Have them build accessible games and books, according to The Build a Better Book project, from …

In this age of growing internet technology and connected computers, cybersecurity engineers and computer scientists will be more critical. Software …

If you missed the 2019 edition of the South by Southwest Education (SXSW Edu) conference in Austin, Texas, we rehash some highlights that you may have missed. We talk about empathy, accessibility, and a few new tech …

Texans across the state and across the political divide agree: public school funding needs fixing. What that means exactly, however, is tricky. In …

Problem-solving, technology, and public service all combine when you work as an engineer for the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). Dr. Michael …

The educational technology company Robolink is coming out with a new robotics platform for teaching kids the fundamentals of programming artificial …

Educator Rachel and engineer Pius introduce Season 4 and brainstorm about what interests us in K-12 engineering education today. We talk about school …

Engineers Sadhan and Pius continue an ongoing series of discussions on the fundamentals of mechanical engineering. Today they talk about what they remember about statics, forces, acceleration, moments, relativity, …

What are the trends in educational kids’ toys today? How can programming kits be improved? How does an education business start and succeed? Entrepreneur Joseph Greer in Chicago discusses these issues as he describes …

Architectural and civil engineers are using rich digital tools to simulate constructed buildings. Similar tools are also being used in digital video …

Among the various STEM education organizations that have developed throughout the last several years, there is ChickTech. The local Austin chapter of the nonprofit began just a few years ago, and Dana DeFebbo, its …

What skills does a professional architect bring to high school education? Guest Kelly Foster explains, as he shares his experience as both a …

Engineer Ian Bernstein talks about his startup’s newest consumer robot released by Misty Robotics: Misty II. Based on what he learned developing his previous educational robot Sphero, Ian and his team created Misty II …

Author Roxanna Elden discusses her new satirical novel Adequate Yearly Progress, which tells the story of the teachers’ lives across one year in the …

Former teacher and current tech worker Sophia talks about why she left the classroom, how people perceive teachers, how to bring STEM to …

What’s so great about the human eye? Can we build something just like it? When would we need to design something better? Sadhan joins the podcast …

Now that states have written engineering into K-12 science and technology learning standards, more institutions are thinking about how to run …

Science education occurs in juvenile detention centers, as part of the schooling available to young people there so that they can receive their high …

Vivian Shen and Ruby Lee want to teach kids how to program one-on-one over the internet. Vivian and Ruby are Cofounders of Juni Learning, their new educational startup that provides programming lessons to kids like how …

What is mechanical engineering? Engineer Sadhan Sathyaseelan joins the show again from The University of Texas to wonder out loud about all the important aspects of this classic engineering field. This is a continuing …

Recorded in the middle of South-by-Southwest (SXSW) EDU 2018, this episode features educator Rachel and engineer Pius. They discuss their immediate reactions to hosting two SXSW events this year, including insights on …

Marshall Escamilla is part of a team of podcasters who create Tumble, a science podcast for kids and their families. With a background in music and K-12 education, Marshall shares the purpose of Tumble and how his show …

We recap the South by Southwest Education conference (SXSW EDU) in 2018 after it ends, talking about the reactions of attendees, educational …

Neuroscience research needs help from many fields, including engineering. Dr. Talia Lerner describes some of the engineering tools that she uses to …

What is engineering? What are the important aspects of engineering that anybody should know? Can we talk about all this without getting too deep into …

Society is headed toward more driverless cars, self-driving cars, shared cars, connected fleets, and all kinds of autonomous vehicles (AVs). How will …

Anxiety in engineering education sometimes comes from doing math. What does math anxiety feel like? What are its causes and effects? How do you deal with it, as a student and as a teacher? Guest cohost Rachel joins …

We close out Season 2 with another visit from Rachel, an educator with experience in school improvement strategies. First Pius and Rachel discuss …

Teachers at all-girls schools might have insights on how to engage more young people – especially girls – into engineering. Several teachers at The …

How can you bridge the gap between teaching simpler visual programming tools and teaching more complicated textual programming tools? Julia …

How can teachers expose their students to more engineering role models? What do they do if they don’t have time to arrange visits and field trips? …

How do you use the power of digital pop culture today to engage kids in engineering? Guest engineer Nehemiah Mabry, Ph.D., talks about this and more. …

What is engineering education like in Mexico compared to the USA? This episode is an introduction to that topic as we talk to Hernando Garrido, a mechatronics and manufacturing engineer with the medical device company …

The Boy Scouts of America are growing a new youth educational program called STEM Scouts, open to boys and girls. Guests Davis Fox and Deborah (Debbie) Vasquez talk about the mission of the program, which goes beyond …

Guest engineer and consultant Pat Sweet, P.Eng., talks about two of his favorite words in engineering: verification and validation. They describe …

What’s it like to engineer roadways and the physical infrastructure of society? Guest Jerel Rackley, P.E., explains. Jerel is a civil engineer with …

How do you make an engineer? Guest engineer Leyla Yilan shares her thoughts. Leyla is an electrical and computer engineer at chip-maker AMD, as well as a proud parent of two daughters. She tells her story of how she …

Mechanical engineer and PhD student Sadhan Sathyaseelan cohosts with engineer-entrepreneur Pius Wong in today’s episode. We talk about Sadhan’s experience learning that engineering students want to be business leaders, …

Guest mechanical engineer Beau Trifiro talks about his business in skateboard design, fabrication, and education. Based in San Diego, Open Source Skateboards not only builds custom skateboards, it also teaches kids in …

How does China prepare students for careers in computer science and related fields, compared to the USA? Hear from a Chinese student of computer science and mathematics who is studying in Texas for his undergraduate …

Founding an education business comes with challenges and rewards, far beyond the financials. Guest EJ Zain talks about this first-hand. EJ founded the startup Maker Kids Lab, LLC, in Austin, Texas. Her very new …

Some students struggle with trauma, mental health, mental disabilities, and negative peers and adults; and yet, with the right decisions and the …

Dr. Renata Revelo talks about the importance of identity when educating and retaining engineers. Dr. Revelo is an electrical engineer, a professor, and a researcher in engineering education at the University of …

Start with what kids already know, when teaching them engineering. Have them work in their community. Guest Dr. Alex Mejia says you should tap into …

What are the best movies and TV shows in entertainment for inspiring your thinking in engineering? Rachel, Sadhan, and Pius talk about their top suggestions, and they discuss how they affect perceptions of engineering.

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English teacher and author Roxanna Elden talks about her tips for new teachers, how to form your personal Board of Advisors as a teacher, how to teach writing in any classroom, and more, in this discussion. She draws …

What makes a good teacher for future engineers? In honor of National Teacher Appreciation Week, we ask five practicing engineers about their favorite teachers growing up. The engineers come from different disciplines, …

We talk strategies for teaching computer science (CS), with Dr. Cynthia Taylor, a computer science professor at The University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). Cynthia does research on effective CS education pedagogy, …

How do you teach ethics to engineering students? Guests Dr. Beccy Hambright and Richard Burgess talk about their experience tackling that question, …

Studying engineering might help you in your future career, especially if that future is in the Air Force. Today’s guest is a pilot who studied aerospace engineering for an undergraduate degree, and he explains how that …

How can we harness the power of games for education? In Part 1 of the episode, the podcast explores how the PAX South 2017 gaming conference inspired ideas in better engineering education. In Part 2, we hear from two …

The SXSW Education conference and festival this year highlighted equity, fairness, and justice as a major theme. How does this apply to engineering and computer science education? This episode explores the views of …

Robots, role models, rap, and more all stood out at the 2017 South by Southwest (SXSW) conference and festival. Pius highlights products, programs, …

How can we deal with data better? How can we teach kids to deal with data better? Sarah Morris from the nonprofit Nuclear Learning Network has some …

Pius reviews with Rachel five mobile apps related to engineering education, available on Android and iOS. A ten-year-old guest reviewer also gives …

Dr. Jenni Buckley and Dr. Amy Trauth-Nare from the University of Delaware talk about Orthopaedics in Action (OIA), their curriculum in biomechanics …

Pius, Rachel, and Sadhan reunite to talk about big news in engineering education from 2016 (Part 1: 00m20s), followed by a politically flavored …

In the big push for more engineers today, can we get them from autistic students? Research has shown that college students with autism spectrum …

Hear from two nonprofit organizations trying to provide girls with more education in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). In Part 1 …

Step into the classroom of 16-year veteran CAD teacher Audrea Moyers. Audrea also teaches engineering design, and she talks about how the pathway of …

High school engineering teacher Joe Malchar helps Pius and Sadhan review the guidelines for effective brainstorming. Joe talks about some common …

"What else can high school look like?" Mikala Streeter wondered about that question as her career expanded from the computer science industry into …

Teach engineering using something that a lot of kids and adults love: ice cream. We get expert advice on the technology and methodologies behind …

We explore the alleged phenomenon of teachers getting bad dreams and nightmares, more often than everyone else, starting with several engineering teachers' most memorable ones. Do other teachers really get these …

Engineer and professor Dr. Dave Allen speaks about what motivated him to get into the work that he does. Dave is the director of the Center for Energy and Environmental Resources (CEER) and Professor of Chemical …

Today's guests present a smorgasbord of resources available for K12 engineering educators, starting with the website www.LinkEngineering.org, an …

How do other countries besides the USA motivate and educate future engineers? Guest Sadhan Sathyaseelan shares his view, comparing his Indian and American education in engineering. Sadhan is a mechanical engineer who …

Starting a business these days in educational hardware and software takes more than technology. Guest Connie Hu explains. Connie is the CEO and …

Six teachers who once studied and practiced engineering talk about their opinions on K12 engineering education. In this focus group, they give …

How do you recognize and nurture kids' interests in careers in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM)? Guest Lois Melbourne speaks about …

Do engineers have empathy? Can they get into other people's heads? How do empathy and the arts relate to engineering education? We talk about this with today's guest, Rachel Fahrig, an educator with experience in …

Get tips on how to run a better professional development (or PD) for engineering teachers, directly from the trainers who just ran one. This is Part 2 of a topic we started in the previous episode. Melanie Kong …

How do you prepare to train engineering teachers? Two teachers, who are also engineers, are preparing to train more teachers this summer to teach engineering. Guests Melanie Kong and Natalie Wyll are chemical and …

Engineer Jeff Munn talks about teaching kids robotics in an orphanage in India. Jeff works for engineering hardware-software company National Instruments, based in Austin, Texas. With his company's support, he …

We talk about the pros and cons of attending professional conferences related to engineering education, including South by Southwest EDU (SXSWedu), whose deadline is coming up! Teacher Rachel Fahrig gives tips on how …

Teacher Jerry "Molde" Moldenhauer talks about what he's learned while teaching engineering to high school students over the past years in Austin, …

Engineers Sadhan Sathyaseelan and Pius Wong both have trained high school teachers in engineering curricula. We're talking about what we've learned, …

Engineer Pius Wong speaks with teacher Rachel Fahrig about educational standards, including NGSS and Common Core. We cover what they mean, the various strong opinions about them, and how they might broadly affect K12 …

In our inaugural episode of The K12 Engineering Education Podcast, guests Rachel Fahrig and Sadhan Sathyaseelan speak with host Pius Wong about the importance of teaching engineering at younger ages, and the questions …