Welcome to my conversation with Suzie Hicks — an award-winning filmmaker, author, and television host whose work sits at the crossroads of entertainment, education, environmental justice, and community activism. Their latest project, the amazing YouTube series “Suzie Hicks the Climate Chick & Sprout,” pairs Suzie with their puppet sidekick Sprout on a seven-episode adventure through climate science.

In this episode, we discuss:

🌎 Their Journey into Climate Storytelling — Suzie shares their personal path into climate activism and how storytelling became their most powerful tool.

📺 Making Science Fun and Hopeful — We explore the power of children’s media in making climate science engaging, playful, and accessible.

🌱 Behind the Scenes of Suzie Hicks the Climate Chick & Sprout — Suzie opens up about the creative process and what it means to communicate complex issues with joy.

🤝 The Power of Community — We discuss why building community is essential for climate action, and how collective storytelling fosters hope and resilience.

💡 Blending Entertainment, Education, and Activism — Suzie shows how these worlds can come together to inspire real change on both local and global scales.

Find more about Suzie and their work:

* Suzie Hicks the Climate Chick & Sprout on Youtube

* Website

* Instagram

* TikTok

* LinkedIn

In this episode, I am thrilled to discuss with Dr. Colleen Kelley — a fantastic science educator, and the creator and founder of Kids’ Chemical Solutions, a comic-book based curriculum designed to make chemistry accessible and exciting for learners of all ages.

Colleen’s journey began with a love for chemistry and research, leading her to earn a Ph.D. in chemistry from Penn State University by the age of 24. Over the past 25 years, she’s been teaching chemistry — currently at the University of Arizona — all the while asking one big question: Why do students think chemistry is so hard?

Her answer? Chemistry is a language — one we’ve never properly taught students to read. From this insight, she coined the term Molecular Literacy and developed creative new frameworks to help students embrace science learning as a whole, and chemistry in particular.

In this episode:

* 🌟 Colleen shares her journey from falling in love with chemistry to becoming a chemistry instructor and launching her own educational content.

* 🧙‍♀️ She’s reimagining STEM education by challenging outdated narratives and embracing the power of storytelling.

* 🧩 We dive into molecular literacy—what it is, how it can be approached as a universal language, and why it opens the door for children to start learning chemistry at a much younger age.

* 🧠 She introduces four other essential types of literacy that are key to children’s development but often go overlooked.

* 💡 Colleen offers practical tips for educators and parents on how to bring more curiosity and joy into learning—both in the classroom and at home, even when it comes to homework.

Find more about Colleen and her work:

* Kids’ Chemical Solutions

* Colleen’s LinkedIn

* Colleen’s Instagram

In this Wide Walls episode, I’m honored to welcome Ken Kahn — a true pioneer in using technology to support creative learning.

Ken has spent over 30 years as a researcher in programming languages, computer animation, and programming systems for children.

After completing his doctoral thesis on creating computer animation from story descriptions, Ken taught at MIT, Stockholm University and Uppsala University, before joining Xerox Palo Alto Research Center as a research scientist.

In 1992, Ken founded Animated Programs and developed ToonTalk, an award-winning, game-like programming language for kids.

He went on to become a Senior Researcher at Oxford, where he developed AI programming resources for students, and held visiting positions at NUS - National University of Singapore - and Yale-NUS.

With his recent - and fantastic - book, The Learner’s Apprentice: AI and the Amplification of Human Creativity, Ken demonstrates how generative AI can foster rich educational experiences and support creative learning, a topic we discuss in depth in this episode, answering questions such as:

🤖 What roles can chatbots play in supporting children's learning and development?

🎨 What kinds of ideas and projects can children explore using AI tools?

🌱 How can we design learning experiences with generative AI that both benefit children and ensure their safety?

🏫 What are effective ways to integrate AI into traditional classroom settings?

Find more about Ken’s work:

* Ken Kahn on LinkedIn

* Ken’s book: The Learner’s Apprentice: AI and the Amplification of Human Creativity