Listen "459: Ideas Have to Come From Somewhere"
Episode Synopsis
Professor AnnMarie Thomas spoke with us about playful learning through joy, whimsy, surprise, and meeting new people. We also spoke with AnnMarie about how adults can foster an environment that encourages innovation. See more about that (and the interviews of various engineers and makers) in her book Making Makers: Kids, Tools, and the Future of Innovation You can find AnnMarie on Mastodon: mastodon.social/@AnnMariePT If you want to know more about squishy circuits, check out AnnMarie's TED talk: Hands-on science with squishy circuits (or the related book Squishy Circuits (21st Century Skills Innovation Library: Makers as Innovators)). She is the head of The Playful Learning Lab at the University of St. Thomas where she is a professor of engineering and entrepreneurship. We also talked about the LEGO Foundation. More about that on LearningThroughPlay.com AnnMarie suggested the cephalopod-centric novel The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler. Elecia countered with The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery (non-fiction). And now, a question for you to ponder, what is your most meaningful learning experience? Transcript
More episodes of the podcast Embedded
518: Nothing We Can Do About Frogs
09/01/2026
517: A Direct, Sensible Podcast
02/01/2026
515: Script Boomers
27/11/2025
514: Just Turn Off All the Computers
14/11/2025
513: I'm Sorry You Learned Something
30/10/2025
512: What if I Didn't Stop?
16/10/2025
511: Forty Trillion Divides
02/10/2025
510: The Secret Chip
19/09/2025
509: Swarmed by Engineers
05/09/2025
ZARZA We are Zarza, the prestigious firm behind major projects in information technology.