SSciPod – Schools Science Podcasts

A new crop of science students have produced a new crop of SSciPod podcasts. I’ve been sitting on them for some time but I’ll try to to post them in a steady trickle over the next few weeks. Here’s three to get started with. As before, you can subscribe to the podcasts in iTunes (see this post for details).

SSciPod: Episode 08 – Petrol cars, hybrid cars… and “Jamie” Clarkson!?

SSciPod: Episode 09 – WiFi explained

SSciPod: Episode 10 – Energy and biofuels

Two different takes on eco-friendly driving. What do you think is the best option?

How many of you are using WiFi to look at this website and download the podcasts?

I said when I posted SSciPod: Episodes 2 to 5 that I’d post the challenges as soon as I got them..

The first has arrived and you can now download a Word document (see below), with a grid where you can record fingerprints, for SSciPod: Episode 2.

Challenge sheet for SSciPod Episode 2: fingerprintsheet

SSciPodcast Numbers Two to Five – Strathclyde Science Podcasts for schools.

{At last! Episodes two to five? We’ll post the challenges as soon as we can but thought we’d better post the missing episodes anyway!}

These podcasts tells you about fingerprints, DNA, handwriting analysis and chromatography as if you were a spy or a CSI agent.

SSciPod: Episode 02
SSciPod: Episode 03
SSciPod: Episode 04
SSciPod: Episode 05

Did you enjoy being a spy? What other science topics do you think would help spies? Leave a comment with your suggestions.

Silly me! When people kept saying they couldn’t find the quiz, I thought they just meant they couldn’t find the link. Grief… As if you’d be that daft! I suddenly realised what the problem was when Miss Stewart said you were just going to the “Thank you” page…

There’s a setting in survey monkey website that is supposed to stop people answering the same questionnaire more than once – but it’s a bit basic. It just looks at the address of the machine and prevents the quiz being done on the same machine more than once. However, depending on how a network is set up, more than one machine can apparently have the same address! Or, if you are using a machine in a lab in school, more than one person will be using a particular machine.

Cutting through the techie nonsense above – I’ve turned off the multiple response prevention setting thingy, so it should work now.

So if you’ve tried before and not had any success, please try going to the quiz again and let me know how you get on.

SSciPodcast Number Seven – A Strathclyde Science Podcast for schools.

{Still waiting for episodes two to five? Hopefully we’ll have the challenges soon! But while you wait, here’s episode seven.}

This podcast has news of discoveries and developments in biology: food, football and frogs (among other things).

SSciPod: Episode 07

This podcast talked about some science topics from the news. Have you noticed any science news stories recently? Leave a comment here next time you come across a science news story – maybe we’ll make a podcast about it!

You may have already noticed the Subscribe in iTunes link at the right-hand side of the page:

This link means that SSciPod is now listed in iTunes. If you have the iTunes application installed, you can go to the iTunes Store and search for SSciPod. The subscribe link is just a shortcut that takes you straight to the SSciPodcast page.

SSciPodcast Number Six – A Strathclyde Science Podcast for schools.

{Episode six? Eh! What happened to episodes two to five? We are waiting for some extra materials, some science challenges based on the SSciPodcast, to be created and the missing episodes will be published as soon as these challenges are ready. }

This podcast presents information about living things and the processes of life.

This podcast introduced some new science words? Did you understand the explanations? Were there other words you didn’t understand? Leave a comment with your opinions or questions.

We hope you enjoyed the first SSciPodcast. We will be posting more over the next few days. To help us make the SSciPodcasts better, it would be great if you could answer some questions for us. If you follow the link below, it will open a new window. Please take a few moments to complete this survey.

SSciPodEp01 Quiz

As always, let us know if you have any problems by adding a comment to his post.

Thanks for helping us out and thanks for the great comments on the first SSciPodcast!

The first SSciPodcast – Strathclyde Science Podcast for schools.

This podcast introduces some of the uses of stem cells. What they are, how they can be used and why they are useful.

The podcast says everyone has an opinion about stem cell research. What’s yours? Leave a comment with your opinions or questions.

By subscribing to the SSciPod podcasts (SSciPodcast!), you will never miss an episode. If you subscribe, whenever a new SScipodcast is posted here, your podcast program will know and will downloaded it so you can listen to it on a computer or transfer it to an MP3 player. {Note, SSciPod is free and it will not cost anything to subscribe.}

The easiest way to subscribe is to use the orange subscription button at the right-hand side of the scree. (You should see it just below the calendar.) The box is titled SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST).

When you choose the Subscribe in a reader link, you, will be taken to the subscription page where you can choose the program you will use as your podcast catcher.

Probably the easiest way to subscribe to a podcast is to use the iTunes application. If iTunes is not already installed on your machine, you can download it free from Apple. With iTunes installed on your machine, all you have to do is choose the Add to iTunes link and iTunes will take care of the rest.

If you need further help, Apple have posted a video on how to Get Free Podcasts.

You do not have to use iTunes. If you wish, you can use a different podcast catcher application. The subscription page gives simple links to the following websites: PodNova, NewsGator, Netvibes, My Yaho, Odeo, Google and Pageflakes, and to these programs: Juice, FireAnt, Doppler, NIMIQ, WinPodder and Ziepod.

Once you have subscribed to a podcast, your podcast catcher will automatically download each new SSciPodcast as it is published.

Subscribing to podcast is usually as easy as choosing a link. However, it can seem complicated the first time you try it. The good news is that you only have to subscribe once to a podcast. When you have set it up, you will continue to receive new podasts until you choose to unsubscribe.

If you get stuck, or confused, or if you would like clearer instructions, leave a comment on this post or send me an email to d.d.muir@strath.ac.uk