Pod Casting

 

I spent quite a bit of time on this assignment simply because I started it on my home computer (which is dial-up).  Buffering the podcasts took some time; but, I was successful in the end.  I did find that I had more problems finding appropriate material for the grade level I teach, as most podcast subjects are designed for older listeners.  I originally began searching for math-related podcasts; but, quickly gave up that idea because most casts were for junior high levels or above.  I went to Science because I have several, very bright students this year who delight in challenges related to this subject area.  Here are the podcasts I found:

 

 

1.  "Virus May Have Caused Bee Disappearance" 6:53 minutes

 

This cast was part of "Science Friday" which is hosted by Ira Plato.  Ira interviewed Dr. Dana Cox Foster from Penn State concerning the phenomenon called Colony Collapse Disorder.  After many theories blaming things like cell phone radiation or global warming have been explored, scientists now believe that a virus  called Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus is to blame.  After careful studies like those on the popular TV show CSI, Dr. Foster has found this virus to be a part of afflicted colonies.  Colonies that have remained healthy show no evidence of this phenomenon.

 

We discussed this problem in the beginning of the year and debated the original theories in class.

 

2.  "Scientists Study Mammoth Hair" 17:49 minutes

 

Again, this podcast was from "Science Friday" which is hosted by Ira Plato.  This week Ira interviewed Dr. Tom Gilbert from the University of Copenhagen about his efforts to sequence DNA from mammoth hair.  Normally scientists take DNA samples from bone or teeth.  Dr. Gilbert communicated that the team got purer, more complete, DNA samples from the mammoth hair.  His goal is to get complete sequences of mammoth DNA, and to evenually reproduce a wooly mammoth!  He went on the to talk about looking for evidence concerning the daily lives of mammoths and the eventual death of mammoths.

 

 

We have a story in our Reading book concerning the end of the dinosaurs.  I think this podcast will be a good activity for my more capable students.

 

 

3.  "Fuels of the Future" 29:47 minutes

 

This "Science Friday" podcast was again hosted by Ira Plato.  He interviewed Dan Camon from the University of California at Berkeley, Evan Ratliff, and Tim Appenzeller who are both journalists.  In this podcast they talked about how using corn to produce ethanol is not a good choice because corn costs too much to grow, and is complicated by huge environmental costs as well.  They continued to discuss where research is headed in this area.  Biofuels have promise but we aren't "doing them right", according to Dr. Camon.

 

We often talk about alternative energy sources and this podcast would be a good supplement.

 

 

 

 

I found this exercise to be interesting, except we have many, simular resources available to us right now (such as United Streaming) which I am much more familiar with using.  I did find a very interesting podcast in the area of Mathematics concerning "The Famous Monte Hall Problem".  It was a very interesting math problem.  Ultimately, I couldn't use it given my grade level; but, it was challenging on a personal level.