Science

How the LearnOn Podcast strives to make at-home learning fun

Jaansi and Sunay Patel, founders of the LearnOn podcast, discuss the process of creating and managing the podcast over the past year.

Alyshba Ahmed | August 7, 2021

Since the surge of COVID-19 and its many variants, learning has been a challenge. While most students despised the lingering smell of pencils and drugstore body spray in school hallways, learning at home has become an even worse challenge, causing students to lack motivation and focus in their virtual classrooms.

That’s where LearnOn comes in. Started by Jaansi Patel (9th grade) and Sunay Patel (3rd grade), LearnOn is a podcast committed to bringing new STEM-related discoveries to the forefront in a fun and engaging manner.

“[Students] were feeling burnt-out and didn’t have many resources for entertaining education so they can actually absorb material without feeling bored,” says Jaansi Patel, the Founder and Host of LearnOn. “That inspired us to start this podcast.”

Through this podcast, Jaansi and Sunay hoped to encourage listeners to practice mindfulness, learn more about STEM discoveries, and improve both education and lifestyles all from the comfort of their homes. In one particular episode, Jaansi and Sunay are joined by Diana Winston, author of The Little Book of Being and UCLA’s Director of Mindfulness Education to discuss the impact of meditation on the mind and how it may have the ability to prevent diseases like Alzheimer’s. In another, Jaansi and Sunay are joined by Dr. Maryvi Gonzalez to uncover the effect of music on the mind.

With this month marking LearnOn’s one-year anniversary, Sunay and Jaansi reflect on the past and present of LearnOn along with the valuable lessons they’ve learned along the way. Both podcasters agree that trusting oneself is the best approach to fostering a successful organization. While the LearnOn podcast was initially heavily scripted, Jaansi and Sunay soon felt this was not authentic. “It almost sounded robotic. It didn’t sound friendly or engaging.” Once the two began to rely less and less on scripts and more on their own intuition, they saw LearnOn become the material that they had hoped it would become, subsequently improving their skills on public speaking and making LearnOn more engaging for younger audiences.

When Jaansi and Sunay started this podcast, they were in 7th grade and 1st grade, respectively. Now, with Jaansi heading into 9th grade and Sunay into 3rd, the podcast is susceptible to many changes. For one, the two hope to incorporate discoveries of different STEM disciplines into their channel. Furthermore, LearnOn will feature more guest speakers from different backgrounds in upcoming seasons.

While LearnOn will experience many significant changes in the upcoming season, Jaansi and Sunay will continue to make quality content. “Every episode we make, we put hours of work into it so every episode we really love and is close to our hearts,” says Jaansi Patel. As Jaansi and Sunay head into the next phases of LearnOn, it is clear that the podcast will not only continue to educate listeners on a variety of interesting topics, but it will also engage and inspire young listeners of color to make changes, both in and out of the STEM field.