Composing The Moons Symphony: Music, NASA and the Power of an Interdisciplinary Education
Today I’m chatting with Amanda Lee Falkenberg, an internationally acclaimed Australian composer, pianist and creator of The Moons Symphony — a groundbreaking orchestral work recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra under Marin Alsop, with choral forces recorded separately at Abbey Road Studios.
Amanda’s work bridges science, music and storytelling, developed in close collaboration with NASA planetary scientists and astronomers. She’s also the founder of Lunar (Learning under New Artistic Regimes), an immersive educational platform blending planetary science, music and art to spark curiosity in learners of all ages.
In this conversation we trace the whole journey: from stumbling across an article on the “ten weirdest moons,” through a cold email to a NASA scientist that led to a presentation at JPL, to the pandemic-era twist that finally brought the LSO, Marin Alsop and Abbey Road into alignment. We talk about why she built Lunar as a course rather than a one-off concert, what she’s learned from planetary scientists about resilience and the long game, and how a childhood love of John Williams became the unlikely throughline for a project rooted entirely in science fact.
Key Takeaways
- A cold email can change everything. Amanda’s project only reached NASA because she sent an unsolicited message into what she calls “the black hole email” — with no expectation of a reply.
- Passion projects don’t need permission to start. She began researching and composing years before she had a scientist, an orchestra, or a plan for education — the vision came first.
- Interdisciplinary learning resonates because real life isn’t siloed. Music, science and storytelling aren’t separate subjects to her — they’re one experience, and that’s exactly why Lunar works across age groups from teenagers to retirees.
- Resilience is the throughline of both music and science careers. Amanda draws a direct parallel between the decades-long timelines of NASA missions and the “10,000 hours” of a musician’s path — both require staying in it for the long game.
- Setbacks can create the conditions for a breakthrough. Covid cancelled her original recording dates — and then, months later, cleared Marin Alsop’s schedule enough to make the recording finally happen.
- You don’t need a background in either subject to benefit. Lunar is designed so that participants need no prior knowledge of music or science — just curiosity.
Chapters:
- 00:02 – Exploring the Moon Symphony with Amanda Lee Falkenberg
- 01:54 – The Journey of the Moon Symphony
- 12:48 – Interdisciplinary Education: Bridging Science and Art
- 15:15 – The Journey of the Lunar Program
- 24:21 – The Journey to Collaborate with NASA
- 29:21 – The Impact of COVID on the Project
- 34:31 – The Journey of Passion Projects
- 39:55 – The Long Game: Resilience in Music and Science
https://www.moons-symphony.com/
https://www.moons-symphony.com/gateway-to-lunar
▶️ YouTube 👉 @moonssymphony
www.facebook.com/moonssymphony/
📸 Instagram @amandafilmmusic
www.linkedin.com/in/moons-symphony
🔥 Discover more about Education on Fire, get a FREE pdf of 10 guest resources.
https://www.educationonfire.com
🔥 Support the show – Buy me a coffee, Merch and Sponsorship Opportunities
https://www.educationonfire.com/support
#EducationOnFire
Show Sponsors –
National Association for Primary Education (NAPE)
Their Primary First Journal: https://www.educationonfire.com/nape
From idea to live show – hands-on sessions to help you launch, grow, and streamline your brand.
Tackling the Manosphere: Elanie Ademokun (Jigsaw) on Misogyny, Boys, and School Culture
Elanie Ademokun, Programmes Director at Jigsaw Education Group, joins Mark Taylor to unpack one of the most pressing issues facing schools right now: the rise of the “manosphere” and its impact on misogyny, safeguarding, and school culture.
Drawing on over 20 years in education — including 11 years teaching English and PSHE in secondary schools, teacher training with Teach First, and safeguarding work with Frontline — Elanie shares what she’s hearing directly from schools: shifting attitudes among boys towards female teachers, misogynistic language creeping into corridors, and growing concern from primary schools too, not just secondary.
Mark and Elanie explore why this is happening so fast, how algorithms and online “lifestyle coach” influencers exploit adolescent needs for belonging and self-esteem, and why a whole-school, framework-led approach — rather than a reactive one — is essential. They discuss the balance between universal preventative education and targeted, safeguarding-led intervention, why shame and punishment backfire, and how every child needs at least one trusted adult in their corner.
This is a thoughtful, practical conversation for teachers, school leaders, and parents navigating a fast-moving cultural issue with real consequences for children’s wellbeing.
Takeaways:
- Elanie Ademokun emphasizes the significance of a whole school approach in addressing sensitive topics within the curriculum, particularly in the realms of personal, social, health education, and religious education.
- The pervasive influence of social media has dramatically shaped the behaviour and perceptions of students, necessitating a proactive response from educators to mitigate its adverse effects.
- It is vital to create a supportive environment where students feel comfortable discussing their experiences and questions regarding complex societal issues like misogyny and digital misinformation.
- Educators are encouraged to focus on building resilience and critical thinking skills in students, ensuring they are prepared to navigate the challenges posed by contemporary online influences.
- The importance of fostering strong relationships and communication between teachers and students is highlighted as essential for addressing the nuances of modern educational challenges.
- Awareness and proactive discussions around sensitive issues must begin early in a child’s education to establish a foundation for healthy relationships and self-esteem.
Chapters:
- 00:02 – Introducing Elanie Adamokun
- 01:12 – Understanding the Manosphere’s Impact on School Culture
- 19:03 – The Importance of Early Awareness and Mentoring in Youth Development
- 23:20 – Navigating Conversations with Children about Social Media
- 33:46 – Building Resilience and Empowerment in Education
https://jigsaweducationgroup.com/
www.facebook.com/jigsaweducationgroup
🔥 Discover more about Education on Fire, get a FREE pdf of 10 guest resources.
https://www.educationonfire.com
🔥 Support the show – Buy me a coffee, Merch and Sponsorship Opportunities
https://www.educationonfire.com/support
#EducationOnFire
Show Sponsors –
National Association for Primary Education (NAPE)
Their Primary First Journal: https://www.educationonfire.com/nape
From idea to live show – hands-on sessions to help you launch, grow, and streamline your brand.
From Bolt-On to Built-In: Rethinking SEND and Inclusion with Lisa Pinkerton
Lisa Pinkerton is Head of Education at Widget, a symbols-based communication software company, and a former deputy headteacher, inclusion lead, and NPQ SENCO course facilitator with 26 years in primary education.
Lisa makes the case for SENCOs sitting on the senior leadership team, not as a bolt-on role but as a strategic voice shaping decisions from the outset. With over 1.7 million pupils in England currently identified as having SEND, she argues inclusion has shifted from a specialist issue to a leadership one, and explains why designing environments for the child who needs the most support tends to benefit every child in the room.
We talk through the shift from a medical to a social model of disability, the “curb-cut effect” as a way of thinking about universal design in classrooms, why visual scaffolds like Widget’s symbols work best when they’re everyday practice rather than reserved for a few pupils, and why real inclusion means being willing to let a sparkly pink pencil sit next to standard ones. Lisa also shares a powerful story of a pupil whose severe dyslexia had been masked as behavioural difficulty, and how embedding visual support into ordinary classroom life changed his trajectory.
Takeaways:
- Inclusion must be embedded within the decision-making processes of educational institutions, not treated as an afterthought.
- The integration of symbols and visual aids can significantly enhance communication and comprehension for all students.
- Effective educational leadership requires the inclusion lead to have a strategic role within the senior leadership team.
- The approach to education should prioritize the individual learning journey of each student, fostering their unique strengths and needs.
Chapters:
- 00:03 – Introduction to Lisa Pinkerton and Widget
- 04:17 – The Importance of Inclusion in Education
- 20:40 – The Need for Flexibility in Educational Practices
- 36:23 – The Curb Cut Effect in Education
- 39:51 – Creating Accessible Classrooms: The Importance of Inclusion
https://www.widgit.com/
https://www.facebook.com/widgitsoftware26
https://www.instagram.com/widgitsoftware
https://www.linkedin.com/company/widgit-software/
🔥 Discover more about Education on Fire, get a FREE pdf of 10 guest resources.
https://www.educationonfire.com
🔥 Support the show – Buy me a coffee, Merch and Sponsorship Opportunities
https://www.educationonfire.com/support
#EducationOnFire
Show Sponsors –
National Association for Primary Education (NAPE)
Their Primary First Journal: https://www.educationonfire.com/nape
From idea to live show – hands-on sessions to help you launch, grow, and streamline your brand.
World Schooling on the Water: Danielle Vandehei on Sailing, Unschooling and Finding Alignment
Danielle Vandehei is a world-schooling sailor mum who, with her husband and son, spent the last four years building a life around sailing, exploration and learning through experience.
Danielle shares how a breaking point on land — a demanding job, a young child, and a longing for more intentional time together — pushed the family to sell their home, their farm animals, and nearly everything they owned to learn to sail from scratch. She’s honest about the messy, non-linear reality behind that decision: budget overruns, a house that took a year to sell, a stint in a minivan through Mexico, and plenty of “we’re not in alignment yet, that’s okay” moments along the way.
How does education actually works aboard their boat — starting not with a curriculum, but with deschooling themselves as parents first. Danielle explains how her son learns numbers through fishing, reading through his fish identification book, and social confidence through navigating world-school hubs full of kids of every age and language.
Danielle has created Water World Micro Expeditions, the family’s new venture inviting other families aboard to experience sailing, marine life, and reconnection with nature in San Blas, Panama — plus where their vision is headed next.
Key Takeaways
- Deschool the parent first. Before a child can learn differently, the adult often has to unlearn their own assumptions about what “proper” education looks like.
- Follow the interest, not the age bracket. Danielle’s son learns to read through a fish identification book and does mental math through abacus — because those are his interests, not a set curriculum.
- Learning is 0 to 99, not 5 to 18. There’s no finish line — removing the pressure of a deadline changes how both kids and adults relate to learning.
- Nothing about this life was linear. Selling a 40-acre property took eight months; the house took a year to sell; they went from camper to minivan to boat and back again. Alignment came in its own time.
- Resilience is the standout FIRE value here — the willingness to stay in motion through setbacks (a blown transmission, a slow house sale) rather than let fear shut the plan down.
- Social confidence grows through real exposure, not curriculum: Danielle’s son now approaches kids and adults of any age or language unprompted, something she attributes directly to years of varied, real-world interaction.
- Community over content. Water World Micro Expeditions isn’t about replicating school on a boat — it’s about giving families a lived experience of sailing, marine life, and reconnecting with themselves and each other.
Chapters:
- 00:02 – Introduction to World Schooling
- 04:15 – Transition to a New Way of Living
- 09:51 – Transitioning to a New Lifestyle
- 16:38 – Deschooling and Adapting to New Learning Environments
- 27:47 – Nurturing Well-Being in Education
- 34:22 – Connecting with Nature and Learning through Experience
- 37:50 – Building a Vision for Water World
https://waterworldmicroexpeditions.com/
Facebook Danielle Marie Vandehei
IG- Legacy_throughmotherhood
🔥 Discover more about Education on Fire, get a FREE pdf of 10 guest resources.
https://www.educationonfire.com
🔥 Support the show – Buy me a coffee, Merch and Sponsorship Opportunities
https://www.educationonfire.com/support
#EducationOnFire
Show Sponsors –
National Association for Primary Education (NAPE)
Their Primary First Journal: https://www.educationonfire.com/nape
From idea to live show – hands-on sessions to help you launch, grow, and streamline your brand.
Teaching Chemistry Through Art, Dance and Drama with Zafra Lerman
Zafra Lerman is a scientist, educator and humanitarian. She received a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel and conducted research on Isotope Effects at Cornell and Northwestern Universities in the U.S. and the ETH, Zurich, Switzerland. She developed an innovative approach of teaching science through art, music, drama, dance, and rap which was successful with underprivileged students around the globe.
She worked on human rights cases in the former Soviet Union, Russia, China, Guatemala, Cuba, Peru, and South Africa and was successful in preventing executions, releasing prisoners from jail and bringing dissidents to freedom. She is the President of the Malta Conferences Foundation, which uses science diplomacy as a bridge to peace in the Middle East by bringing scientists from all countries in the Middle East together with Nobel Laureates.
This five-day conference puts scientists under the same roof to develop collaborations and friendships that overcome the chasms of distrust and intolerance. She received over forty international awards, including the Presidential Award for Mentoring from President Clinton (1999), AAAS Award for Science Diplomacy (2015), American Physical Society Andrei Sakharov Prize for Human Rights (2016), Peace and Justice prize from the UN NOVUS summit (2016), Distinguished Women in Chemistry or Chemical Engineering Award from the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (2017), and she was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by a member of the US Congress and a member of the French Parliament (2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2023, 2025).
Her book “Human Rights and Peace: A Personal Odyssey” was published in August 2024. On March 6, 2025 she received in New York the International Advocate for Peace Award from the Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution. Previous awardees include Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and Paul McCartney.
Chapters:
- 00:19 – Innovative Approaches to Teaching Science
- 01:05 – The Journey into Education and Science
- 20:49 – Innovative Teaching Methods in Chemistry
- 36:46 – Human Rights and Science Education
- 44:33 – Focusing on the Middle East: A New Direction
https://zafralerman.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/zafralerman
🔥 Discover more about Education on Fire, get a FREE pdf of 10 guest resources.
https://www.educationonfire.com
🔥 Support the show – Buy me a coffee, Merch and Sponsorship Opportunities
https://www.educationonfire.com/support
#EducationOnFire
Show Sponsors –
National Association for Primary Education (NAPE)
Their Primary First Journal: https://www.educationonfire.com/nape
From idea to live show – hands-on sessions to help you launch, grow, and streamline your brand.