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On the Web:
feeds.feedburner.com/BytesizeScience
In 1951, Don Herbert — better known as “Mr. Wizard” — started his own television show in order to get kids hooked on science. Saturday mornings found Mr. Wizard building a mini volcano, a sauerkraut battery and a host of other simple devices to demonstrate complex concepts. But times have changed and so has the technology. The American Chemical Society (ACS) is hoping podcasts can do for today’s kids what “Watch Mr. Wizard” did for baby boomers.
In November, the Washington, D.C.-based society launched “Bytesize Science,” a weekly chemistry podcast aimed at children and teens. The three-minute episodes, available for download at feeds.feedburner.com/BytesizeScience or on iTunes, cover new research on everything from how water striders walk on water to how bacteria communicate. The stories come from ACS’s 36 peer-reviewed journals. “We try to choose stuff that kids can identify with that happens to have even a tangential relationship to science,” says Adam Dylewski, the show’s host. Hot topics include bad breath and belly flops.
Turning the technical jargon in journal articles into something kids — or even adults — can understand can be a challenge. “We never try to dumb it down,” Dylewski says. “But we may omit certain portions of an experiment that won’t hold the interest of kids.” Adding sound effects helps too. “Bytesize Science” is sprinkled with gurgles, screams, kissy noises and an occasional groan. Chemistry is “a lot easier to swallow when it’s wrapped in toilet sounds,” Dylewski says.
Only a hundred people have subscribed so far, but the show is slowly gathering steam. A few schools and libraries already recommend the podcast. “ACS is really interested in reaching young people of all ages, especially those who are thinking about what to do with their future,” Dylewski says. Kids who get hooked on science at a young age are more likely to pursue subjects like chemistry in high school and college. And more budding chemists translate into more members for ACS.
The strategy may already be working. We tested the podcast out on Aleksandra, a seventh-grader in Chicago, Ill. She listened to four episodes, including one about a researcher who made a plant’s root system glow by inserting a jellyfish gene. “They made me think that people can have very interesting jobs that people don’t know about,” she says. “Who would think to combine the genes of a jellyfish with a plant root?”
last updated 4/1/08
