Invite Nobel Prize winners to your classroom

The October 6, 2006 Science Friday podcast featured interviews with two of the most recent (2006) Nobel Prize winners in science. Winners interviewed included:

• Astrophysicists George Smoot and John Mather, the 2006 Nobel Laureates in Physics
• David Bushnell of the Stanford University School of Medicine
• Andrew Fire, the 2006 Nobel Laureate in Medicine or Physiology

I absolutely love having access to research scientists at this level, via free podcasts. One of the things that comes through loud and clear when you listen to scientists like this talk is how creative they are and must be, and what terrific thinkers and problem solvers they are. Not only do they understand where other scientists inside and often outside their field “have been,” but they often have powerful imaginations to take their field to a new level of understanding and discovery. We need to remember that our students generally WANT to be invited into complex and challenging explorations. Resources like this podcast can be invaluable parts of our digital curriculum toolkit to access and utilize with our students.

Want to learn some new things about the origins of the universe and the possibilities of genetic engineering? Check out this podcast, and play it (or at least excerpts) for your students. In doing so, you’ll literally bring Noble Prize winners into your classroom! That is transformative technology use, since this type of interaction simply wouldn’t be possible if teachers rely exclusively on textbooks and atomic learning tools. Be bold and teach digital! 🙂