NSTA Voices

The National Science Teaching Association

NSTA Voices is the official podcast of the National Science Teaching Association (NSTA), designed to empower, celebrate, and connect one of the largest community of science educators in the world. From elementary school to the university level, the podcast brings members of the NSTA community together to share stories of innovation, advocacy, and the best of modern science instruction. No matter the conversation, NSTA Voices is a friendly space where no educator feels like they are on an island.

  1. 14h ago

    Inquisitive: Elementary Science in 30 Minutes

    Send us Fan Mail A teacher has about 30 minutes to teach science, and that’s if no one loses a tooth or a fire drill goes off first. How do you fit a three-dimensional, phenomena-based lesson into that window, especially when you’re an elementary generalist teaching five subjects? In this on-site episode from the NSTA Indianapolis Conference, NSTA Voices host Andrew Kuhn talks with Peter Walters and Catie Bales of Inquisitive, a science curriculum built for pre-K through grade 5. Peter has spent more than 25 years in education publishing and now leads the company. Catie spent 16 years in the classroom before she joined Inquisitive, and she leads curriculum and instruction. Along the way, you’ll hear: Why they say the real challenge is making a three-dimensional lesson simple, not just shortWhat “phenomena fatigue” looks like for students and teachers, and how breaking a phenomenon into smaller pieces helpsHow a predictable lesson structure, open-and-go materials, and built-in teacher support can build confidence for teachers who don’t think of themselves as science peopleWhy Catie says a teacher’s last science experience may have been a college chemistry class, and what to do about thatHow the science and engineering practices connect to the questions students ask about AIWhat the future of elementary science could look like, and why Catie hopes students will go home tired and teachers energizedPress play, then come find us in Indy. You belong here.

  2. 18h ago

    From Scientist to Teacher in Nine Credit Hours: Inside Indiana’s STEM2Teach

    Send us Fan Mail A student with a master’s in public health is now teaching middle school science. She has strong science knowledge, but not much training in classroom management or lesson design. A robot is helping her get better. In this on-site episode from the NSTA Indianapolis Conference, NSTA Voices host Andrew Kuhn talks with Dr. John Somers, an associate professor in the School of Education at the University of Indianapolis, about STEM2Teach, a new accelerated pathway that lets people with STEM degrees become teachers in as few as nine credit hours. Indiana created the pathway through Senate Bill 255, and the university launched its program this fall. Along the way, you’ll hear: Why Dr. Summers says the real challenge isn’t science content, but pedagogy, classroom management, and student engagementHow the program supports career changers with a mentor in their school, teaching videos with time-stamped feedback, and a robot that scores recorded lessons against rubricsWhy he says elementary students get so little science, and why that matters for who goes into STEM careers laterWhat he sees keeping teachers in the profession, including pay, tuition support, a sense of belonging, and a supportive principalWhy he describes STEM teaching as a workforce issue as well as an education issueWhat happens when students become “solution seekers” instead of problem solversPress play, then come find us in Indy. You belong here.

  3. 1d ago

    The STEM Hidden in Hip-Hop

    Send us Fan Mail A rapper has 16 bars, a beat that won’t wait, and a rhyme that has to fit inside it. That’s math. And according to Mike O’Neill, it’s only one of the ways STEM was hiding in hip-hop all along. In this final live episode from the NSTA Indianapolis Conference, NSTA Voices host Andrew Kuhn talks with Mike O’Neill, who teaches technology and math at the Stephen Gaynor School in New York and presented “Hip-Hop Through a STEM Lens” at the conference. Mike taught a history of hip-hop elective for years, and he says that when he looked closely, the four elements of hip-hop lined up with STEM concepts: MCing: rhythm, patterns, rhyme, and the math of timingDJing: technology and sound, including how a new idea changed what a DJ doesB-boying: force, balance, and center of gravityGraffiti: symmetry, geometry, and designAlong the way, you’ll hear: How Mike rebuilt his school’s technology curriculum so students use technology to make and solve things and not just practice typingWhy he says he doesn’t do a “teacher voice,” and why students can tell when you’re not being yourselfWhy he thinks the best classrooms help students find their own communityPress play, then keep the conversation going in your own classroom.  You belong here.

  4. 1d ago

    100% Free Forever: Inside Class CrunchLabs

    Send us Fan Mail Cardboard. Straws. Skewers. A two-ounce cup, a ping-pong ball, and two binder clips. That’s the entire build for a kinetic energy challenge that took the team 26 versions to get right. In this live episode from the NSTA Indianapolis Conference, NSTA Voices host Andrew Kuhn talks with the team behind Class CrunchLabs, a free, hands-on science curriculum created with YouTuber and engineer Mark Rober: Tara Graham, executive director of the CrunchLabs.org Foundation; Adam Hutz, managing product design engineer; and Spencer Martin, who leads curriculum. Along the way, you’ll hear: Why the team promises the curriculum is free forever, and how they’re paying for itHow a lesson goes from an idea to a classroom, including the versions that didn’t make itWhy materials are cheap, found, and editable, with resources built in Google Docs and Slides so teachers can make them their ownHow NSTA reviews each unit, and how teacher feedback shapes itWhat the team measures beyond excitement, including engagement and students’ confidence and belonging in scienceWhat’s next, and how teachers can get involvedAt the conference through Saturday? Stop by the Class CrunchLabs booth. Teachers can also join the team’s community at classcrunchlabs.org to help test and shape new units. Press play, then come find us in Indy. You belong here.

  5. 5d ago

    No Cheat Codes: Drone Competitions, Gamers, and the Skills Students Need

    Send us Fan Mail Andrew Kuhn walked into the RECF booth at the NSTA Conference on Science and STEM Education in Indianapolis, and it looked like a batting cage. Inside, educators were flying drones within minutes of picking up a controller. In this episode of NSTA Voices, recorded live in the exhibit hall in Indy, host Andrew Kuhn talks with Shelli Brasher and Louann Cormier of the Robotics Education and Competition Foundation (RECF), which oversees robotics and drone competitions worldwide. Shelli is a longtime math teacher and robotics coach who, in her words, “failed retirement.” Louann started a robotics team in her basement for her kids and made a career out of it. Along the way, you’ll hear: How the Aerial Drone Competition (ADC) lets students start coding with blocks and move on to Python, using the same drone for every teamWhat ADC Pro adds for high school and college students: build a drone and a robot, then compete 2v2 in a 20-by-20-foot cageWhy drone competitions reach gamers and students who weren’t engaged in school, and why there are no cheat codesHow organizations like JROTC are adopting drone programs, and how students are earning FAA certifications and starting businessesWhy the guests say soft skills like communication, critical thinking, and collaboration matter more than any one technical skillPress play, then come find us in Indy. You belong here.

  6. Nov 2

    Do We Really Have to Get Rid of the Frogs? Data Science in the Science Classroom

    Send us Fan Mail On the Big Island of Hawaii, students grabbed phones and recorders and went out at dusk to capture the nightly whistle of invasive coquí frogs. They fed the recordings into a machine learning model and mapped where the frogs were densest. Then they asked a question no one had assigned: is this really a problem? In this final episode of our pre-Indianapolis series, NSTA Voices hosts Andrew Kuhn and Patrice Semicek talk with Colby Tofel-Grehl and Peter Lindeman about data science in K–12 science classrooms. Colby, a science education researcher, and Peter, NSTA’s journals director, worked together on special issues of NSTA’s journals devoted to the topic, and they’ll be presenting at the NSTA conference in Indianapolis. Along the way, you’ll hear: What “data science” actually means, and why it shouldn’t live only in math classWhy Colby worries about the “pet survey” showing up in every grade, and what a stronger data science lesson looks likeHow a call for articles brought in about 165 submissionsHow AI changes the picture, as both an opportunity and a riskWhy teaching students to ask whose story is in the data, and whose is missing, matters for citizenship and for careersHeading to NSTA in Indianapolis, November 4–7? Colby and Peter are presenting their session twice, with a different group of article authors each time. Press play, then come find us in Indy. You belong here.

  7. Oct 28

    Dinosaurs Busting Out of the World’s Largest Children’s Museum

    Send us Fan Mail When Joe Frederickson was four years old, his parents took him to see a certain dinosaur movie, and by his family’s account he spent it standing on his seat. Today he’s the lead paleontologist at the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, where two 65-foot dinosaurs from a Wyoming dig site stretch right through the building. In this episode of our pre-Indianapolis series, NSTA Voices hosts Andrew Kuhn and Patrice Semicek talk with Joe and with Becky Wolf, the museum’s director of school programs and educational resources, about what happens when real science meets field trip energy. Along the way, you’ll hear: How a fossil gets from a Wyoming dig site to the museum floor, and why the answer is “lots and lots of glue”Why piecing a dinosaur back together is like a 3D puzzle that sat out in nature for millions of yearsHow to tell a real fossil from a cast the next time you visitBecky’s lesson on “sticky learning,” and what she wishes she’d known as a young teacher about how museum visits stay with studentsJoe’s verdict on whether bringing back dinosaurs is possible (spoiler: sorry)Plus, Becky’s picks for first-time visitors, from the paleo lab and paleo art lab to the International Space Station recreation and the Power of Children exhibit. Heading to NSTA in Indianapolis, November 4–7? There’s a reduced-admission evening at the museum on Thursday, November 5, which Becky explains near the end. Press play, then come find us in Indy. You belong here.

  8. Oct 21

    Every Student in Science Class Is a Language Learner

    Send us Fan Mail Before you teach the word “mitochondria,” what if you let students point, draw, gesture, and talk their way toward the idea in whatever language they have? In this episode of our pre-Indianapolis series, NSTA Voices hosts Andrew Kuhn and Patrice Semicek talk with two educators from Taunton, Massachusetts: Liz Pawlowski, STEM director and former biology teacher, and Ji-Sun Hamm, a middle school science teacher. Their community includes many multilingual learners, and they’ve made it a mission to give those students the same rigorous science experience as everyone else. Along the way, they explore: Why scaffolding isn’t the same as lowering rigor, and how an on-ramp keeps expectations highHow “explore before explain” gives every student a way into the scienceWhat language really includes beyond speaking and writingWhy science can be a powerful hook for learning to read and speak EnglishHow teachers can shift from being the source of all the knowledge to facilitating learning, and why that’s harder than it soundsBoth guests also share personal stories as children of immigrants, and why they want students to feel they belong in science without having to leave their home language behind. Heading to the NSTA conference in Indianapolis, November 4–7? Liz and Ji-Sun are presenting on practical strategies for supporting multilingual learners, with real classroom video, so you can bring something back to your own classroom the next day. Press play, then come find us in Indy. You belong here.

    Every Student in Science Class Is a Language Learner
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
2 Ratings

About

NSTA Voices is the official podcast of the National Science Teaching Association (NSTA), designed to empower, celebrate, and connect one of the largest community of science educators in the world. From elementary school to the university level, the podcast brings members of the NSTA community together to share stories of innovation, advocacy, and the best of modern science instruction. No matter the conversation, NSTA Voices is a friendly space where no educator feels like they are on an island.

Information

  • Creator
    The National Science Teaching Association
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    20
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 NSTA Voices
  • Show Website
    NSTA Voices

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