EdTech Startup Showcase

Eric Makelky: All right.

Welcome back.

This is episode two with Crescanova Labs.

I have the pleasure of being joined by Christine Braun with one of the coolest job titles, Chief Creative Officer, Christine Braun.

How are you today, Christine?

Christine: I am well.

How are you doing?

Eric Makelky: Doing good.

Yeah, before we started recording, um, I was mentioning I've had multiple conversations with parents and educators about your AI white paper, um, that we referenced in the, the last episode.

So I'm excited you're gonna send me a copy so I can read through the whole thing and share it in its entirety, uh, in my future conversations

Christine: Fantastic.

And I will get it up onto the website so everybody can get ahold of it and look at

Eric Makelky: Yeah.

I th- I thought of you actually this morning.

I'm driving my kids to school, and my first grader asked me if I knew the longest word in the English language.

And I always tell my kids

it's antidisestablishmentarianism,

'cause I think when I was a student, that was the longest word in the dictionary.

And, and my daughter, my first grader says, "No, it's a different word." And I said, "Well, where did you learn this?" And she said, "Mom and I heard it from Gemini last night."

Christine: Oh.

Eric Makelky: So that's why one of the people I was talking about the, the AI framework with was, was my wife and how we have to like teach our children what AI is and how to use it and how not

Christine: Exactly.

Yeah, and give them those guidelines, um, of how to use it.

I was teaching this framework to one of my students, and one of my 10-year-olds was pushing back saying, "But I can ask AI any question, it'll answer." And I was like, "Well, just know that there are five-year-olds on that.

So if you were to ask this question to a five-year-old, would you believe their answer?"

He was like, "No." I said, "Great.

Hold that when you're working with any AI because, um, everybody who use it adds into it.

That includes the five-year-olds."

Eric Makelky: Yeah.

got, I've gotta tell you one more example of when I thought about you, and I wish I would've thought about you at the start of this.

I have an old lawnmower that I don't have the physical manual.

Um, and I was

frustrated one day and I asked an AI tool what size belt I needed, and I did not check its references.

I spent like 70 bucks, ordered a part, spent four hours on a Saturday trying to get it to fit on my lawnmower, and then I went back to my AI tool, checked the reference.

It cited the wrong mower and it was the wrong part.

And I was like, "Oh no, Christine is gonna be so disappointed in me that I took AI at face value and, and made a decision without checking references."

Christine: Always check it.

Always check what it has to say.

Eric Makelky: Yeah.

So hope- hopefully that really taught me that lesson.

Hopefully, I don't repeat that same mistake twice, Christine.

Christine: I hope not.

Thanks

Eric Makelky: Yeah.

So, so today, um, I was hoping we could frame our conversation about the Labs program and how we can turn the framework you use into something that families everywhere can implement.

Not everybody is gonna be down the road in London and be able to come knock on the Labs door and, and sign their student up for the program.

Um, but really, what can parents take away from the Labs framework and use regardless of their geographical location or their, uh, student's educational situation?

Christine: Right.

So the, the framework is there to create that invisible pack, uh, backpack, you know, the, the cognitive framework for students, a cognitive habit for students, um, when
they can go into any situation, be it back into their schools or into their homeschool classes, and bring this thought process with them, and that's what we hope for.

So in that realm, when parents want to have their students working on something and they wanna utilize our framework, the best thing to do is teach your student how to ask questions, and teach them that asking questions is the right thing to do.

Now, I just had a parent come in and say that her child had gone to, like, I think it was, like, Boy Scouts or Cub Scouts or something along those lines, and the ma- like, the Scout person, um, adult in the room had said, "Don't ask questions."

Uh, that is not okay.

The first thing your kid should be doing is asking questions.

Ask all the questions they can, because that's how they learn, right?

Um, and parents can model how to ask questions.

You can model what an open question is and what a close-ended question is.

We talked a- about this, I think, a little bit last time.

It was, um, saying, "Did you have a good day?" Yeah.

A kid can only ask yes or no to that, you know?

Or they say, "Maybe. Maybe I had a good day." Um, but it's, it's very, it's a close-ended question.

You're not gonna get the information you want.

But as a parent, you can… You know what classes your kid is taking, so you can say, "How was this math course that you did, um, on something?"

And they would give you more information on that, and get them to elaborate.

And the more you ask them these open-ended questions, the more they will be able to then model that with other adults, with other stud- you know, children, like when they're doing peer work, collaborating.

Um, or if they're going to the library and they want a very specific reference book on something, but they're not gonna say, "Oh, I would really like this reference book."

They might go up to the librarian and ask a very open-ended question about what that, what that, um, book has in it that they're looking for, right?

Um, for most of it's in dinosaurs, right?

I'm looking for this dinosaur that lived in the Cretaceous period and did this thing.

Right.

So that might get them closer to the book that they're looking for.

And again, it's an open-ended, let's be really open-ended about the questions.

Eric Makelky: Yeah.

One thing I'm, I'm curious about, Christine, uh, if, if parents have their students in a traditional brick-and-mortar school, some, some
schools do a great job communicating what they're teaching and what students are learning, which helps have those conversations at home.

Homeschool parents, obviously they, they know everything that's being taught.

Uh, but I'm curious, you mentioned a little bit about some of the flexibility that Labs offers parents, especially busy parents that need to work while their student is taking courses at Labs.

But what is the communication with Creston of the Labs parents look like, and how are they involved in it, and how do you help them have those conversations about what they're learning?

Christine: Yeah.

So Crescenova Global, which is our sister branch, you know, they do a learning consultation.

It's absolutely beautiful.

You can contact them and they'll give you the

learning consultation.

I believe that Katie talked about that.

At Labs, because we're brick-and-mortar, we're a little bit different.

We have a whole floor set up for parents.

It's a co-working space.

We have private offices, and we have a lovely lounge, and we have a kitchen.

So when I'm, um, and I'm in the building so all the time, but when I have parents come in and they wanna talk to me, it's let's grab a cup of coffee, let's sit down, and let's have a conversation about your child.

Let's talk about your student, where they are, what you're curious about, um, what's working, what's not working, and let's see how we can help you to get your student doing better wherever they are.

That could be in the homeschool realm or in the in-school realm

Eric Makelky: Yeah.

And if parents are listening and they're curious, um, A, if they live in London, come knock on your door.

Um, and I believe you, you allow students to come in and do essentially a, a no commitment trial of a c- of a course, right?

Can you talk a little bit about that for parents that are able to come

Christine: Yeah, sure.

So we have courses that are up online.

Um, if we have a parent who is like, "I think…" Uh, I'll say one of my most recent courses was microorganisms.

"I think microorganisms is gonna be good for my student. I'm not really sure, but, you know, can they come in?" Yes.

Come in, try the class.

It is of the utmost importance that your child is happy with our courses.

Once they're in a course, and I've had students do this, they trial microorganisms, then they join microorganisms, but then they learn that robotics
is happening afterwards, and they're like, "I don't know, it could be really long. Can my child trial?" Yes, your child can definitely try it.

And they're like, "Well, what do we do with the break in between?"

Well, during the break in between, they can build a robot chassis.

They can-- We can talk to them about the obstacles they're going to face, and they can look at the programming language.

They could finish their project that they're doing in microorganisms.

They can just, you know, play games with the other students who are waiting for the next course to start.

So we usually give them about a half hour between courses to get a snack, get some water, um, play games, go into the garden if it's nice, that kind of thing.

Eric Makelky: Yeah.

What, what about for parents that are intrigued, um, but aren't geographically close to London and the physical labs courses aren't an option?

What would you recommend for a next step for those parents?

Christine: You know, if they wanna talk to me, reach out.

My, my email is on the website.

I am just… I'm on LinkedIn.

Reach out to me.

I am happy, happy to talk to people.

At the end of the day, every parent wants best for their chil- children.

They want a future for their children that is bright, and you know how it's a, you know, it's like a cobblestone path, right?

Students go in and out of what's working and what isn't working for them, and parents have a lot of questions.

So let's lean into those questions again, um, and reach out to me.

I'm, I'm happy to answer them.

Eric Makelky: Yeah.

Pa-parents have a lot of questions, and they don't get a lot of answers.

There just aren't a lot of resources.

Um, Sarah and Katie talked about the consultation that Global provides.

Um, but I, I just, I hear and I see that so much where, where parents don't know where to turn and who can help them.

Um, so we're officially adding you to that list.

Send Christine an email, follow her on LinkedIn

Christine: Labs has an inquiry up on it.

Like, we do have, like, you can ask for a learning consultation just like you can for Global.

We have it for Labs.

Um, but like I said, most of the people just grab me and sit me down, and we have a lovely conversation.

Um, we are also going to offer parent groups starting in the fall, where parents can just join us for-- join me for a coffee.

We're holding that time, I think it's like Mondays and Fridays, we're holding time in the morning just to sit down and let's have a conversation.

You know, parents supporting parents, that is part of the community that Crescanova Labs is growing.

And of course, with me as well, I'm happy to help.

Eric Makelky: Yeah.

And then

Christine: with homeschool and in school.

Eric Makelky: I, I think that physical community building is important for parents because

a, a lot of times that's lacking.

Um, you know, parents just feel isolated and when they can come together as a group with other parents,

they see they're not the only one

wandering down this cobblestone path

Christine: you know, it's just isolating and when they can come together as a group of other parents facing a similar problem, empowering them is almost better than that.

Yes, and if you have a student who is, you know, um, twice gifted or has some type of disability, you know, or, you know, more is like a project base needs to,
like, three-dimensionally build something in order to really understand it, you know, there's not a natural fit into regular school, um, the regular school system.

And when you homeschool, you feel isolated.

There are times when you just will feel isolated.

So reaching out to anybody at Crescanova, uh, you know, we're here to help.

Eric Makelky: Yeah.

Um,

how about for parents in the United States that are really intrigued by the Labs program?

Um, any updates on a possible ex-expansion to the United States?

Christine: You know, is that a possible ex-explanation to the United States?

Yes.

So Labs is coming to the United States.

I'm-- I would like to say, uh, you know, before 2028, but I would say probably sooner than that, we'll, we'll be deciding where we're going to be.

I would say before, by the end of year, this year, we'll know which coast we're gonna be on.

Um, we were thinking Boston, but I'm not 100% sure where we're going.

But we will have a brick-and-mortar Labs in the United States

Eric Makelky: Wow,

Christine: soon.

Wow,

that's that's exciting.

It is very exciting.

Eric Makelky: So then will you stay in London or will you get to go back and forth between the East Coast and London?

Christine: So then what makes the global difference from office versus the global?

Um, I'm setting Labs, Labs London up with my team to be okay without me, and then I will go and build out the next one.

That is part of my job as the chief creative officer, is to ensure that we're building out what parents need in the country that they're at.

So everywhere we have a global student, we want to put a Labs that, you know, um, holds the machinery, allows for really learning by doing, hands-on, yeah, and spiraling through our framework.

And the framework for Labs is a bit different than the framework for global, but that is because we're hands-on

Eric Makelky: You can offer, you know, there's so many great learning opportunities through technology, but some of the hands-on, tactile, physically creating and physical community building you just can't replicate with Zoom or vi- or video recordings

Christine: It is a little bit more challenging.

And, you know, one thing that I do know from work, from my work at Harvard is that the best way to get your child launched into a good college is to add a portfolio, and adding that portfolio means that your student needs to build something.

Now, it could be like a dance performance or something along those lines, but, uh, a place like Labs that gives your child the opportunity to take an idea from its inception all the way through its creation, documenting not only the
learning pathway but the iterations, and that's important, the iterations and the changes that happened on the learning pathway to the end result, and have that end result, as Labs does, drive to excellence as good as they can make
it, and then add that to portfolio, because that's going to give a college or a private school a more holistic view of your child than just he's got, you know, 10 As, he's got a 4.0 grade point average, he's done community service.

Everybody's done that.

Every student has done that.

Uh, you want the differentiator?

It's going to come in with a portfolio

Eric Makelky: Yeah.

And then they can see what they've actually built, what they've learned, the process that they've been through, which you, you don't know just looking at things like GPA and ACT scores and things like that

Christine: Right, exactly.

And if, like you have a, a, you know, if, if you're in a school and that school promotes art classes, then they may see, oh, we've had 10 students from this same school apply.

They're all very good at art, but where's the differentiator?

You know?

It is this habit of mind that Cresca Nova Labs offers that is the differentiator, right?

When you look at something from a systems perspective, not a lot of children understand what systems thinking.

It is really important.

It is probably one of the more important things that we talk is looking at things from a systems perspective.

Um, and then design thinking, how to design, how to iterate, how to drive towards excellence, like when, when to stop iterating to drive towards excellence.

All of these are really important for families and can be implemented really easily by families in their own home.

Yes.

I mean, it's like rather-

Eric Makelky: this is something I and many other parents struggle with.

We, we hear your message and we're visualizing this framework, and then we're trying to figure out how can we do this at home.

So if you're talking to me as a parent, what, what are my next steps to try and bring those opportunities to my kid at home?

And keep it simple and keep it cheap, if you can, please.

Christine: Yeah, exactly.

Um, so I would say start with where your child is.

You know your child best.

Um, and so, um, I will give an example for a girl, and then I'll give an example for a boy.

So say I want to teach geometry, and I- geometry's on my mind because I just did a class like this.

If I wanna teach geometry, the part of geometry is, uh, patterns, pattern making, tessellations.

Here at Crescanova Labs, we always… We're multidisciplinary, so I'm gonna add a little history into this.

I'm gonna take some 15th century tile art.

I might look at the Byzantine Empire for this.

So now I've added my history.

I'm looking at this tile art, um, and the tile art is really amazing because it has, like, symbols and ciphers, which kids love symbols and ciphers.

Yes.

But not only that, but it is a pattern that has no gaps, no overlaps, and it tessellates, which means that that pattern will continue in the viewer's mind, whether the pattern visually continues or not.

Like, you can imagine what that pattern does again and again and again, okay?

So if we're teaching this, and this is literally, it's conceptual geometry, it's geometry, what we're teaching these students.

Um, but say your daughter really likes Barbie.

Everybody like-- well, most kids have a doll of some sort, um, and say they like making fashion, they like making dresses for their dolls or their stuffed animals.

I mean, I had a son who liked to do this.

I'm not gonna say it's only girls.

But, um, what you can do as a parent is you can have, start talking the child through tessellations, show them the tiles, um, show them what tessellations look like, uh, and then have your child make it for their stuffed animal.

Let's see what we can do for pattern replication in fashion.

Um, that is everywhere, pattern replication in fashion.

I mean, you can look at 3D-printed fashion.

3D-printed fashion, again, just tessellated patterns, but now you've added a little bit of machine work, and your child can see what that looks like, and now they're making fashions for their dolls, and then you can have a fashion show at the end of it.

Now you've taken geometry, you've added a little bit of history, and then you've added the hands-on learn by doing aspect to it

Eric Makelky: Yeah

Christine: Yeah.

And then we can take that same concept and we can take it to, uh, boys, and one of my students, now their ages are 9 to 12, and he couldn't get into it.

He was like, "I don't know that I'm…

You know, geometry is for me." So, um, what we did is we started looking at football, football in England, which is soccer in the United States, but we started looking at football jerseys.

Honestly, you can look at any athletic jersey, and there's tessellating patterns in just about every athletic jersey that we looked at.

You can look especially in, like, the '80s.

I think that, um, that was, like, a high time for tessellated patterns.

I would still say that there are tessellated patterns.

Like, cricket has a lot of tessellated patterns in jerseys.

But we were able to capture that student's imagination with a tessellated jersey.

Now, here what we did is we used, uh, dye sublimation, and he made himself a jersey after he created the pattern in the software.

But what you could do at home is if your s- child has Legos, create tessellated patterns on a building.

Architecture.

You know, look, you can look at architecture from the 15th century and then look at architecture today and there's…

I mean, once tessellated patterns in tile making and right now tessellated patterns in glass.

You can see buildings that just have tons of windows and a lot of rectangles.

That's a tessellated pattern.

A rectangle window is a

tessellated pattern.

And then you can challenge the student to make it in diamonds.

I'll give you a hint.

There's a building in London that's done that.

Um, and it's a tessellated pattern of diamond-shaped windows, right?

So you can challenge your child in that way, and if your child is into Legos, they might enjoy building that.

I will also say that you can get your student who's interested in animals really excited about tessellated patterns.

Sharks, their scales are tessellated patterns.

Um, I just did this with my 6 to 8-year-olds.

Um, guinea pigs have a slightly, well, kind of a tessellated pattern, like, under the hair, like a Dalmatian, like the dots or spots.

Um, you can call that sometimes, like, you can bring that out and say that is a pattern that you could tessellate circles, right?

Um, so they brought that into the world of animals and really enjoyed making imaginary animals, um, through a tessellated patterns on the scale.

And we just did that in clay, and it was air dry clay.

It wasn't even, like, a ceramic thing that you needed to kiln, just air dry clay, and then they, they, uh, colored it with markers.

Worked really well.

Um, their tessellated patterns that they designed.

There was a lot of hearts and diamonds

Eric Makelky: Yeah.

I l- I love those examples because I think taking the same kind of base concepts, the s- the strength that parents have is, as you said, we know
our kid best, so we've just gotta point them in that direction of this is what they're excited about and what they would wanna apply this in.

Um, and I, and I love that all those example projects that you mentioned are things we as parents already have at home.

You don't need to go buy a kit.

You don't need to buy a program.

You don't need to spend a, a bunch of money.

Just use what you have around you.

I tell my wife all the time, why would we buy our kids toys their favorite things to play with are paper and cardboard boxes and sticks

Christine: And that's perfect.

That is perfect.

I mean, you can do so many courses with that.

Um, and students absolutely love using their imagination, and that is the very beginning of, uh, design thinking.

It's blue sky thinking.

It's being as imaginative as you possibly can, and anything in the world works.

So if your child-- if you hand your child a cardboard box and you say, "We're going to look at, um, fortresses of the 12th century.

Here's a cardboard box.

Make yourself a fortress," I bet that student makes the coolest fortress you've ever seen, right?

And a- again, it's simple materials and, um, and you're in design thinking.

You're in part of the framework that Crescenova Labs has.

yeah.

Eric Makelky: Where, where are there some good resources that you could point parents towards?

Um, if we're thinking about, like, your example with the, the geometry and the tessellation, um, do you know of any good, especially if they're free resources for, for parents, can we point them in that direction?

Christine: So I'll tell you what I do is I come up with something, like somebody will say something.

So for instance, I, my microorganisms class came off of a moss safari.

Everybody should look up moss safari.

It is

Eric Makelky: I, I, I'm not familiar with this.

You better explain

Christine: Yeah, and I'll tell you more about it.

So a moss safari is if you get a-- research it first before you do it, but then it's a microscope and some moss, uh, and the thing you can see tardigrades, um, there's all these little creatures who live inside the moss, right?

And it's called taking them on a moss safari 'cause of all of the things that they see.

They will see roundworms.

Just know that they're there.

Like, there are other things in this moss, um, but it's really exciting.

And when I get excited about something-- So I got really excited about a moss safari, and what I did is I went to my AI framework, my human AI framework, as you well know and I started researching it.

I used Claude, um, and then Perplexity, and then I got the research, and then I looked at the research, and I did all of my due diligence until I had enough that I could build a class off of.

But that's me following my interest.

So for, if I had a student who came to me, and this happens often, you know, my student is interested in fortresses.

How can I teach?

I was like, "Oh, that's a great class. We can teach a class on fortresses." Or you've just taught a class on fortresses, how do I extend that learning?

This is how you do it.

You get, dive deep into what your child is interested in.

Don't let your child- children do it.

There are, not all websites are good for kids.

But you as the parent have to say, "My child is interested in microorganisms." Dive deep, find everything you can about microorganisms and create a class.

Let your kid be part of that.

That is the part of the learning, you know?

And a microorganism, that's a system, so now we've added systems thinking to it.

A micro, like that little moss, the amount of critters that live in that, you're gonna be absolutely blown away when you see it.

But, uh, it, it is its own ecosystem and it, it, the micro world attaches so well to the macro world.

We were able to look at those microorganisms, and they're in the moss, so that's like their leaves and their grass, just like we have here.

Then you have what, like herbivores, and they just eat the moss, just like you have, you know, like zebra here.

You know, wherever you are in the world, there are herbivores that just eat that.

It could be little bunnies.

Um, and then you have the omnivores who eat the herbivores and everything else, and you have that here.

So you can look at the macro system related to the micro world, interchange those two, and now your student is really understanding the systems and they're absolutely, I'm telling you, if you wanna blow your kid's mind, then do that.

That is a great way

Eric Makelky: Yeah.

So my first grader got a microscope for Christmas, and I will say as a parent, that is one of the greatest, uh, I wouldn't call it a toy, I'd call it a tool, but, but just last night I found my daughter under the microscope.

We have a pond, and so the things that she puts under there, it's, it's fascinating and she's always excited, uh, when there's new things growing or flying around to-- Her first thing is, "I've gotta catch it and get a sample under the microscope."

Christine: Exactly.

And if you look at moss, so moss is different everywhere.

I've walked around London and I collected moss.

I collected moss from the cemetery.

I got moss from our backyard.

I went on a big moss scavenger hunt.

Different things.

You're gonna see different things in different moss that you collect.

And I had parents starting to bring me samples of algae from ponds so we could look at them under the microscope.

Different, different creatures.

You're gonna see something completely different, but that's what's so interesting about it, is because you can really relate it to the systems in the world.

You know, like if you go to the Sahara, you're gonna see something different.

If you go to, you know, San Francisco, you're gonna see something different than you see in Vermont versus something that you see in Massachusetts versus something you see in London.

So it's really exciting.

So you can take students fairly easily on a safari just through the micro world because of all the different things that you're gonna see.

And first thing I did was, "Don't ask me the… Write down, write down all your questions that you have, and then now let's talk about what you saw, and let's define what you saw, and then
let's look again at something different and see what you find." And we'll talk about systems thinking, and then we took it into design thinking because they are now making clay worlds, dioramas.

We're using a plastic box, but you know, you can use whatever you want, of what they saw bringing the micro into the macro.

So what did you see?

What do you imagine that world to look like?

Because when you're in a slide, you're looking at, you know, it's kind of, it's very flat.

It's almost two-dimensional.

You can see, usually see through the, through these creatures.

So I wanted the students to imagine what the world looks like from that perspective of whatever they've chosen

Eric Makelky: Yeah, I love that idea.

I, I made a note this weekend we're having a moss safari

Christine: Yeah.

And then, you know, what we did as well is we added in the AI.

So Firefly is in Adobe, but you can also use another generative AI.

And then t- I taught the students how to use AI.

Firefly is great because it doesn't, um, remember any data, so it's not gonna hold onto any information.

Um, and then they were able to make a background for their diorama box.

Eric Makelky: Cool.

Christine: Yeah.

A lot, a lot are in space.

I just wanna say a lot of, a lot of microorganisms apparently it's like space.

But that's fascinating.

Eric Makelky: Oh, great.

I appreciate you sharing those examples.

That's really fun, uh, to hear about and think as a parent, like that's totally doable.

You don't need to make a big investment to bring, to bring those skills to your child and get them excited about learning and design thinking and building that invisible backpack that, you know, that's as a parent,
regardless of your situation and your, your child's current educational setting, like that's what we all have in common, is we want our kid to be successful and we want our kid to be prepared for the future.

Christine: Yes, and the best way to do that is a growth mindset and a flexible, a flexible way of thinking, right?

That all leads to that critical creative executive thinking skills that we want our students to have.

And the best way to do that is exactly what you s- like follow their interests if you can.

I mean, if you're in a school, maybe you can't, but you can follow their interests at home.

Um, and then just, just let them keep playing.

I mean, it's getting nice out.

You can do the whole diorama in your backyard

with dirt and trees, right?

I mean, and they're like little action figures.

You know, imagine bringing this into the world, what does this look like for you?

And that learning by doing is of the most important.

And then another tidbit, uh, engineering notebook.

Have them make a sketchbook, date what they do, keep track of the iterations.

Now you've made a portfolio for your child.

Eric Makelky: I love that.

That's a great connection to go along

Christine: I love that.

Eric Makelky: the learning process.

And one that, one that me as a, a dad is not-- that's not my strength is, you know, writing that down and referring back to it, 'cause I just get excited and I wanna jump right in

Christine: Yeah.

I mean, I mean, obviously, yeah, everybody does, but you can say to your daughter, "What did you get today? What did you find from the pond today? Let's just, you know, why don't you draw what you see?" That was the other thing.

If you can't write it, draw it.

Draw what you're seeing in the microscope, um, and then we'll put a date on it.

Eric Makelky: And that'll give us something to reference in the long winters, is go back and review how did it change throughout the seasons and the months and the weeks as we w-went about our, uh, moss safaris.

Christine: Exactly.

Yeah

Eric Makelky: I might rename ours.

We have a pond, so I might call them pond safaris.

Christine: I think that's perfect.

It's, it's kind of

Eric Makelky: Exactly.

That's what my, my kids are always-- They're out there with their nets scooping samples, and then we're at the table with the, with the microscope

Christine: Yeah, the microscopes are fantastic.

For my students, uh, we have one that is just, you know, it's like an Amazon purchase, but it is, it's a screen so they don't have the, you know, they don't have to look through the parts

of the screen.

So it's nice and big for the students.

Um, and it can, it has big orange knobs they can get in.

It's only, you need to be 40X.

40X and you can see all of the critters

Eric Makelky: Yeah.

Awesome.

Well, thank you, Christina.

I really appreciated our conversation today.

Um, it, it's exciting to hear about some usable strategies that parents can bring, uh, regardless of their child's educational setting

Christine: Yeah, and I'll have books up on the lab's website for them to look deeper into what systems thinking is, asking beautiful questions for their kids.

Um, I'll put it all up there, and then again, reach out.

I'm happy to answer questions.

Eric Makelky: Yeah.

Send Christine an email or follow her on

LinkedIn.

Christine: with you again.

Exactly.

Eric Makelky: Okay.

Thanks, Christine

Christine: Thanks, Christine.

Thank you