Ms. Shumate has been teaching the Anatomy and Advanced Placement (AP) Biology courses for years.
According to Shumate, throughout her career, she has always looked for and found creative ideas to make science engaging and relatable for her students.
This past year, Shumate developed a new project idea for her anatomy class that not only inspired her high school students but also involved young learners in the community.
Both of her children, Luca and Cecelia, attended Strawbridge Elementary School last year. As they both began to learn more about the world around them, they started asking their mother questions about the human body. Luca and Cecelia were fascinated by how organs work, why people get sick, and how bones and muscles function.
Shumate was always eager to answer their questions, and soon, their friends and classmates began asking questions too. She noticed that many elementary students were becoming curious about anatomy and how the human body operates.
As she saw interest grow, Shumate decided to answer these questions by creating a learning opportunity for elementary school students. She came up with the idea to create a series of educational podcasts that would answer the children’s questions about the body.
To make this idea come to life, she paired her high school anatomy students with her children’s elementary school classmates. Together, they formed collaborative teams that would work to produce fun, creative, and educational podcasts about science and the human body.
In total, there were six groups, each responsible for creating one podcast episode. The elementary students asked the questions, while the high school students researched and provided engaging answers.
The podcasts covered a variety of topics, such as how the brain controls movement, to what makes humans get goosebumps. Shumate encouraged her students to utilize humor, sound effects, and storytelling to make their podcasts enjoyable for younger listeners.
In an effort to gain interest and get the information out to larger groups of students, Shumate decided to submit the podcasts to the VBCPS Student Podcast Challenge.
Shumate’s students were thrilled by the opportunity to share their work beyond the classroom. The project helped her students strengthen their communication skills, deepen their understanding of anatomy, and inspire curiosity in younger learners.
Unexpectedly, one of the podcasts created by the students, titled “Gut feeling—where it all happens,” actually won the district competition. The win brought pride to both CHS and Strawbridge Elementary School.
Q: Could you explain the podcast competition and what group won?
A: “Essentially, I like to do the podcast competition each year with my classes to enable them to do student-centered learning, where they can come up with what they’re curious about and research, and produce a podcast that allows them to present it to their peers. During the spring, my son had been asking a bunch of questions about the body, and I realized that a lot of the second-grade students in his class must also be really curious. I then had the idea to have them ask questions, and my high school kids could answer them. We wanted to incorporate them as much as possible, so they got to get together in their own groups and decide what they were curious about. Every kid submitted a question, and on our end, we split them into six different categories so my students could come up with the overarching question that would answer all of their inquiries. Then, as a class, they got to each look up one interesting fact that got edited into the final podcast, and they got to design the podcast artwork and titles that my kids voted on for the final results.”
Q: How did you initially come up with this idea?
A: “Ms. Teed, our IT specialist was the one who said we should enter our podcasts in the district-wide competition, so each group was entered. Judges would listen to each one, and they ended up selecting ours to win! We will also be presenting them at the VSTE Conference so my students can present them to other instructional leaders to educate them about using podcasts in classrooms.”
Q: What do you think the elementary kids enjoyed the most about being included in this podcast?
A: “Hearing their voices, podcasting in general, and having their personal questions answered. It was a nice way for them to be prompted to ask more questions. If you listen to the podcast, you wouldn’t know that my students creatively edited the podcast to make it seem as if the elementary and high school students were actually talking to each other, but in reality, everything was done remotely.”
Q: What did you most enjoy about watching the podcasts, and what was your favorite one?
A: “They were all my favorites! I enjoyed seeing the process and the result. I felt the same pride my students felt in the end product, along with the pride I felt hearing my son talk about their class discussions. The second-grade teachers would play a different one each day in class for the kids, and their teacher did something really nice for the little girl who created the design part of the podcast that won.”
Podcast link: https://open.spotify.com/show/1nNsZ11tMFsrTBBSAwWgm0?si=7288059fab3a479c
