My kids took their class evaluation yesterday and by far the most popular thing we did this year was to listen to different Radiolab clips. The kids love it... it's a little goofy, but REALLY informative. Here are some of the episodes I use, but there are many more you can find.
http://www.radiolab.org/2012/apr/02/ (minutes 18-34). This clip explains research about bacteria in the stomach having antidepressant qualities. REALLY Interesting!
http://www.radiolab.org/2012/jan/09/ (minutes 9:03-24:45) This clip explains some of the alternate ways to interpret Milgram's experiement... really thought provoking.
http://www.radiolab.org/2011/jan/25/ (minutes 33-38) This clip is great to explain the idea of Linguistic Relativism.
http://www.radiolab.org/blogs/radiolab-blog/2010/jun/15/strangers-in-the-mirror/ - An entire episode on face blindness with Oliver Sacks. Here's another great one about face blindness http://www.radiolab.org/2010/sep/20/letting-go/ (minutes 12:20-21:30).
http://www.radiolab.org/blogs/radiolab-blog/2011/aug/09/damn-it-basal-ganglia/ - an episode on the Basal Ganglia
http://www.radiolab.org/2007/may/17/ - an episode on the Placebo Effect
Thanks for sharing these, Kim! And just a reminder to those new to using technology: PLEASE be sure to download and save these free podcasts first - don't rely on having a stable Internet connection. Also, if you have other favorite Radiolab episodes, or would like to share how you use them in class, please share in the comments below.
--posted by Steve
This is such a helpful post! When I use radiolab, I also like to provide the transcript (available on the radiolab website) for the kids to kids read along. This is especially helpful for my ELL kids since the podcasts are rich with distracting (enhancing!) sound effects!
ReplyDelete