Welcome back to another episode and another season of the Fueling Creativity in Education podcast. Today, we’re kicking off season 13 as we welcome in a new academic year. Now, this short introductory episode was produced a little differently than many of our past episodes, so bear with us as we navigate a few unique technical challenges as we continue to practice what we preach by trying new things on the show.

Now, in this conversation, we’ll spend some time talking about our upcoming book and share a preview of some of the guests and themes you’ll hear about throughout the season ahead. But before we do get into any of that, I’ll be talking a little bit about my efforts to record this episode live from one of my favorite places on the planet, because it’s a place that brings me back to a fascination I’ve had since childhood, and one of the very first things I remember geeking out about as a child: volcanoes.

Hello, everyone. My name is Dr. Matthew Worwood. And my name is Dr. Cyndi Burnett. This is the Fueling Creativity in Education podcast. On this podcast, we’ll be talking about various creativity topics and how they relate to the field of education. We’ll be talking with scholars, educators, and resident experts about their work, challenges they face, and exploring new perspectives of creativity.

All with the goal to help fuel a more rich and informed discussion that provides teachers, administrators, and emerging scholars with the information they need to infuse creativity into teaching and learning. So let’s begin. Hello, and welcome back to the Fueling Creativity in Education podcast. We are now at season 13 of our podcast, and back at our five-year anniversary episode, one of our listeners asked the question, “If you could do a podcast episode anywhere, where would you want it to be?”

And Matt had one place he really wanted to be, and we’re very excited to share that Matt is in this place for this episode.

Hey, Cyndi, how you doing? Matt, I’m so impressed that you did it. I, I did it. I did it. So, so as you remember, just six months ago we were celebrating our five-year anniversary. I’ve got the, the, the hat here. Mm-hmm. And I think someone on LinkedIn asked us a question, where would your most favorite place or your dream place to record an episode of the Fueling Creativity in Education podcast.

And there’s probably lots of different, uh, places. I’ve probably changed my mind a few times. You probably changed your mind a few times. But in that moment, I said, I would love to record an episode on top of Mount Etna. Now, I’m not on top of Mount Etna. I’m about 2,800 feet. I was at 3,200, I think. We tried to do this.

The signal wasn’t very good. But here I am recording our, our first episode of Season 13 of the Fueling Creativity in Education podcast on top of Mount Etna. Matt, well done. I’m so impressed that you did this. And you know, I, I, I, I’m very aware we’ve got our book coming out in a, in a few months. Mm-hmm. Not a few months, a few weeks, right?

Yeah. It’ll be a few weeks by the time this episode has aired. So I was trying to think, how could I connect Mount Etna to the book coming out? Mm-hmm. And I suddenly said to myself, I said, “You know, one of our actions is ask questions.” Mm-hmm. And we were up on the mountain, and I wasn’t asking any questions, Cyndi.

And then we was with a group, and somebody asked a question, and they said, “What… Isn’t there meant to be snow here?” And so we found out that there has, there’s been an eruption. So those of you d- who aren’t watching the news, we’re recording this July 2026, and there’s been an eruption. Mm-hmm. And if you, if you look, if I tilt the camera, you can actually see that the steam coming out, that steam coming out, that’s because that part of the, uh, the mountain is still active.

So there’s over 250 craters. That’s one question we, we, we found. There’s over 250 craters on, on Mount Etna. Only a couple of them are active. And someone said, “Isn’t there meant to be snow on the mountain?” And I said, “Well, surely it would melt because we’re on a volcano.” And apparently what happens is, is the ash comes up, falls to the ground, and falls on top of the snow.

So I found out that underneath, up there all you see is black, but underneath- Mm … the ash they said there’s about five meters of snow. Wow. And so when you actually feel the ground and you feel sometimes you see steam coming out, it’s actually sometimes because there’s snow underground. It’s been trapped by the ash, and then obviously it’s warming, and the warming is melting the water, and that’s what’s creating the steam.

And I never would think about something like that, you know? Mm. So that’s now got me really curious about other questions about the mountain, which of course I’m gonna go home and, and Google. So you know, I didn’t ask a question up here ’cause I was just in awe. I was totally in awe. And um, you know, that’s obviously the curio- curiosity piece because even though I was like, “Wow, this is so cool.

This is so cool,” I didn’t actually ask a question, and I needed someone else to ask the question. Matt, I also wanna point out this, this falls under the model creative behaviors section of our book. Because, you know, we talk about what do you geek out about, and I know that you geek out about volcanoes.

And so really going out and actively, you know, bringing in the volcanoes into our podcast and sharing with the world your passion for volcanoes is really bringing up that as well, the modeling creative behavior. So we encourage those of you listening to think about those things that you geek out about, like volcanoes, and think about how you can bring that into the classroom this year.

And Matt, one more thing I wanna build on from our book, which is Enjoy the Ride, which is our final chapter, which is, you know, there’s going to be a lot of emotions, but, you know, to enjoy every moment of it. And I think that you being out there on Mou- Mount Etna is like, you know, we were trying to record this episode.

You couldn’t get, you couldn’t get service. You were going to different locations trying to get service. You were doing your research. But I think based on the big smile on your face, and if you’re, you’re listening to this, go to the YouTube video, the big smile on your face, it really shows that you’re enjoying the ride.

So that’s just another piece that we should, we should emphasize about the book Yeah. You know what? Enjoy- I was enjoying the ride, but interestingly, I also ha- another one of our actions, Cyndi, is, uh, uh, what, what’s- Face the feelings? Uh, face the feelings. Because, you know, my battery was g- uh, you know, no signal.

Um, you know, and, and I was sitting there and I, I was like, “Okay, I’ve got 9% left on my battery. I think I’ve only got about 4% left on my battery now.” And I’m like, “Oh, don’t tell me I’ve come all the way to Mount Etna, and I’m not gonna be able to, uh, record an episode.” And I remember you said to me, you said, “Oh, Matt, don’t worry about it.

If, if you, if you, if you, if something happens, just record it for social.” And I got really angry, not with you, but I got angry at the idea of failing to- Mm … to record an episode here. Um, but of course, as we know, when we try something new, we got a new academic year coming up, we do encourage teachers, we can s- start small, try something new.

But of course, when you do try and do something new, then, you know, things go wrong. And I’m not gonna kind of, like, waste everyone’s time on, on this episode ’cause I feel like I’ve, I’ve definitely dominated it, but I, I suppose I deserve to dominate it. I am on top of Mount Etna. Mm-hmm. But, you know, I had to reflect.

I’ve learnt so many things that I did wrong on the way up here- … that basically took my battery away and put me in a position where I was having to deal with all these negative emotions that I had to deal with as well. So that’s one of our actions as well, face the feelings, and I’ve certainly had to face the feelings during this.

But you know what? You did say enjoy the ride, and I’m feeling absolutely amazing because here I am. Well, I’m gonna say it again. I am recording our first episode of Season 13 from Mount Etna. Well done, Matt. I’m so impressed. Well, Cyndi, I’m very, I am very sensitive to the fact that my battery is gonna die, and it’s almost like recording live from the scene.

Mm-hmm. But I’m kind of at the mindset that- You know, I should probably leave it here and let you finish off the episode, and let our listeners know what else we should be, uh, looking forward to in season 13 of the Fueling Creativity in Education podcast. Sounds great, Matt. Well, safe travels back, and enjoy every moment of that beautiful ride you’re on.

I will. I will. All right. Have a good one, Cyndi. Oh, I will sign off early though, Cyndi. My name is Dr. Matthew Worwood. Coming to you live from Mount Etna. Thanks so much, Matt, and safe travels back. We are so excited about sharing season 13 with you, and we have some amazing guests lined up, including Adam Green, who has led the Ontology Project of Creativity, to talk about the constructs of creativity based on over 200 researchers’ responses.

We have Matt Sakeresky, who has a focus on creativity and neurodiversity, and a bunch of amazing other guests. We hope you enjoyed our Summer Listen and Learn series, and we are looking forward to sharing more about the book once it is launched. Until then, we encourage you to find a friend or colleague that you can listen to the podcast with, just like a little book club, but listening to the podcast, and listen to the episodes together and make that commitment, and then have a coffee with one another to discuss what you’ve learned.

So we really encourage you to do that for season 13. Thanks so much for joining us today. My name is Dr. Cyndi Burnett. This episode was produced by Matthew Worwood and Cyndi Burnett. Our production assistant is Anne Fernando