Building STEM Identity: How Smart Labs Prepare Students for Future Careers - The Jeff Bradbury Show

Jeffrey Bradbury (00:01.87)

My guest today is the CEO of a fantastic company called SmartLab, which is a career connected STEM ecosystem that equips today's students for tomorrow's challenges. She has a fantastic story to share and I'm so excited to have her on the show today. It is a pleasure to bring on Dr. Jennifer Barry. Jennifer, how are you today? Welcome to TeacherCast.

Dr. Jennifer Berry (00:21.743)

Thank you, Jeff. I really appreciate being here. Thanks for having me.

Jeffrey Bradbury (00:25.272)

I am so excited to have you on the show today, especially now that all the students are starting to go back, teachers are starting to go back, innovation is at its peak right now. How was your summer? And tell us a little bit about who Dr. Jennifer Barry is.

Dr. Jennifer Berry (00:36.485)

Yes.

Dr. Jennifer Berry (00:42.667)

I love that question. Well, first of all, I'm with you. My daughter is starting the fifth grade on Monday. my gosh, last year of elementary school, unbelievable. It's mind numbing, but I'm very excited for her and I know she's very excited. We did a little cleanup in her closet today to get rid of the old stuff and put in the new, so it was pretty exciting for us. So thank you for reminding me that summer is over. My summer was great. We called it the summer of my besties tour and I took Jyla with me. Jyla's my daughter and I took her with me.

across the country to see all my besties that I've had since preschool, since elementary school, since college, when I in my doctoral program and we just went and visited all of my friends across the country and really had an amazing time immersing ourselves in their lives. We went river rafting, we went to the beach, we just hung out with the dogs in the backyard of my friend's home, so we just really had a really good time. My goal was to show her what long lasting friendships mean, so it was great.

Jeffrey Bradbury (01:39.084)

But I love that story, bringing your students with you, having them have those experiences, putting them in a situation where they are the ones experiencing their environment around us. see the transition here. So tell us a little bit about smart lab. I've had the opportunity to check these things out, watch some of the clips, check out everything on your site over and I'm just

Dr. Jennifer Berry (01:51.461)

Yes.

Jeffrey Bradbury (02:05.674)

excited about some of the things that you guys are doing in education. So tell us a little bit about what smart labs are.

Dr. Jennifer Berry (02:13.401)

Yeah, I appreciate that. I'll start a little bit because you did ask me a little bit about how I got here. beyond being the CEO of Smart Lab, I really have been in education for well over two decades now, which is mind numbing, but I'm really enjoying the ride. And I really feel like I've looked back at my life. So we as women go through many changes in our lives, hormonally. And I made a particular change right now that we don't need to discuss on this call, but

In that change, we really go through reflecting, reflecting about how we are, and I'm really in this process of reflecting how I am as a wife, how I am as a mother, how I am as a friend, how I am as a daughter, how I am as a sister, and now obviously how I am as a CEO, as a leader of an organization like this. And when I think about my early years, right, my mom was a flight attendant and she just loved traveling, right? And so she really would come back.

home after traveling and she was an international flight attendant and she would tell me stories about different cultures, different religions, different languages and really kind of immerse me out, get me outside of my four walls. And so that sort of brought this lens to my world that there's something bigger than my small ecosystem that was surrounding me. Then sometimes in the middle of the night she would wake me up, this is before you had to go through security, she'd wake me up and she'd put me on an airplane with her and I got to immerse myself in other cultures.

and really started to learn that again, there was something bigger outside this world than just my four corners of my universe and my community that I lived in. My dad was an actor and that watching him, he's a theater actor, watching him in that environment really gave me the lens for thinking about storytelling and really seeing how he immersed himself to the characters and then told different stories from different perspectives. That also gave me a lens of looking at the world from a much bigger place than again, my four corners of my community.

Those two memories in my reflection really sort of catapulted how I showed up in the world, how I showed up in my career. And when I chose education, I was very acutely aware of what that kind of environment, those kind of micro moments for students was to their career trajectory, right? Because I look back at my life and I'm like, those micro moments really catapulted me to my passion of investing in students so that the impacts that they have in their environments.

Dr. Jennifer Berry (04:35.567)

can catapult them in careers, can catapult them on how they view themselves and belonging in this world, right? Because this world can be hard at times and it also can be beautiful and joyous. And so how you show up in that, how you feel like you belong really matters. So when I think about my career, all the choices I made in the education space, everything from supplemental tutoring to afterschool programs to the special education community and now SmartLab, I feel like all of those, those,

investments in my time and energy in those spaces led me to the STEM learning environment. And at Smart Lab, we really are invested not just in building the environment around students so they can thrive at a project-based hands-on way, but really so that they can have what we call STEM identity, right? And there's been lots of research done on STEM identity and we've really coined a definition that we're really proud of. And it's about like the learner's self-belief, that they belong.

they can master rigorous challenges and their ideas have an impact, right? So they can wake up in the morning and say, I belong here. I can do this. I have value and I'm future ready. And our environments are uniquely designed with an ecosystem. And I you talk a lot about ecosystems in your books and in your various podcasts when you interview folks and this idea that there's got to be an ecosystem around the students so that they can thrive and learning. And SmartLab does just that in order to

create STEM identity. So when I reflect at my journey and being able to immerse myself in this as a CEO of this organization and I get to get the pleasure of giving these this integrated ecosystem for students that they can see themselves and have that self belief that they belong. They can master rigorous challenges and their ideas have an impact. It's bigger than being in the STEM fields, right? Right. And a lot of people think of STEM learning as being in the STEM fields. And I actually think it's more about a mindset.

a mindset that you can master hard things. And you think about AI and how fast it's moving. And we want students to be able to think about, be able to come at the world challenges beyond just what they're learning in the classroom from the reading and the writing and the basics. Those are the foundational pieces that all students need to learn. But we believe that if you can master rigorous challenges and think about how that affects careers or think about how it affects your decision making,

Dr. Jennifer Berry (06:55.631)

with whatever is put your way, that is what a STEM learning environment is all about. It's more about a mindset than stuff that you get to play with.

Jeffrey Bradbury (07:05.71)

It's interesting hearing that point of view and over the last, you know, again, 15 years or so of the I'll say the rise of the STEM labs and stuff in school districts. I've always looked at this and you know, full disclosure, I was a music teacher for the first 15 years of my career. Everything that you just described a STEM lab to be. That's the band room. A to walk in to be immersed with things to find challenges to collab.

Dr. Jennifer Berry (07:28.303)

Yes, yes, yes, yes.

Jeffrey Bradbury (07:33.678)

Which is why going through both as a music teacher and instructional coach and middle school teacher and all of the different things that I've done, I'm always going, well, of course, collaboration is important. We do that all the time. course, the differentiating learning. Yeah, the trumpets and the violins and the tubas and the... And it's always interesting seeing some of the teachers that are looking at this concept for the first time. And I'm going, we've been doing that for hundreds of years with 200 people on stage, right?

Dr. Jennifer Berry (07:45.339)

We do that all the time? Yeah.

Dr. Jennifer Berry (07:49.978)

Yes!

Dr. Jennifer Berry (07:59.279)

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, that's right. I so appreciate that. And I grew up a dancer. I was a professional dancer before this career. And my dad was an actor, as I mentioned. So I was immersed, like your band room. I was immersed in that sort of discipline of learning and hearing the notes and feeling the rhythm and then telling the story and then getting on stage and collaborating with others and failing, messing up in the mirror 100 times over and then going, that didn't look right. That didn't feel right.

Jeffrey Bradbury (08:03.342)

So.

Jeffrey Bradbury (08:13.591)

Yeah.

Jeffrey Bradbury (08:18.476)

Yeah.

Dr. Jennifer Berry (08:28.155)

I wasn't telling the story well enough. Okay, let's try it again. Let's try it again. Let's try it again. And then the beautifulness of the performance. And you're right. That's what STEM is. It's, it's a, or that's what STEM identity is to us. It's a mindset, right? And it can happen in these, band rooms. It can happen in a STEM lab. It can happen, but it's gotta be an organized, I believe it needs to be an organized sort of microcosm of the permission to fail, permission to learn.

permission to get your hands dirty so that you know, like, ooh, that collaboration effort didn't really work. It isn't easy.

Jeffrey Bradbury (09:04.269)

This isn't easy, right? And, and I've worked with a lot of school districts in building out these programs. I've often tried to sell the concept of a STEM lab as a broadcasting studio as a STEM lab. It's, it's not micro bits, it's micro phones. See what I did there? And all of those things put together. I have this other theory and I'd love to get your thoughts on it, but you know, is a STEM lab the physical environment or is it the educator

Dr. Jennifer Berry (09:18.105)

Yes, yes, yes. See who you did that.

Jeffrey Bradbury (09:34.114)

that's running it. You can be teaching a STEM topic, but you're not necessarily a STEM teacher, right? Like, it's a special person to organize chaos. Let's just put it right. So what what makes a good STEM program? What makes a good STEM teacher in your mind?

Dr. Jennifer Berry (09:35.695)

Yeah.

Dr. Jennifer Berry (09:39.354)

Yes.

Dr. Jennifer Berry (09:43.162)

Yeah.

Dr. Jennifer Berry (09:49.647)

Organized chaos. Yeah.

Dr. Jennifer Berry (10:00.965)

Mm-hmm. I love this question. I love this question because we've been really grappling with this for the last, I'd say about 10 months as an organization because we've been around for over 30 years and for the most part early days school districts were purchasing us for the stuff, right? And we do some PD for the facilitator so that they knew how to use the stuff, right? And over the last year what we've really realized which as you and I both know the goal for student

Jeffrey Bradbury (10:16.558)

Mm-hmm.

Dr. Jennifer Berry (10:29.211)

environments for good efficacy and learning is about sustainability, right? And so that they can really have not just deep impact, but it's sustainable over time, right? So we believe that there is a integrated ecosystem, right? The environment matters, right? The environment, the customized STEM learning environment and what that looks like matters. The project-based hands-on curriculum matters, right? It matters. The support that they're given from, you know,

a technical support side or the community coming in matters, right? The kits and equipment, so the robots that they get to build and the tools they get to, matter. But you and I both know that the key is the facilitator in front of the student pulling all of that together and really ensuring that the kids get these aha moments, that they're having that productive struggle when they're in that room and allowing them to have the productive struggle up to a point, but pulling them back in so they can have.

multiple aha moments, right? Because these micro aha moments is what builds the STEM identity. And so when you ask me like, what does it take for a facilitator? You know, it's smart lab, we train them, but it's more than that. It's the professional learning communities around them. It's the trying something and failing themselves, having the STEM facilitator also having their own aha moments when they try something with students and they see, that worked, that got more aha moments, their own aha moment going, ooh, that didn't work.

I guided them too much and the students were just doing what I said opposed to having that productive struggle. you know, we at SmartLab spent a lot of time with this five pieces of our integrated ecosystem to get it right. But the big piece that we're working on and are really putting a lot of energy and emphasis in, especially walking into the school year, is that facilitator. Not just training them, not just doing some PD, but that true immersion and professional learning community and...

and extend trainings along their journey so that it's sustainable over time. Because a lot of organizations sell some stuff. Here's a STEM lab, here's some furniture, here's some kits and equipment, here's initial training, you're good. And we at SmartLab are just like, that's not enough. That's not gonna get these students year over year over year aha moments. What we believe is we need to surround ourselves around the facilitator to ensure that they're having their own aha moments and they're leveling up their craft along the way so that they can.

Dr. Jennifer Berry (12:51.087)

manage that productive chaos as you mentioned.

Jeffrey Bradbury (12:53.698)

The website is smart lab learning.com. And I want to get back to what you just mentioned, because there's so many school districts out there that when they have money, and they want to be innovative, they buy furniture, they go from from, you know, students in rows to look flexible seating, right, all the buzzwords. And there's a lot of great companies out there that will sell you beanbags and chairs with real modular furniture.

Dr. Jennifer Berry (13:06.235)

Yes.

Dr. Jennifer Berry (13:12.677)

Yeah, yes. Yes.

Mm-hmm. Yes. Modular furniture, Mm-hmm.

Jeffrey Bradbury (13:24.11)

But it's not that right. It is about trying to support a system and trying to support the fact that when you bring in a smart lab or like, like product or like company or like curriculum, which I want to hit on to this is a community event. Speaking as somebody right now who I teach middle school and I teach digital media and my philosophy on this is I'm teaching the kids these skills.

Dr. Jennifer Berry (13:25.753)

No, it's not.

Jeffrey Bradbury (13:53.946)

so that they can be used over here. Smart lab really has that same found like we're teaching the collaboration, we're teaching the communication, we're teaching patients, whatever we can think of. So that in the other room. And I do see a lot of school districts saying, let's have the math teacher come in and use the lab. And then lab seems to seem like you know, 1989. We use lab. So

Dr. Jennifer Berry (13:57.487)

Yes.

Dr. Jennifer Berry (14:04.452)

Yes.

Dr. Jennifer Berry (14:16.25)

Yes.

Yeah. Yeah.

Jeffrey Bradbury (14:20.982)

With all of that said, how do you set a school district up for success? How do you set a community up for success? So some district level isn't just dropping x dollars on you and going, thanks, we made the room. Here's the press release. Yeah, don't ask me for any more money. We're tapped, right? How do you set up an environment to become a community of learners the entire school wide?

Dr. Jennifer Berry (14:25.979)

I'm

Dr. Jennifer Berry (14:33.797)

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

get the ribbon cutting we're good yeah

Yeah.

Dr. Jennifer Berry (14:48.505)

Yeah, I really appreciate this question. I do think there's room for a particular environment that is manufactured for students to have some of this productive struggle with STEM activities, right, through the curriculum. But it is an ecosystem that should live beyond the room, right? And I think this is what you're referring to. So we have these five components of the ecosystem, right? The environment itself, the kits and equipment, the curriculum.

the facilitator, and then of course the support, the ongoing sustainability and support and partnership of the community, right? These are the five components of our integrated ecosystem. But the integrated ecosystem can't just live in that room and then the door closes at night and the kids only get that engaged atmosphere, hands-on problem solving in that room. Because sure, in that room they're having some aha moments and in that room they might have some career connections.

for their future roles in this world when they graduate. But it's gotta be beyond that, right? When we think about the band room, you guys probably had a room that you were practicing in, right? In school, a room that you were practicing in. But after, you wanted to teach these students how to behave in the world as a unit, as a community, to respect that they were a part of something bigger than themselves, right? A community that was bigger than themselves, and potentially even take that

curriculum that you were teaching them in the band room and in our case in the STEM lab and merge it into cross-curricular into the actual classroom. So we just are launching in my daughter's school. I'm so excited in her elementary school. We're launching Smart Lab this year. And I got the pleasure of meeting with the foundation who is actually purchasing it for the school. So the foundation is purchasing.

this lab for the school. So the school district, it's not coming off the school district's budget, it's the foundation. So it's parents that are saying, we need to get STEM hands-on project-based curriculum into this school. It's a public school. And what I heard over and over from these parents as we were kind of talking to them about the ecosystem is, how can it live beyond the room that they're gonna be in? How can we pull it into the classrooms? How can we make sure that what they're practicing, it can have legs beyond this one time?

Dr. Jennifer Berry (17:02.491)

40 minutes a week that they get in the STEM lab. And that is what we at Smart Lab have worked really, really hard with in our curriculum. So that there's units underneath the units that teachers can pull into their classroom so that they are maybe doing something in building a robot that is gonna be taking farm to table, they're gonna build the robot that's gonna be an auto programmed car truck to take the food from the farm.

to the stores, right? To the farmer's markets or to the stores. And then, okay, if they're building that in the lab, now the teacher in the classroom is like, I'm doing a unit on sustainability. I'm doing a unit on how can I pull what they learned here in there? And so we've got units within our units that say, hey, fifth grade teacher, this is how you can pull this unit that they learned in the STEM lab into your curriculum.

so that it unifies and connects its connective tissue to your sustainability unit in your classroom.

Jeffrey Bradbury (18:02.414)

that's so hard, right? Because that fifth grade classroom teacher probably sees their kids go to the lab, let's just say, the door shuts, and then that's it. My kids are somewhere else. I picked them up in 45 minutes. Let's just say it's a lab model, right? But in order to bring some of your curriculum into that fifth grade teacher, that probably then has to go all way to the top of the school district and then trickle its way down to get permission and all those other things. How do you

support all of that. So that way you know that even though we're making these lessons for fifth grade math, science and whatever, usually that fifth grade math, science and whatever teacher their hair is also on fire trying to do what they're told to do. Never mind. And I feel the same way, hey, I'm teaching them how to use Canva to make presentations. And then my English teachers go, yeah, we don't have them being we don't use computers. We don't do that anymore. So then, so then that leaves, well, then why am I here? Right?

Dr. Jennifer Berry (18:43.715)

Yeah, for sure. Yes.

Dr. Jennifer Berry (18:51.603)

huh.

Dr. Jennifer Berry (18:55.771)

We may not

Yeah. Yeah.

Jeffrey Bradbury (19:01.986)

And I also, you know, so that that's always the question is how do you create that environment? How do you how do you work with it? You said it already. It's sustainability. It's creating that culture. That's not easy.

Dr. Jennifer Berry (19:07.845)

Okay.

Dr. Jennifer Berry (19:12.219)

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. It's not easy. It's not easy. I love this question because, or this thought, this conversation, because the other piece that we're really pushing on, launching into this new school year, is the community getting involved, right? So we have various days that will, know, November, it's National STEM Day, so we're gonna do a STEM Identity Day and ask community members, parents, community members.

our own employees to go into these labs, go into the schools, wherever our labs are. Because some of our labs are in the corner of a multi-purpose library. They're not just in their own private room, like at this school, my daughter's school, it's in a multi-purpose library. We put it kind of in the corner, right? Some of them are in closed labs that you can close the doors and lock. Some of them are built into, on a cart, into the teachers' But part of the sustainability is also getting the community involved. Because you're right, trying to get that teacher whose hair's on fire,

who knows she has to meet certain kind of curriculum that also is, know, the principal is like, okay, well, this is what the district's hot button is right now. This is what we're going over. So that thing is just gonna stay on its own. STEM lab is gonna stay on its own and we're gonna do the curriculum as designed, right? The thought is if you bring the community into the mix, right? You get them into the lab, you get them into the ecosystem of the school and have parents invested beyond just what the teacher is doing.

The teacher is going to also respect that the parents are coming in and saying, hey, I just volunteered in this smart lab and I'm noticing on the curriculum that you're doing this. I'd love to come in and help. I'd love to come volunteer. I'd love to bring what we're learning in this smart lab into the classroom to help support you in the things that you need to do.

Right? The business leaders might invest their time and their resources if they see like, there's career connections here. This is our future workforce. We're in this lab getting these students knowledge. We're telling our stories. We're getting our employees to be able to share and volunteer with students. Wow. Now the ecosystem is starting to kind of build from within that culture is starting to build from within where it isn't just the teachers following the rules, the principal following the rules, but the community gets involved.

Dr. Jennifer Berry (21:27.919)

the community gets to really think through how do we ensure that these students are set up for the future, right? Because AI is coming at us fast and hard and it is moving at lightning speed and we need these kids to be able to even think beyond critically, you know, the hot button words, critically think and collaborate and communicate. Those are important for sure, but we need them to have the feeling that they can master anything that comes their way, right? Because, you know, I watch my daughter, she does talk to techs now all the time, right?

And she has a bit of a learning disability when it comes to writing, but she can write her butt off because she literally just talks into the microphone and it spills out her amazing stories, right? And now it's learning, the AI tool that she uses is learning her voice, right? She can't necessarily use that in school, but she is starting to build confidence in her own writing ability, whereas before she was losing confidence because she had to stick with a particular structure. And so now she's getting this.

feeling that she can conquer anything, right? And so I watched her in the smart lab. We have one in our garage because I can do that. And I decided to put it in a garage and see how she can function. And wow, it is pretty amazing the things that she comes up with, the ways in which she just gets frustrated with something and walks away from it because she's angry and comes back. And I believe that that community involvement, parents involvement in a school district like this can help try to change the culture and to help make it

go beyond the walls of a smart lab, beyond the walls of the room.

Jeffrey Bradbury (23:00.558)

Talking today to Dr. Jennifer Barry from Smart Learning and Smart Lab, you can find it over at smartlablearning.com. I want to make sure I say that all right. And Jennifer, as we're looking at everything here, I mean, you really are leading the charge for a movement. STEM is constantly moving. STEM is constantly changing, as you mentioned. And when a school district is looking to bring something like Smart Lab in,

Dr. Jennifer Berry (23:09.445)

Yes.

Dr. Jennifer Berry (23:18.244)

Yes.

Jeffrey Bradbury (23:28.238)

talk to the leaders right now who are listening to this. I don't want to say put a number on it, but I would imagine anywhere between 40 and 100. I would imagine that there's a more more right. But it's not just a down payment. Next year, I need to purchase a few more Lego or a few more. There's always the anymore violin strings like there's always other things that go into here. When when when leadership is sitting down to plan this as a project.

Dr. Jennifer Berry (23:37.413)

or more depending on all the units that they buy and the curriculum they buy and that, No.

Jeffrey Bradbury (23:58.604)

with you and to get ready to have those conversations. What are some of those things that they should be thinking about? What are some of the things that they could be looking at just beyond maybe the financial numbers? you know, what does a space look like? What does what should what should the curriculum support? How do you work with smart lab?

Dr. Jennifer Berry (24:16.719)

Yeah, yeah, I appreciate that question. know, the district leaders get it. You know, when we go into smart, when we go into talk to district leaders and say, wouldn't this be great? What we're trying, nobody goes, no, we don't want any kind of hands-on project-based learning in our, nobody says that. What they say is what you're asking, which is like, how can I create this sustainable model? How can I make sure that it lives beyond the one time I purchase a bunch of stuff?

right, and to really plan their budgets to say, okay, I'm gonna spend a big initial cost to get it going. And then what am I gonna reserve to continue to keep it fresh, current, because technology is changing all the time. We have kits and equipment that, you know, this year is fresh and current and the next year we have some new, you know, new VR glasses that we're gonna insert and so that's gonna cost you money as a district. So really making sure that the district leader is.

mapping out and planning not just for the initial purchase but beyond. But I want to also tack on to what I was talking about earlier. This is where the community can get involved, right? Because the school districts only have a limited budget, right? We know there's budget cuts and or every year they make value decisions based on the budgets that they're given, right? Or there's mandates all the way from the district level all the way down or from the federal level all the way down on what they can and cannot do in their school district. So even if they wanted to

to reserve X amount of money to initially purchase it and an X amount of dollars every year. We really need the communities around these school districts, no matter where the school districts are in the country to step up and say, hey, we're gonna invest in the sustainability of project-based hands-on STEM curriculum and this full ecosystem around an organization such as ours, SmartLab. So, I am constantly looking at how do we encourage businesses

entrepreneurs, philanthropists to say, you know what, I want to invest in schools. I want to go to the schools foundations and say, you know what, I'm not just going to give money for the jog-a-thon, which is good. I give money to the jog-a-thon all the time, but I'm actually going to put my money where my mouth is and say, hey, I know you need project-based learning. I know that's going to be tough on your budget year over year over year. Let me be your partner to make sure that I'm upgrading you every year with sustainable dollars.

Dr. Jennifer Berry (26:39.407)

that you can make your lab better the next year. Make sure that your facilitator is getting that additional training that they might need so that they can wow those students and give those students those aha moments the next year, right? Like thinking about it more of like a five to 10 year play rather than just the one year that you spend a ton of money and put a ton of stuff in your lab. of course, district leaders need to think about how to kind of map it out over the five to 10 year play. But I really want to inspire entrepreneurs

philanthropists, businesses, organizations to say, you know what, if I'm gonna put my money and I'm gonna put dollars towards investing in my community, I'm gonna do it at the K-12 level. I'm gonna put money into students and why not put it into students in the foundations in those schools at the district level so that they could put a smart lab so that the students have a lab and then a sustainable lab over time to ensure that they're not just getting project-based learning one time, but getting it every year.

and getting those aha moments to build that amazing STEM identity that we need for our future learners.

Jeffrey Bradbury (27:41.614)

You know, you and I have a lot in common at the fact that your student is in fifth grade, my triplets are going into sixth grade. We're both looking at this technology world from a different lens. We're looking at it from the the the educator lens, but we're also looking at it from the parent lens. So two part question, but it's the same thing. What is it like watching students go through the smart lab system and watching their growth over time?

Dr. Jennifer Berry (28:00.069)

Yes.

Jeffrey Bradbury (28:10.444)

And what's it like watching your student do the same thing?

Dr. Jennifer Berry (28:13.891)

Yeah, watching, so I'll start with the smart lab because I get into labs as many times as I possibly can because I first of all love to play with the kids and get in there and say, all right, let's roll up our sleeves and figure out what this lesson is all about. I want to be there to help watch you and help you with the productive struggle. Right. So when I watch the smart lab kids, so we call them smart labbers in the labs, I see a sense of joy. I see a sense of wonder. I see a sense of sort of

I'm not tethered to the seat. I'm allowed to get up. I'm allowed to move around the room. I'm allowed to partner with the person and go, what, that didn't work, what? And have that productive conversation. I get so, I almost get teary-eyed, to be honest, when I go into some of these labs, because I get to see these students. We have this motion in some of our advertisements where the kids go like this when they have an aha moment. And I am obsessed. When I go to the labs, I take out my phone and I stand behind them so I'm not getting their faces.

I'm waiting for those moments when they have these aha moments and their arms go up and inevitably every single time I'm in one of our labs, I get shots of kids going like this every single time. And I'm blown away because I'm like, wow, it's the same pose every single time when they master something, they figure something out, they have that aha moment, they do this. And that's what we call an aha moment. And those many, many aha moments is building that STEM identity. So I love to see that in the labs because I'm seeing that those

you get to see real time those aha moments. Whereas sometimes when you go to classrooms, you're like, is that setting in? Are they getting that? You know, they might've passed that test, done that test well, got a good grade. The teachers are probably very engaging, but are the kids having aha moments? Yes, many times, but when in a lab, inevitably, every single time, I see aha moments in every corner of the room. When I think about my own daughter and watch her journey, I'm, you know, I'm because I work.

in STEM learning environment, I'm actively putting things in her way so that she can have STEM learning opportunities. So I have the fortune of being a CEO of a STEM company, so I get to test a lot of our stuff and I have it sent to my house and I have Jyla play with it. And I'm like, play with these things and tell me what you think, give me feedback because I wanna hear the kids' I wanna hear how she feels like it.

Jeffrey Bradbury (30:30.99)

you

Dr. Jennifer Berry (30:39.067)

worked for her, didn't work, or gave her an aha moment. It was too hard, it was too easy, or whatever, right, for her grade level. So I'm a little, the question is hard because my daughter actually has a STEM lab in her garage because I keep putting stuff in there to see her be able to play with these things. But before I was the CEO of Smart Lab, I felt behind. And I can imagine there's many parents out there that feel behind. And I really did. I felt, wow.

daughter's not doing the 3D printer because I don't have one or I don't know even what this AI thing is and Jaila is gonna be way behind her peers that are right and I'm the parent that she she's fifth grade she doesn't have a smartwatch she's not gonna have a cell phone we're doing very minimal technology she gets 30 minutes a week on her iPad like we're very strict with her technology use and so I really was feeling a little like she behind am I not in

empowering her and enabling her to learn these things. She doesn't play video games, so she's not quite up to the level. And in my mind as a parent, I felt like, I'm so far behind. I'm not meeting the expectations for her in her life where she's gonna be able to be a productive adult when she hits, or productive teenager when she hits middle school and high school, because her friends are gonna be using AI and her friends are gonna be really, you know, have ease of use on these computers and know how to use their iPhones and their watches.

pace ways and so I felt behind and I can imagine there's a lot of parents out there that might or they can't afford to put a laser printer in their in their garage right and you know that that's why I'm so passionate about getting smart labs into schools across the nation and that's why I'm really passionate about getting businesses and individuals to invest in smart labs into school districts so that all students

get those micro moments. All students get those aha moments. All students are able to have those controlled environments where they get these aha moments that they might not otherwise ever get. And also give a little sense of relief for the parents that feel like they're behind. Maybe they are working 60 plus hours a week and they're feeling like, kid is not gonna know how to really get this productive struggle and understand this level of technology that is happening at rapid pace. And so Smart Lab gives

Dr. Jennifer Berry (33:00.687)

the opportunity for those parents to say, okay, we're gonna have stressors, You have triplets, you said, right? And so the idea that you're always thinking about laying up at night going, am I doing enough? Am I doing enough, right? Our goal is to take a little bit of the edge off of that. We're not gonna take all the edge off of that, right? Because we're gonna have tons of other issues that we're gonna have to deal with as parents. But we wanna take a little edge to say, trust us, when they're in our lab, they're getting the level.

where technology meets a productive struggle, where technology meets this idea that they can belong, they can master rigorous challenges and that their ideas have an impact. And we want to reduce that load a little bit for parents out there.

Jeffrey Bradbury (33:44.682)

What do you say to the school districts that are looking to put smart labs, let's say in elementary school, but then they get into sixth grade and those experiences are not there. Do you find school districts are then starting to build them up the grades? Or how do they start to make sure that what the kids are learning in the lower levels is being used in the upper levels?

Dr. Jennifer Berry (34:05.209)

Yeah, it's interesting. When the students get to middle school and beyond, generally the schools are starting to put in clubs. They're starting to put in electives instead of all students get access to this, right? So in my daughter's school, it's an elementary school, so she gets to go through the rotation and all the kids will get through the rotation of the smart lab. Whereas when she's gonna get to middle school, although I'll work hard to get it in her middle school as well, it's not there yet, but I will make sure that that happens.

it's more about the robotics club, right? Or the club that is the band, you might go to band, you might go to robotic club. And so then there's a little bit more choice involved. And I think that's okay. I think if school districts really work hard to get it at the elementary school level, to again, take that edge off for the parents to feel like they're not behind, to ensure that the kids have enough exposure to this sort of...

STEM identity mindset, if you will. Then when they get to middle school, they'll make the choices that they can then carry that STEM identity forward. They might join the robotics team, they might join band, they might join the basketball team, these extra clubs. And if they already have that STEM mindset, that STEM identity, they will flourish in whatever they choose. And I think choice is really good for kids as they age, because their brains are starting to...

form those neurons that are giving them the like, this is more my interest, that's more my interest, that's not my interest. And as long as we've set them up with that foundation to know that they belong in STEM fields or they belong with that rigorous challenge mindset, that they can master rigorous challenges, the choice that they make when they get to middle school and beyond, I think it should be up to them. They should have agency. And if you've laid that groundwork and foundation for them to have that STEM identity.

Whatever they choose, think they're going to flourish in. And of course, we want to obviously have smart labs in middle schools and have them in high schools. But the reality is personally, I think if you give students that foundation from kindergarten up through fifth grade, that identity will carry with them in whatever they choose and whatever their passion is, not only in middle school and high school, but into their future career.

Jeffrey Bradbury (36:21.986)

The website again is smartlablearning.com and speaking today with Dr. Jennifer Barry, when somebody calls you, who should that be on the side of on the other end of the phone? Is it the principal that calls? Is it usually the district level? Who needs to be involved in those beginning conversations?

Dr. Jennifer Berry (36:38.851)

Yeah, definitely principals, definitely superintendents. I'm going to, and I said this earlier, but I'm really pushing this envelope right now. I'm encouraging parents that are on the foundation boards. I'm encouraging businesses that are thinking, how can I contribute? Right? How can I get in there and help students or help the future workforce? Right? I really want business leaders to call us. I really want

parent foundation groups to give us a call, right? Because a lot of parent foundation groups are saying, do we spend, you know, we do the jog-a-thon, we do the gala, we do the thing, what are we spending the money on, right? Are we just doing more pizzas at the fifth grade party or are we doing something that actually is gonna have sustainability and like give our children future readiness, right? Career future readiness. And so I really wanna encourage those foundation leaders.

or anybody on a foundation, any parent on a foundation, business leaders, entrepreneurs, philanthropists that are really wanting to invest in the future to give us a call. Because we can partner them with the foundation leaders. We can partner them with school districts. We can partner them with nonprofits, boys and girls clubs, YMCAs, other community foundations. We can partner them with foundations and for them to say, I wanna contribute.

right, of these 501c3s and these nonprofits in our community, I want to contribute, and I want to contribute by bringing in smart labs into the school districts, into our community centers. That's really who I want to call us. I think that's going to be really important in the future, that it isn't just the superintendents who have a lot, and the principals that have a lot of competing priorities, but it's that we've got the community around demanding what they want for their kids.

Jeffrey Bradbury (38:29.378)

Well, first of all, Dr. Barry, thank you so much for your time today and continued success. You have certainly created something with your team that is long lasting. And again, as the as the father of of, know, recently, this is a hard thing to say going to school right now. I've seen what these programs can do. I've helped other school districts bring in STEM style labs and just seeing the transformation that happens.

the work that you guys and you know, you and your team are doing over at smart lab is absolutely amazing. I'll let you look into the camera and give the last word here. What do you want somebody to know? Before they dive into this project? What kind of message do you have for any school leader looking into this? And I'll let you have the last word.

Dr. Jennifer Berry (39:16.943)

I appreciate that. I'm going to tag onto the word that you just said, transformation. You said you have seen it transform a student, transform a culture, transform a community. And I really want to, you know, stare into superintendent and principals and school leaders eyes and really, really inspire business leaders, entrepreneurs.

innovators, non-profit leaders, foundations, boards, parents, to say we've got to do this together. And in order for our students to have careers of the future, know, some furniture and some kits and equipment and some curriculum isn't enough. The ecosystem, you know, we call it an integrated ecosystem that builds aha moments or sparks aha moments and builds STEM identity. An integrated ecosystem.

that sparks aha moments and builds STEM identity. And that takes the integrated ecosystem, not just a furniture, not just kits and equipment. And so I really want to inspire leaders and business time resources to put your money where your mouth is. Let's make sure we're excited about what students' futures are. And let's inspire the next generation through hands-on project-based curriculum.

and do it in a way that is unified and not just one off and not just one time. So yeah, I really hope that folks go to our website, smartlablearning.com and look around. We've got free resources on there. We've got different videos so you can see what we're all about. But I also encourage people to look me up on LinkedIn, look up anyone on my team on LinkedIn.

questions, figure out how you can get involved. We have volunteer days over the course of the year. We do two in the fall, two in the spring, where we encourage people to not just buy a Smart Lab, but to come in and talk about your STEM identity with students. Because another piece that's really important, I wrote my dissertation about representation with youth, and it's really important for leaders to come into environments and share their story with kids. Because the more

Dr. Jennifer Berry (41:41.537)

stories are shared with kids, they can see themselves in other worlds outside of maybe their own environment. And so I really encourage you all to come to volunteer with us in one of our smart labs so that you can tell your STEM identity story. You can go on our website and learn more about that and just be a part of the solution, be a part of the journey with us.

Jeffrey Bradbury (42:03.252)

If you're an educator, administrator, business, I highly recommend checking out all the great stuff over at smartlablearning.com connecting with Dr. Barry and her team is an amazing organization, an amazing mission to help out students all around the world. And I want to say thank you, Dr. Barry for coming on and sharing this.

Dr. Jennifer Berry (42:11.931)

Thank you.

Dr. Jennifer Berry (42:21.403)

Thank you, Jeff. Thank you, I appreciate you. I appreciate your time.

Jeffrey Bradbury (42:25.57)

And we want to say thank you guys for listening to the show today. This is the first time you're listening to the show. Don't forget to that like and subscribe button. You can of course find us over on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and wherever you guys get your audio and video shows. If this is the first time you're checking us out, head on over to teachercast.net slash podcast for all of our shows. And we would love to have you guys be on our show sometime this year. And that wraps up this episode of Digital Learning today on behalf of Dr. Jennifer Barry and everybody here on TeacherCast.

My name is Jeff Bradbury, reminding you guys to keep up the great work in your classrooms and continue sharing your passions with your students.