Naomi Meredith  00:00

Are you curious about how you can use podcasts with kids? Podcasts are a wonderful way to learn new content quickly but also in an engaging way. Now, I don't think I need to tell you that since you are listening to a podcast right now; however, think about how your love of listening to podcasts can be transferred to your students. There are great podcasts for kids out there, and I have the perfect one for you to check out. In this episode, I am chatting with Jerry Kolber, who has extensive experience when it comes to educational entertainment. He is currently working on the Who Smarted podcast, which I highly recommend for you to listen to with your students. His work ranges from Nat Geo's Brain Games to Netflix's Brainchild, co-produced by Pharrell Williams, to the Who Smarted podcast, where family audiences are consistently entertained and enlightened by Kolber's work. This isn't showcasing all his work by the way. Definitely go check out his full bio in my show notes. It's pretty amazing. Kolber is the winner of a Parent's Choice Award, Imagen Award for diversity and entertainment, Cablefax Award for Best Family Show, Common Sense Media Seal of Approval, and received an Emmy nomination for Primetime Informational Series or Special. His love of creating edutainment came from his experience of loving science and math as a child but being unable to connect with it because of how it was presented in the classroom, which I'm sure you might have had students like that. So that's how podcasts can really fit in with your students. Jerry is so great and so supportive of education and making it attainable and entertaining for kids, schools, and families. I had so much fun chatting with Jerry, and he was such a delight, and I know that you're going to love listening to this episode. 

Naomi Meredith  01:50

Well, thank you, Jerry, so much for being here. We connected through a mutual friend, and I'm really excited about this collaboration because I think a lot of STEM teachers maybe haven't thought about how they could add this with their students and how podcasting can be really beneficial for their kids, and so on. So before we dive into all of that if you wouldn't mind telling us about yourself, your background, and then your involvement with the podcast that you help with?

Jerry Kolber  02:53

Sure. So thank you, first of all, for having me here. It's really fun to always talk to folks like you and talk to teachers. My background is as a TV producer; primarily, I made a show called Brain Games for National Geographic that I created. That was a science show that ran for seven or eight seasons. And then we made a TV show called Brainchild that ran on Netflix, which was a 13-episode science series for 8 to 12-year-olds, hosted by a young woman of color. With a female science expert, this is an awesome opportunity for some great representation and a lot of fun for the kids who get exposed to science through the show. Personally, I was a very bad student. If any of my science teachers knew what I do now, they would think it must be a different Jerry Kolber because I did not do well in school in science. But actually, that was kind of a strength for me because I loved science growing up, and I was always at the science museum planetarium. And, you know, for me, it was more of a struggle with connecting with how the science was taught in the classroom. And my teachers were all very good teachers, it was more an issue of just the sort of traditional way materials were presented. So as I started working in TV and media and audio, I always wanted to figure out a way to basically make the show that I wish it existed when I was a kid. And so that's Brainchild. And now, most recently, Who Smarted, which is a 15-minute, three times weekly science and history podcast for elementary school kids, and Who Smarted is the podcast we're talking about today. You know the strength of Who Smarted is that it's short. It can be used as an entry into a subject matter in a classroom. It can be used during a car ride, and it's easy to access because it's audio. So it doesn't require a teacher to have permission to have video connections. It's very easy to use in the classroom. So you know, a lot of problems that we'd had with getting our TV shows in the educational setting, we solved by creating an audio podcast, Who Smarted.

Naomi Meredith  05:03

I love the background of Who Smarted, and the reason why you went the podcast route is because that is so true when it comes to the media release and all of that, it is hard for us to get subscriptions as teachers. In my district, YouTube is blocked. So I have to unblock it as a teacher, and I can't have students access it. So I think that's such a smart route and such definitely, with the increase of podcasts anyway, we might as well get kids listening and engaging. I love how you said that you created something that you wish you had as a kid. I feel like a lot of teachers who are in this STEM space now that's probably how they got into STEM because that didn't exist when we were kids. We had science, but just having more of that integration of the science, technology, engineering, and math all in one, I think you would have been great at that, Jerry. I think that you would have been awesome in this STEM classroom. You would have loved it. I do a whole video and audio production lesson with my kids, and you probably would have been my star student.

Jerry Kolber  06:09

Where were you when I needed you? But you know, the other thing for us, and this is a bigger issue, is STEM does not get the resources and support that it should, at least not in the United States. That range is literally from, like, we hear teachers all the time who have to buy their own supplies and stuff for classrooms, which is just, that's ridiculous. Then, you know, on the other end of the spectrum, STEM just isn't really featured in a really cool way. In American media, it's always like, you know, nerdy or, you know, not always, but it's often portrayed as a nerdy thing. It's not something that's good, especially younger women, and minority kids don't really see themselves represented in STEM as much as they should. And then you fast forward, like, think of where we're going to be in 20 years. If you don't think that technology is going to be the solution to all the problems we're facing right now, then you're like living under a rock. And so it's so important that we create curiosity and potential and a pathway into these careers for every possible kid. It's just almost our duty as a society to do that. And so that's why we're so excited to be able to support teachers who are bringing STEM into the classroom because it's such a crucial thing to do. And, you know, it's so funny because, like, to your point, you know, it sometimes gets down to things like teachers going, Hey, we would love to use your Brainchild show in the classroom, but we're not allowed to show videos in the class, or Netflix is blocked, or I don't have a subscription I can use. And then you go, okay, we'll put it on YouTube. Well, we can't use YouTube in the classroom. It's blocked. And so, like, we only sort of drill down to, like, how do we solve this problem? And it's like, oh, audio podcasts don't live on a single platform. It's just one podcast, so teachers can very proactively say, I'm going to play Who's Smarted or one of the other educational podcasts. And the beauty of that is that they can have a way to make these subjects entertaining and easy for kids to get into. I think that the biggest problem is that we're just not making it fun in media for children to get excited about STEM topics. Right? It's, yeah, yeah. That's why we're doing it. So yeah.

Naomi Meredith  08:24

Oh, I love that. And I hear you're not a former teacher, right?

Jerry Kolber  08:28

No, I'm a former terrible student. But I like talking about this. 

Naomi Meredith  08:33

This is so good that you're saying this because you aren't a teacher. But you recognize the importance of STEM subjects and why that's important for kids, and the way that our country has gone. Because I mean, it's true, like us as teachers, we know what you're saying, like you're preaching to the choir right here with all that you said. And it's like when I was getting my master's in STEM leadership, there were all these articles about how there's such a big drop off with kids getting into science because they think it's boring, like there actually are studies about it. And yes, I teach them as a specialist; all the kids in the schools get it. That's not always true in every building. I get the kids five days in a row, once a month. But a lot of schools don't have that. And it's up to the classroom teachers. And so they might, you know, I mean, it's a lot of work. And so sometimes they might not always put in the effort they want because it is a lot of work for science, and then the kids get bored, and it's a whole cycle. And so I love your podcast, the Who Smarted. I was listening to the peanut butter one the other day, and it's totally different than this. Like if you're a teacher, who has ever done podcasts with your kids, a podcast for kids, well, it can be boring, but this one's not boring. So it has all these audio effects. There are just a lot of things that capture the kids' attention. Where if they've never listened to podcasts, it's very quick, where kids don't sit there and get bored because of the sound effects, stories, voices, all the like interesting topics, and the weirder the topic, I feel like the better. How do you get inspiration for the episodes? Like because I know you have kids, or you have families who give reviews? Or do you guys just sit around and brainstorm ideas? 

Jerry Kolber  10:22

Oh, we totally read the reviews and look for ideas. We love when we get ideas from the kids. And it's like, some, you know, if we see like enough kids saying we want a Roblox episode, we're like, Okay, we'll do an episode on Roblox or like do one on pizza or ice cream or, you know, gravity or whatever. So we totally look at that for inspiration. And then also our writers and producers all are always thinking about, like, what can be a good topic for Who Smarted. So yeah, that comes from all over the place. But we love taking inspiration from our; we call them our Smarty fans, say smarty pants. Yeah, so we love getting ideas from them. Yes, and that's just to go back to the point you were just saying, you know, it's so we know, there are so many teachers who are 100% on board with the idea of just how important STEM is and their STEM specialists. But we also know that teachers are burdened with so many requirements of how to teach and how to test, and how to prepare plus, gosh, you might have a life outside of school also. Who knows? So, we know it's like the idea that a teacher would have the bandwidth to also create, like, really fun, you know, engaging material. It's like you guys are superheroes, but there is even a limit to that, you know. And so we think of Who Smarted as kind of, like, the warm-up act before the main comedian, you know, like, the main. Yeah, so it's like, we're not going to teach the kid everything there is to know about peanuts and the history of peanuts, but like, we will get them excited to learn more by making it fun by making the topic relatable. And so that's the function we serve, you know, and, yeah, it's just, we just really want to support what's going on in classrooms and homes. And anywhere, there's potential STEM education happening, like we want to help make it easier, make it more fun.

Naomi Meredith  12:07

Oh, 100%, it's such a great way to build background knowledge. Because with any topic, especially in STEM or science, you want not all kids to have a background on the topic. That's why we're teachers, I tell my students that I don't know about this, and like, oh, my gosh, I'm a teacher, I'm gonna do my job I get to teach you. But definitely, a podcast is so helpful because you want to find ways to engage students. And if they don't know about the topic, it's a great conversation starter. And your podcasts are pretty short, I would say. But you can even pull clips if you're a teacher and just listen to a little segment. And you could listen to segments of that same episode throughout the week. So it's a really great conversational starter. So if you don't have what 15 Or about 15 ish minutes, maybe a little less. But you could definitely take little chunks of that. And it could just be a real like you said, a good conversational starter. And this can relate to the project that we're going to do. Or it could even be if you are doing a podcast project, as I told you, I do with my fifth graders; it's a really great way for students to get ideas to create their own podcast, so it might be even inspiration for them. And it's really cool how podcasting has just had this resurgence. Obviously, we're talking right now. But I tell my students that not all of you are going to be a YouTuber, and you might not be great on camera, but there's something called podcasts. And this has a lot of potential. And a lot of kids actually, I haven't heard of it, at least at my school. But some kids have great podcasting voices and, like, Ah, you have a great voice for a podcast. And so it's just really cool. Just another way where kids can be inspired and be creative. Because the show, Who Smarted, is very creative. And you work as a team, right? So what are all the different roles, you would say? Behind the scenes on your podcast?

Jerry Kolber  14:06

Yeah, so we have several producers for the show who are kind of like a higher level, you know, big picture, what are we doing? When are we doing it? What are the episodes? We have a bunch of writers there all over the country. Some of them are researchers, and some of them are current or former educators themselves. We have researchers who research topics for us. Then we also have a team of audio engineers, who are the folks who add all the sound effects and make us sound great. We have actors all over the place. Depending on the, you know, each of our scripts has either kind of time travel or space to go to another place. And so we have to have different actors to portray different roles. So we have a bunch of actors. So you know, it's a small team and an amazing team, but it's definitely a group effort to get the episodes out three times a week.

Naomi Meredith  14:07

I know that's a lot. I do two a week, and it's just me and my podcast manager, but she is amazing. So I mean, if I had a big team. One day, one day, Jerry, one day.

Jerry Kolber  15:14

Listen, I think you have it worse. You're doing it all by yourself, you know? So it's, yeah, it's a lot. 

Naomi Meredith 15:20

It is a lot, but we're six months in with this podcast. I think that's really good to hear, just that something like this type of production is all a collaborative effort. And we talk about that with our students. So even hearing this, like, hey, not one person did this; they have a whole behind-the-scenes team. And that's like a good way to even share about like a STEM job that they might have one day; who knows if podcasting will be in 20 years, who knows? It could be something else. But working together as a team and having those soft skills and being able to be creative and share ideas, I think, is really important. Like it's a great model for them, for sure.

Jerry Kolber  16:06

Yeah, I agree. I agree. And I, it's where we keep talking about, like, it's a whole new project. And we're always like, Should we be creating some sort of wave to sort of package the idea of how to teach kids how to do their own podcasts? Yeah, because we hear that a lot from the smarty pants or, like, how do we do podcasts, and we want to be on the show. And, you know, my thought is always like, rather than putting someone on something that exists, especially if it's a child who is excited about the creative process, is like, teach them the process of what you're talking about, teach them how to collaborate, how to create, and how to work in a team. These are such important life skills that are not really part of like official school curriculum and are so important. So I love that you're thinking like that. It's exactly the right way to think about preparing kids for the real world and problem-solving. 

Naomi Meredith  16:56

Yeah, that's what we're in the business of. I teach the kids that the tools are going to change, but these soft skills aren't. And it doesn't matter if you have a STEM job, which most of you will, but you need STEM skills. And that's where like really important because these LEGO robotics aren't going to be here. And like in a few years like this, maybe you might not want to be a YouTuber; it's going to be something else. But you need those skills for sure. So I think that's a really good model for them, listening to podcasts. So what is your favorite episode on Who Smarted? Do you have your top three?

Jerry Kolber  17:33

Favorite episodes? I feel like I just listened to them. I mean, let me look at my list of episodes here because there are so many. That's like, which of your 350 Children is your favorite? Let's see. I just listened to one recently that I really loved and then say which one it was. It was the Oh, the flamingos episode was really fun. We just did one last month on flamingos. I learned so many things from that episode, I did not know that flamingos basically just have a giant foot that's like not a knee. But it's an ankle that they're standing on that.

Naomi Meredith  18:10

I didn't. 

Jerry Kolber  18:11

Yeah. And then we, oh, you know what, we just did one on Greek gods last year. It was all about what is Greek mythology, you know. We do hear from the kids a lot that they want to learn about Greek mythology. We know a lot of kids aren't necessarily into that. So we actually set the whole thing up as it's about Marvel Superheroes and how each Marvel superhero that you love relates to a Greek god. Yeah, so it was really awesome. And then, we tell the whole history of the Greek gods and the epic stories. And so it's, it's a great trip. But yeah, that's exactly it's a great example of how we take something that might feel a little dry to some kids, but we make it really fun and relatable to something they love, like Marvel. And then, you know, by the end of the episode, they all want to know more about it.

Naomi Meredith  19:02

Do you guys have like on your website-related activities? So if they listened to the podcast, or they're like recommendations for activities that kids could do at home?

Jerry Kolber  19:15

There are some, but not for every episode. The thing that we do every single episode is we put out a free newsletter called The Smarty Quiz that has little activities and follow-up quizzes, and you can sign up for that at who's whosmarted.com It's just a little fillable email signup box on there. And you'll just automatically start getting an email for free with every episode, which is also a lot of teachers use as a reminder of like, oh, there's a new episode Oh, this is a topic I want to you know, use so the email newsletter is actually the best way to to keep in touch with us and also get additional activities.

Naomi Meredith  19:52

I love that. That's so good because we're always clicking for just some inspiration. So all of this will be linked in the show notes for sure because we love all these fun ideas. We eat it all up for sure.

Jerry Kolber  20:06

Yeah. Well, the fun thing about the newsletter, too, is each one has, like, I think it's three questions about that episode with, like, ABC D answers. So it's a fun way to actually quiz the kids and see if they pay attention and then have, like, some follow-up conversation. 

Naomi Meredith  20:21

So good. Well, thanks for thinking of fun and games. Yeah. No, it is. It's so much fun. It like makes me giggle out loud. And I don't have my own children. But I was listening to it in the car. Like, this is really fun.

Jerry Kolber  20:36

Yeah, so that's hilarious. Because, like, you're falling into this category of, like, we call it like the sneaky and don't listeners. So we hear from so many parents, they're like, our kids love your show. But we keep Who Smarted on in the car after the kids get out because we just love it. It makes us laugh. So that was our goal was to make a show for kids that's also really adult, you know, it's like adult friendly. You know, a lot of shows for kids and adults are like, Oh my gosh, like, I don't want to say this. But, you know, we've been, you probably noticed we sneak in all kinds of jokes for the grown-ups.

Naomi Meredith  21:11

I'm like, Ah, it was good. I'm like, it's so cute. Well, we'll definitely add a clip at the end of this episode. So you guys can get a taste of what Who Smarted is. But you mentioned the Smarty quiz. Are there any other ways that we can connect with you and or the Who Smarted podcast and things that we should know about?

Jerry Kolber  21:39

Yeah, so we have a pretty active Facebook community, which is facebook.com/whosmarted. We post content there all the time, whether it's upcoming contests, giveaways, or information about episodes. That's great. And then, you know, obviously, the email newsletter through whosmarted.com is great, a great way to keep in touch with us. And those are kind of the two main ways. But honestly, if you subscribe to the podcast, in any podcast app, you're gonna get all kinds of information from us about upcoming. We do online adventures for kids like Space Adventures and sea adventures. So we always talk about that stuff on the podcast. But those are the three main ways 

Naomi Meredith  22:19

Yeah, perfect. Well, I know that teachers are gonna end this podcast and then go into their player and start subscribing and following the show. Because, especially for when this comes out, like the end of the school year, summer times coming up, we need some ways to engage our kids. And I definitely think that this is a great connection and definitely, a learning tool that should be employed and implemented with kids because we like we teach them how to read so we can teach them how to listen and engage in audio content. It's such a valuable skill. 

Jerry Kolber  22:50

Yeah, absolutely. The last thing I would say about that is we've read and done some research that, you know, really shows that when kids learn from audio, they actually are able to comprehend at a grade level once two grades higher, which, you know, you're nodding your head. And the other interesting thing is when they learn from audio, they are actually much more likely some huge percentage more likely to engage in conversation about a topic than if they read it in a book. So these are, we just like to tell teachers, and so if anyone's like a while you're playing a podcast in your classroom, it's like, Well, because the research shows if they're going to comprehend more, engage more and learn more. So you know, just a great little piece of information to have in your back pocket.

Naomi Meredith  23:37

It's so true; we do read aloud, so we might as well amp it up with a podcast and have some podcast time. Well, thank you so much. I appreciate what you and your team are doing to just support the learning of kids and just keeping them engaged and excited. And little, you little Jerry would be so proud of, of present, Jerry, and all the stuff that you guys are doing, you know, so it's really exciting. And it's really important just having the support out there of people who are kind of around us and education and see the importance of really engaging tools and keeping it fun. So we appreciate the work that you're doing.

Jerry Kolber  24:17

Thank you, and we so appreciate the work you and all the teachers are doing it's just it's often thankless, but just know we wait there are many, many people who are grateful and really appreciate everything you guys are doing. So thank you.

Naomi Meredith  24:29

Thank you. We appreciate it. Well, thank you so much again for being here, and we can't wait to listen to the clip from who started. Awesome. Thank you.

Jerry Kolber  24:40

Did you tell them one out of every five or 20% of all mushrooms are dangerous to eat? Oh in fact I just and that there's another 20% You can eat but aren't very tasty. Overall, only about 4% of all mushrooms are both edible and tasty. If that's what makes mushroom hunting such a challenge,

Jerry Kolber  25:04

of course, some smarty pants might be thinking, Oh, mushrooms tastes yucky, you, but have you really given them a fair shot? But before we can even think about eating them, we need to find them first.