Students’ podcasts highlight unsung STEM heroes
Seventh graders wrote, edited, and produced podcasts on notable people in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics and entered the podcasts into an NPR contest. Listen to them below.
by Heather Webber, seventh grade science teacher and Kari Luecke, Middle School educational technologist
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Eons ago in October, seventh grade science students busied themselves with a project that was designed to highlight unsung STEM heroes — accomplished people in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics whose work might not have received its due because of discrimination or bias. We were delighted to have Director of Diversity and Community Life Roderick White and Middle and High School Librarian Kate Pritchard join us to launch this activity.
Students started by perusing a list of suggestions and doing some light research before choosing a STEM trailblazer of focus. They then evaluated their sources and settled in to write their own podcast scripts. Rewriting, rehearsing, and recording ensued. Despite wrestling with some technical difficulties (who knew there are so many options for metronomes, voice distortion, and echo effects that would be hard to turn off), we managed to get most of the podcasts presentable.
We were also excited to enter 23 of the best podcasts in an NPR contest, and we are eagerly awaiting the results. Clare Lombardo, with NPR’s education department, recently wrote us, “We’re thrilled that you participated. This was the first-ever contest we’ve held and we’ve been ecstatic about the great experiences that students and teachers had with it.”
Whatever the outcome of the contest, we are pleased to offer you a chance to hear some of these podcasts. Our study of this diverse group of unsung STEM heroes was meant to be a celebration of difference, courage, and inclusivity, inspiring our class by demonstrating that, whoever you are, there are other scientists, technologists, engineers, and mathematicians like you.
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2000 Edgehill Ave.
Nashville, TN 37212
Phone: 615-321-8000
Fax: 615-321-0889
Email: info@usn.org
River Campus
1200 County Hospital Road
Nashville, TN 37218
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University School of Nashville models the best educational practices. In an environment that represents the cultural and ethnic composition of Metropolitan Nashville, USN fosters each student’s intellectual, artistic, and athletic potential, valuing and inspiring integrity, creative expression, a love of learning, and the pursuit of excellence.
University School of Nashville models the best educational practices. In an environment that represents the cultural and ethnic composition of Metropolitan Nashville, USN fosters each student’s intellectual, artistic, and athletic potential, valuing and inspiring integrity, creative expression, a love of learning, and the pursuit of excellence.