Snacks4theBrain!

Hey, there, listeners, welcome to this episode of S4theB! I have some audio from the School for Science and Math at Vanderbilt, and it’s the question and answer portion of last week’s wonderful visit by Nobel Laureate Dr. Stanley Cohen.

Working with Rita Levi-Montalcini (co-recipient of the Nobel Prize in 1986) at Washington University in St. Louis in the 1950s, Cohen isolated nerve growth factor and then went on to discover epidermal growth factor. He continued his research on cellular growth factors after moving to Vanderbilt University in 1959. His research on cellular growth factors has proven fundamental to understanding the development of cancer and designing anti-cancer drugs. (from Wikipedia)

The School for Science and Math is of course the fantastic program offered out of the Vanderbilt Center for Science Outreach which brings 25 students from each grade level of high school from Metro Nashville Public Schools to the Vanderbilt Campus one day a week during the academic school year. I would love to include the entire hour, but that would be more main course than snack, and true to the spirit of Snacks4theBrain! we’ll stick to the tasty morsel Dr. Cohen shared at the end of his visit. You’ll hear the voices of the Professor Emeritus in Biochemistry and those of the students and teachers.

The story that Dr. Cohen shares about investigating the similarity between the enzymes in earthworms and in human livers, how he “watered the lawn all afternooon and come nighttime put a miner’s lamp on his head and crawled around on the ground and collected thousands of worms to study” is enough reward in itself! I also love the attribution of his recognition as 1/3 hard work, 1/3 luck, and 1/3 knowing what to do…because we’re not smart enough to know what we don’t know.” The interchanges are enlightening all around and I am sure that you will thoroughly enjoy the listen.

Bear in mind, if you will, that when you hear Dr. Cohen begin to talk, he’s already spent a half hour describing in intricate detail the foundations of his life’s work. The questions ensue.

Before we get going, I’ll pump up the volume on what you’ve been hearing underneath this little rant, “Grand Prize,” music from the Podsafe Music Network at music.podshow.com from amb26, a very popular ambient artist named Anthony Barnes from the UK, . After Dr. Cohen’s spot I’ll play you out with another prize themed song from music.podshow.com, Ottawa Canada’s Doug Hemstead’s “The Prize.” And don’t leave yet after that, because in my search for songs about prizes–this is after all a Nobel Prize podcast :), I found a lovely mellow song from another Canadian, Hilary Grist. You’ll like it.

Download Snacks4theBrain! episode 77 right here, or click “Links” up top to open a Podcast Pickle player for your listening convenience!

Cheers! And happy holidays, all!!!

Greetings, Snacks listeners!

It’s been too long: For that, my apologies. Your long wait for a new episode of Snacks4theBrain! will, however, prove well worth the patience. For this episode, I share portions of my friend Peggy Sheehy’s presentation at the Second Life Education Community Conference in Tampa, Florida, just a couple weeks ago in mid September! Download episode number 74 right here!

The innovative educational work in 3 dimensional virtual environments is being led by some great teachers, among whom Peggy is globally recognized as a pioneer, if not the pioneer. I met Peggy at her presentation at NECC2007 in Atlanta and was terrifically impressed with everything she had to say, and I’ve watched over the months since as she refined her practices more, made further strides in the technology, and honed her message so that it can now be understood by even the most technology-resistant educator. More and more research is coming in to help support her basic message: Immersive Environments and their creative challenges WORK for students. Guided experiences in these environments work magic for students who might not raise a hand or a voice in the traditional classroom; guided experiences in these environments give students opportunities to experience (and build) relationships with fellow students who may not give them the time or day in a traditional school setting; and guided experiences in these environments can be made secure, fun, and pedagogically sound, with solid (if novel) assessment tools and strong underlying collatoral learning.