Podcasts in Science Classrooms: Storytelling for All Ears

• Published in: The Physics teacher 2022-09, Vol.60 (6), p.419-421
• Main Authors: Kulkarni, Sumeet, Whitworth, Brooke A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Audio Equipment; Class Activities; Electronic Publishing; Handheld Devices; Information Dissemination; Physics; Science Instruction; Story Telling; Student Participation; Teaching Methods
• ISSN: 0031-921X; 1943-4928
• DOI: 10.1119/5.0038642

Podcasts offer a unique tool in making science learning informative, engaging, and entertaining. They provide an excellent way to incorporate storytelling in science instruction. Podcasts can be accessed easily and free of cost on any internet-enabled device. Recording podcasts is also easy and inexpensive, making them useful to record lesson summaries and other content for revision. This article outlines different ways of using podcasts in the teaching and learning process. To support informal learning, podcasts typically cover cross-disciplinary issues that are relevant to present times as well as those important to local communities. They also feature interviews with researchers who walk through the scientific process of their discoveries. All of these things add value to a physics unit beyond textbook content. In a subject where assessments are dominated by mathematical equations, student-recorded podcasts offer an opportunity for students to string together spoken-word narratives of physics phenomena. In this article, we outline an example lesson centered around the NPR Short Wave podcast.