Radiolab, Conversation and How My Mind Works
Radio Lab is by FAR my favorite thing to listen to on our local public radio station. Unlike any other broadcasted program I have ever listened to, it comes off like a conversation might happen in my mind. Sounds are layered on top of the concepts that are being discussed, intriguing repetition is embedded into the show and my attention is simply captured (NOT an easy task). There is always an over arcing theme, but that constant is paralleled with a feeling of natural, random conversation. Detective Stories, show #201, was a favorite of mine with the following description giving you a glimpse at the design of the show:
Forensics, archeology, genealogy, and genetics are devoted to figuring out what really happened. In this hour, we hear surprising stories of playing detective and finding that what really happened in the past is not at all what you’d expected. We start at a trash dump in Egypt, where we find Jesus, Satan, sissies, and porn. Next, the mystery of why hundreds of old letters written to the same woman were discovered on the side of Route 101. And lastly, a blood sampling tour of Asia reveals a prolific baby-maker and potentially a world conqueror.
Wrapping your mind around the concept of how mine functions is not the easiest thing for me to communicate/conceptualize. The best way to describe it, I guess, is through the example of this CMAP Mind Mapping software. You see, I HATE taking notes. The only time I have EVER taken notes is when I knew I’d get in trouble if I didn’t. So the first time I used this software, I was blown away. I could visually see the concepts and how they connected to one another, concepts were noted in brief and reviewing the content the next day/week actually helped. I realized that this visual representation of concepts and their connections was a pretty good parallel to how my mind (and conversations in my mind) work. For me, Radio Lab takes that visual and turns it into audio format.
As I tossed around what makes this broadcast so effective, I ran across a post on Crucial Thought (a while back) titled ‘Do we pay enough attention to conversation?’. A sixth grade language teacher, Christopher Craft reflects on his observation at a university campus:
Not only did students not talk to one another following class time, they all pulled out cell phones and began dialing. This blew me away!
They wanted familiar connections, not new ones.
They wanted connections made in the context of fun, not class.
They didn’t want to connect with me.
I’m a talker. I love to have long conversations where both parties get to wax rhetoric about deeply philosophical topics, ranging anywhere from existentialism to education. Nothing lights up my day like a conversation with someone who challenges my thinking. I like it when my thinking is rocked, because it either changes or is strengthened.
I, too, love conversation. Exchanging and interchanging ideas is just flat out fun and I think it can be a driving catalyst in our classrooms. Radio Lab models that conversation so well (and in a way that starts my mind rolling) - to the point that I want to continue the conversation with others. I guess while I see digital tools as having the potential to isolate, I also see the huge potential for them to open up doors, experiences and conversation for our students. Whether it is a lesson in class or pointing our students to a Radio Lab broadcast that strikes a small spark, we just have to trigger the conversation that opens the door for their engagement.