9 Experts Share What’s Real

STEAM jobs are growing three times faster than every other field, with over half a million new positions expected by 2030. Research shows that children introduced to STEAM concepts before age eight are significantly more likely to pursue STEM careers. But here’s what I keep hearing from teachers: “I know STEAM matters — I just don’t know where to start.” So I brought together nine remarkable educators who are doing it right now, from growing 50,000 pounds of vegetables in the Bronx to teaching physics through Fortnite.

This episode is sponsored by the Van Andel Institute for Education and its Educator Studio. Use the code COOLCAT to receive 50% off a subscription. All opinions in this show are my own and not necessarily endorsed by my advertiser.

This is Part 2 of our STEAM Super Series — STEAM in Action. (The first part was STEAM Mindset.) You’ll hear from Karim Meghji of Code.org on AI literacy for every classroom, Tinashe Blanchet on math through scale models, Stephen Ritz on garden-based learning, Dr. Erin Krupa on Shark Tank for math, Karen Bosch on Merge Cubes, Andrew Vanden Heuvel on Fortnite physics labs, Dan Meyer on Desmos, Adrian Gordon on music education, and Terra Tarango from the Van Andel Institute on inquiry-rich resources you can use tomorrow. Whether you’re driving to school, grading papers, or unwinding after a long day, this episode is for you.

Key STEAM Classroom Ideas from 9 Expert Educators

AI Literacy for Every Classroom — Karim Meghji, Code.org

• AI belongs in every subject, not just computer science class. Karim Meghji, CEO at Code.org, explains that AI literacy applies well beyond computer science — whether it’s language arts, math, or science. Students need to understand not just how to use AI tools, but how the tools actually work under the hood. When Vicki taught AI literacy to her eighth graders, several were stunned to learn that AI doesn’t actually “think.”
• Hour of AI is a free, no-prerequisite starting point. Code.org’s Hour of AI brings together hundreds of partners offering one-hour activities across grade levels and subjects. Teachers don’t need to be AI experts — they can start with these activities and build confidence. Code.org also offers AI 101 professional learning that takes just a few hours.
• Unplugged AI activities make it accessible for all ages. Code.org has developed unplugged activities — no computers needed — where students discuss and explore AI concepts through conversation and collaboration. This is especially important for K-5 learners, and more unplugged resources are in development for elementary, middle, and high school.

Math Through Scale Models and PBL — Tinashe Blanchet

• Engagement is the best form of classroom management. Tinashe Blanchet describes how a student who never engaged in traditional math instruction walked in one day with an incredible working scale model of a TI-84 calculator — complete with pressable buttons. That student proved that projects aren’t something you do after the “real work.” They are the real work.
• Create a “need to know” to motivate learning. Give students rulers that only measure in inches, then require measurements in centimeters. Now they need to learn unit conversion — and they’re motivated because the project depends on it. This Project-Based Learning technique embeds standards naturally into authentic challenges.

Growing 50,000 Pounds of Vegetables — Stephen Ritz, Green Bronx Machine

• Tower gardens integrate science, math, literacy, and cooking in one program. Stephen Ritz and his students grow food indoors using 90% less water and space in America’s poorest congressional district. Students collect data, do ratio and proportion calculations, make predictions, and learn to cook what they grow — aligning with Next Generation Science Standards and Common Core.
• “Nobody can do everything, but everyone can do something.” Stephen’s book The Power of a Plant provides a blueprint for any teacher who wants to bring garden-based learning into their classroom. The results speak for themselves: improved test scores, attendance, and teacher retention.

Shark Tank for Math — Dr. Erin Krupa

• Design and Pitch Challenges fuse entrepreneurship with math. Dr. Erin Krupa’s team creates challenges where students confront math in a real-world context, design solutions, and pitch to a panel of judges — just like Shark Tank. One favorite: Flashy Fashion, where students program LED lights in clothing using geometric transformations.
• Inspiring young minds is the most valuable job in the world. Dr. Krupa reminds us that when we pay attention to students’ minds and get them excited, it rejuvenates us as teachers. All materials are freely available — search “Design and Pitch CSU.”

Merge Cubes Put Math in Students’ Hands — Karen Bosch

• Hand students the Merge Cube and watch them figure it out. Karen Bosch describes how within three minutes, students are teaching each other how to use this augmented reality tool — exploring the solar system, examining human anatomy, and building virtual worlds, all held in the palm of their hand.

Fortnite Physics Labs — Andrew Vanden Heuvel

• Virtual worlds become virtual laboratories. Andrew Vanden Heuvel created educational Fortnite Creative islands (with no guns) where students skydive to find freefall acceleration, launch themselves from cannons to test projectile motion, and race vehicles to measure velocity. His discovery that gravity in Fortnite is three times stronger than Earth’s gravity has stumped even PhD physicists.
• Free curriculum available at andrewvh.com — you don’t even need Fortnite. Data collection videos allow students to complete exercises using screen captures even if they can’t access the game itself.

Desmos Makes Math Visual — Dan Meyer

• Sliders give students instant visual feedback on mathematical relationships. Dan Meyer explains how Desmos lets students create a slider, move a point, and instantly see how changing a number tilts a line or shifts an equation. This dynamic, exploratory experience creates more learning and engagement than pencil-and-paper graphing ever could.
• “Your students have valuable ideas to offer you before you start talking.” Dan challenges teachers to let students explore first and discover mathematical relationships on their own — then use those discoveries as the foundation for instruction.

Music Builds Teams and Creativity — Adrian Gordon

• Music class teaches accountability in ways no other subject can. Adrian Gordon explains that unlike a math class where forgetting homework affects only you, in an ensemble, every person’s preparation affects every other musician. Music teachers have a unique gift: they see students for years, watching them grow into remarkable human beings.
• Start with humor and connection. Adrian begins every class with a dad joke to lighten the mood and build trust. Strive for excellence, he says, but communicate it gently — because music requires patience, discipline, and the courage to sound terrible at first before it becomes one of the most rewarding things you’ve ever done.

Inquiry-Rich Ideas from Van Andel Institute — Terra Tarango

• Beat the Bot teaches students what humans do better than AI. Terra Tarango’s team at Van Andel Institute for Education created this activity where students compare their answers to AI-generated responses, discovering where their humanness adds value that technology cannot replicate.
• Five-lesson project-based learning units make cross-curricular teaching manageable. Terra describes “Saving the Bees” — a kindergarten unit where Lesson 1 is science (bees and pollination), Lesson 2 is math (counting as pollinators), Lesson 3 is engineering (building mason bee houses), Lesson 4 is SEL (giving feedback), and Lesson 5 is ELA (sharing with the community).
• “Teachers have the most important job in the world because they train every other job.” Everything is free at vaieducation.org, from full project-based learning units to 15-minute games and a searchable Teacher Strategy Vault with over 300 ready-to-use strategies.

Visual Summary

This infographic highlights the key STEAM classroom ideas from all nine expert educators featured in this episode.

How was this image created? I loaded the transcript in Google Notebook LM. Then, I saved it and put it into canva where I edited text that had errors, corrected research data and added text referencing this episode.

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About the Featured Guests

Thank you to the many educators who trust me with their interviews!

Tinashe Blanchet

Author of The Freelance Educator: Practical Advice for Starting Your Educational Consulting Business, Tinashe Blanchet is a former high school math teacher with over 20 years of experience in education and teacher training. She has traveled around the United States to train thousands of teachers on using technology to enhance their instruction as a Google-Certified Innovator and Trainer. Tinashe has built a strong reputation as a skilled communicator and tech-savvy educator and has presented at local, state, national, and international education conferences and events, including ISTE and NCTM.

With a Master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction, Tinashe has served as a non-profit founder and director, college instructor and independent educational consultant. She is a math specialist and growth lead for Innovamat, a company that creates research-based, high-quality programs that help teachers develop student thinking in mathematics. Tinashe is also an Albert Hamilton Collins Fellow at Auburn University, earning her Ph.D. in mathematics education.

Website: msblanchet.net | LinkedIn: Tinashe Blanchet

Hear Tinashe’s full interview: Episode 913 — A Cool Secret for Helping Kids Understand Math (August 26, 2025)

Karen Bosch

Karen Bosch Is the PreK – 8 Technology Instructor at Southfield Christian School in the metro Detroit area, a position she has held since 2001. Her roots are as an elementary classroom teacher where she utilized technology as an integrated part of the learning environment. She enjoys helping both students and teachers to creatively use technology tools to extend and share their learning in meaningful ways.

Karen is a 2007 Apple Distinguished Educator. In 2016, she was selected to be a Dremel 3D Printing Ideabuilder Ambassador. She was named as a 2015 PBS LearningMedia Digital Innovator and serves as a Book Creator Ambassador. Recently, she was recognized as MACUL 2018 Technology Using Teacher of the Year.

X: @karlyb | Instagram: @karlyb | Website: Creative APP-titude

Hear Karen’s full interview: Episode 288 — Merge Cube Mania in Middle School (April 11, 2018)

Adrian Gordon

Adrian Gordon is an internationally performed composer and seasoned music educator. As a composer with Alfred Music and founder of Leap Year Music Publishing, he specializes in publishing string music for diverse school ensembles. His compositions appear on Orchestra Association Music Performance Reading Lists across multiple states, including California, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, and Texas. Adrian is a sought-after clinician and conductor, sharing his expertise with diverse audiences. He also authored the insightful book Note to Self: A Music Director’s Guide for Transitioning to a New School and Building a Thriving Music Program.

Adrian holds a B.A. in music from the University of Miami and a master’s degree in music education from Florida International University. Born and raised in Miami, Florida, he currently resides in Charlotte, North Carolina, with his wife and two sons, serving as the Director of Orchestras at Providence Day School.

X: @apgordonmusic | Instagram: @apgordonmusic | Facebook: Adrian Gordon Music | YouTube: @leapyearmusiconline | Website: adriangordonmusic.com

Hear Adrian’s full interview: Episode 884 — How to Build a Thriving Music Program: Expert Advice from Adrian Gordon (March 17, 2025

Dr. Erin Krupa

Dr. Erin Krupa is an associate professor of mathematics education at North Carolina State University and the founder of Exploring Mathematics Curricula Creatively (EMC2).

Her research focuses on improving the quality and equity of math education through curriculum design and teacher professional development. She’s received over $8.5 million in external funding and is nationally recognized for her work in mathematics innovation.

Hear Erin’s full interview: Episode 901 — Real-World Math That Boosts Student Achievement with Dr. Erin Krupa (May

Karim Meghji

Karim Meghji is the President and CEO at Code.org, the nonprofit dedicated to ensuring every student in every school has the opportunity to learn computer science and AI. Code.org is known worldwide for Hour of Code and the new Hour of AI.

Karim previously served as the CPO at Code.org, leading the global effort to bring CS and AI into K-12 classrooms. His path was shaped in high school, when a teacher inspired a lifelong passion for technical problem-solving—a “lightbulb moment” that now fuels his mission to empower students everywhere. A seasoned executive with experience in scaling high-growth companies, he has served in leadership roles at Remitly, Booking.com and RealNetworks. He is dedicated to the vision that teaching students how technology works gives them the agency to build the future.

Karim’s full 10 Minute Teacher interview is coming soon — subscribe to the 10 Minute Teacher Podcast so you don’t miss it!

Dan Meyer, PhD

Dan Meyer, PhD, is the Vice President of User Growth at Amplify where he focuses on teacher efficacy and student learning across Amplify’s suite of curriculum and technology products.

Previously, he was the Chief Academic Officer at Desmos where he led the development of the new interactions between teachers, students, and computers which would eventually result in the core curriculum and digital authoring platform Amplify Desmos Math. He earned his doctorate from Stanford University in math education and was given the Ross Taylor / Glenn Gilbert award for national leadership. He lives in Oakland, CA.

Website: danmeyer.substack.com

Hear Dan’s full interview: Episode 891 — Teaching Math in 2025: Dan Meyer on Tools, Trends, and True Engagement (April 23, 2025)

Stephen Ritz

Stephen Ritz, Founder of Green Bronx Machine, Top Ten Global Teacher Prize Finalist, one of NPR’s 50 Greatest Teachers and BAMMY Laureate – Elementary Educator of the Year is a South Bronx educator who believes that children should not have to leave their neighborhood to live, learn and earn in a better one.

Stephen and his students have grown more than 50,000 pounds of vegetables, indoors, farming their way to the White House and back, using 90% less water and space, en route to outstanding personal and school performance which is highlighted in his new book via Rodale: The Power of A Plant with co-author Suzie Boss.

X: @StephenRitz | Instagram: @StephenRitz | Website: stephenritz.com

Hear Stephen’s full interview: Episode 131 — This Amazing South-Bronx School Grows 50,000 Pounds of Vegetables a Year (August 21, 2017)

Terra Tarango

Terra Tarango is a nationally recognized education leader and passionate advocate for teachers and authentic learning. With more than 25 years of experience spanning educational publishing, professional development, and nonprofit leadership, she serves as Chief Education Officer at Van Andel Institute for Education.

Terra has devoted her career to empowering teachers as creative professionals. She is known for offering innovative, practical tools that make learning memorable, meaningful, and fun.

X: @TerraTarango | Website: VAIeducation.org

Terra’s full 10 Minute Teacher interview is coming soon — subscribe to the 10 Minute Teacher Podcast so you don’t miss it!

Andrew Vanden Heuvel

Andrew Vanden Heuvel is an astronomy professor, education consultant, and gamer dad who blends curiosity, technology, and play to explore the future of learning.

His free Fortnite Physics curriculum is available at andrewvh.com/fortnite-physics.

LinkedIn: Andrew Vanden Heuvel | Website: andrewvh.com

Hear Andrew’s full interview: Episode 883 — How Fortnite Can Be Free Physics Fun for Everyone! (March 10, 2025)

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