EARTH DAY | AMS 7th graders making podcasts to learn more about environmental topics

Some AMS seventh-grade students are learning how people impact the environment by researching and planning their own podcasts. English/language arts teacher Shelly Camba said she presented the question of how people impact the environment to her students to explore this semester. With Earth Day on Saturday and the seventh-grade science curriculum covering topics within ecology, Camba said it was the perfect question for her students to research for a long-term project.

“Across both middle schools (Anthony and Eisenhower), we do the same curriculum,” Camba said, “and we had planned for this quarter’s project to be a podcast.”

Seventh grader Madison Cunningham said she and her classmates read about environmental leaders, such as Greta Thunberg, who are working to advance national and international policies for protecting the environment. Cunningham’s podcast will delve into the work of Thunberg and other environmental activists.

Kimberly Altamirano-Cruz, Cunningham’s classmate, said they also listened to a lot of different podcasts so they could hear different examples of how to format and produce their own show. They also read the book ‘Silent Spring’ by Rachel Carson, which tackles modern environmental concerns through vivid imagery.

Claire Seel said the class has read up on how some species of birds are becoming endangered, such as whooping cranes, because of ecological damage caused by humans. She said her podcast episode will focus mostly on the affects environmental changes have on bird species.

Altamirano-Cruz said she will do her podcast about the melting polar ice caps. Grace Seel, Claire’s twin sister who is also in the class, is investigating more about DDT, the toxic chemical once used as a pesticide in the U.S. Lacie Hadley said she’ll write her episode about garbage and the amount of trash invading the oceans. Bella Olund’s podcast will cover wildfires and how most large fires today are caused, either directly or indirectly, by humans. Pencis said her project will investigate the dwindling bee population in the U.S.

Hadley said the next steps for the class will be to start researching and writing scripts for their individual podcasts. Camba told The Mercury she’ll also offer to help her students schedule interviews with environmental experts.

“Having K-State here is really helpful,” Camba said. “In the past, I’ve had a lot of professors who’ve been willing to get on the phone or Zoom to talk to kids.”

Next week, students will confirm their podcast topics with Camba, and then will begin researching and writing their scripts. The students will record their voiceovers on their iPads via the recording app Garage Band, and during the last couple weeks of school they will edit and finish their podcasts. The last week of classes are iPad-free, Camba said, and that’s when the class will listen to some of the finished episodes.

Hadley said the thought of listening to her recorded voice is a bit scary.

“It’s awkward because, your voice is without a face,” Hadley said.

“I feel like the recording process is going to be the most awkward for me,” Altamirano-Cruz said, “because I’ll just be talking to myself.”

Cunningham said there’s a lot to think about when creating a podcast, including how it will grab an audience’s interest.

“You need to think about, this can’t be too boring for people to read, it can’t be that silly,” Cunningham said. “It’s more work than just reading a script and filming it. You have to put enthusiasm into it and try to make something that people will enjoy.”