#331: From Screen Time to Green Time: Can AI Reconnect Children with Nature?
Jun 19, 2026 · 38 min · 12 segments
- Speakers
Alan SmithGuestPhilippa WraithmellHost
Jun 19, 2026 · 38 min · 12 segments
Alan SmithGuestPhilippa WraithmellHost
That's why it was such a difficult decision [laughs] to leave Cornwall, The Rockpool Project.
It's turned out to be the best thing I ever did because the opportunities I've found, the people I've met, including yourself, you know, in, in this fantastic, energetic, supportive world of education here, has changed everything for myself and, and hopefully for a l- a lot of other people.
Actually, if you don't mind, I'll tell you the first thing that really sparked the urgency of this into place at my school.
I headed down to the local beach in Dubai, borrowed an awful lot of local seashells, brought them into the classroom, and simply asked the children to have a close look, feel them, smell them, touch them, notice them, talk to a partner, you know, what do you notice and what do you know about these seashells? And as we often do, you know, I asked a few children to share their thoughts, and then I kept asking and I kept asking.
Not a single child in the class knew that these seashells came from a living creature, that they're from animals.
Nobody, 100 students, bright, intelligent students who live on the coast, who, who know that it's called a seashell 'cause they see them all the time on the beach-
... not, not any of them out of 100 knew that this seashell came from a living creature.
And that's, that, that is fascinating, isn't it? 'Cause as you say, they are everywhere.
That's, that's like kind of having conkers dropping in the UK or having, you know, things like that.
That's why it was such a difficult decision [laughs] to leave Cornwall, The Rockpool Project.
It's turned out to be the best thing I ever did because the opportunities I've found, the people I've met, including yourself, you know, in, in this fantastic, energetic, supportive world of education here, has changed everything for myself and, and hopefully for a l- a lot of other people.
Actually, if you don't mind, I'll tell you the first thing that really sparked the urgency of this into place at my school.
I headed down to the local beach in Dubai, borrowed an awful lot of local seashells, brought them into the classroom, and simply asked the children to have a close look, feel them, smell them, touch them, notice them, talk to a partner, you know, what do you notice and what do you know about these seashells? And as we often do, you know, I asked a few children to share their thoughts, and then I kept asking and I kept asking.
Not a single child in the class knew that these seashells came from a living creature, that they're from animals.
Nobody, 100 students, bright, intelligent students who live on the coast, who, who know that it's called a seashell 'cause they see them all the time on the beach-
... not, not any of them out of 100 knew that this seashell came from a living creature.
And that's, that, that is fascinating, isn't it? 'Cause as you say, they are everywhere.
That's, that's like kind of having conkers dropping in the UK or having, you know, things like that.
The rest of this transcript — segmented and speaker-labeled, so you land on the exact moment something was said
Search every transcript — by keyword, by phrase, or by meaning, across every show Radar indexes
Trends — what is surging across podcasts, measured against its own baseline
Alerts — when a name you follow appears in a newly indexed episode
No account is needed to search Radar.
