Week 9: Thing TWENTY ONE

I think I first stumbled upon podcasts about two years ago. At the time, I didnt even have an iPod, and podcasts became my sole reason for downloading iTunes. Let me rattle off a list of the podcasts that I subscribe to, and then I will explain the educational tie-in:

• Ask A Ninja - I dont have a fascination with ninjas, but this is the type of humor that I personally find side-splitting.
• Cash Cab - the podcast version of the Discovery Channel TV gameshow. I'm a trivia geek.
• How Stuff Works - Stuff you should know.
• NOVA Science NOW - Bascially audio excerpts from the TV series.
• NPR: Thistlepod - My link to contemporary Celtic music.
• NPR: Wait, Wait, Dont Tell Me - "The podcast version of the NPR newsquiz".
• Stuff Mom Never Told You - Not that my mom didnt do a good job preparing me for the real world -- but there's just so much to cover.....

For the most part, these podcasts are used for my entertainment, but the NOVA podcast specifcally, has tremendous practical application in my classes. Odds are, most of the topics covered in the NOVA podcasts, at some point or another directly correlate with a concept that I teach in either my Integrated Science or Chemistry classes. And to fully ensure my place in the "Nerdery", I download the NOVA podcasts to my iPod and play them when I am driving back and forth to work. For the sake of symmetry, I also subscribed to the NOVA Science Now RSS feed.