Review for:NPR Health and Science Podcast

posted: on June 2, 2008 at 5:17PM

Circulation and Respiratory system

The anatomy of the heart

I wanted to talk about the structure and function of the heart. We studied the various chambers and blood vessels. I wanted to make a connection to health and had heard a story on an NPR podcast that was a little off topic, but was an interesting connection.

A.P., Honors or Advanced, Intro or Regular, Remedial

The podcast was about hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), which is a disease resulting in an enlarged and thickened heart. It is also the most common cause of sudden death among young athletes. We listened to the story (about 3 minutes) and I showed images of what a heart with HCM looks like compared to a normal heart. We were able to think about how the change in ventricle structure might cause death in young athletes. The story also focues on health policy questions dealing with screening for this disease. We talked bout the pros and cons of mandatory screening for HMS for all young athletes.

Provides additional content, Increases student engagement and motivation, It provides a way to apply what they know to concepts outside the simple facts of the material. It also exposed students to sources of science stories in the media.

It was easy to use, the content was great. I also liked that students were listening without all the other stimultion of video input. It is very relaxing. It is also short enought that it does not take a lot of time. In a 10 minute chunk of time we had meanful way to apply what we had learned about heart structure and function.

None.