Thing #17

When my husband graduated from law school in May 2008 and we made the big move to metro Atlanta, we were in desperate need of a new computer at home.  We had shopped around for a long time and knew what we wanted: a Mac.  When we made the purchase in July, we were thrilled to hear that they have promotional offers for educators.  With a quick flash of my faculty ID card, we were offered a generous discount on the computer, a free printer, and a free 8G ipod touch (Well, we paid for it and got a 100% rebate in the mail two weeks later).  With our new batch of mac supplies, we thought it was fitting that we dive into the world of itunes.  Now, I know that there is no real connection between the two things.  You don’t need an ipod or an iMac to use itunes, but we were in the mood for new technological “stuff.”  We loved putting our cd collections in our itunes library and downloading songs we didn’t have on cd.  And, we also subscribed to podcasts.  When we travel, I like to listen to podcasts on the plane (they help me to ignore the motion-sickness I get on planes).  So, when I saw this thing was about podcasts, I got excited.

I listened to three episodes from the list Shelley gave.  I found one under the “for Educators” folder, the “Education Podcast with John Merrow – PBS.”  I listened to episode #134, an interview with the new Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan.  That was very enlightening.  And, I listened to two episodes from the “MathGrad Podcast.”  The first was on the Rubik’s cube.  Listening to his clear, easy-to-understand explanation of the mathematics behind solving the Rubik’s cube, I had a flashback to my college Abstract Algebra class.  My term paper was on the very same topic, and I wish I had been able to explain in fifteen pages what he explained in six minutes!   The second episode was on Sudoku puzzles, and it was also intriguing.  I decided to subscribe to his podcast, since it provided some intellectual stimulation and fun reminiscing about tough mathematical concepts.  I’m also optimistic about finding some good episodes that I can share with my students, to help them hear about daily applications of mathematics in their world.

I have not heard of any great applications of podcasts in the mathematics classroom.  Our lessons are not as lecture-based as some other disciplines, so it’s hard to imagine recording my class periods and posting them online for students and teachers to access at home.  It’s difficult to explain a mathematical concept without showing it visually.  Perhaps if video was involved I could create some tutorials to post online.  I’ll keep my eyes open and see what I can find.