Smologies #43: CICADAS with Dr. Gene Kritsky Audiogram

Host Alie Ward interviews cicada expert Dr. Gene Kritsky about these legions of little insects descending upon the United States in 2024. Listen and read along with the transcript one-at-a-time on the audiogram to learn about the different types of cicadas, what they're doing underground for decades, how their long life cycles are an evolutionary adaptation, how today's changing climate may be affecting cicadas, and more.

🔈 Audio Rights 🔈

This video was created by me as an audiogram of an episode of Ologies with Alie Ward. The audio content in this video is the exclusive property of Alie Ward. All of the audio, including but not limited to music and sound effects, is the intellectual property of Alie Ward. This video was created for educational purposes and is not intended to infringe on the rights of Alie Ward. Please contact me at katherinemoeur@gmail.com if you are the owner of the audio in any of my audiograms and you would like it removed.

🔊What is an audiogram? 🔊

Audiograms are live-captioned video versions of audio content like podcasts and radio. Viewers read a transcript of the audio content real-time and watch each word light up as the speaker says it.

🔊Why audiograms? 🔊

My aim in creating audiograms is to enhance the accessibility of audio content, including radio shows and podcasts.

As a middle school and high school public school teacher, I was always looking for engaging content to help students connect with whatever we’re learning. I’m an avid podcast listener and had a mental queue of science-related podcasts that were classroom friendly and fun to listen to. There is so much cool science-related audio content out there! However, when I tried to turn a podcast into a lesson, even typically highly engaged students really struggled to focus. The singular learning modality of audio content was difficult for a lot of students to engage with. I tried using a live caption app while the podcast was playing but was met with more obstacles - the live captions were delayed and struggled to keep up when there was any complicated science jargon.

I started making audiograms of the podcast episodes in the mental queue and saw an immediate increase in engagement and information retention! Subtitles light up one word at a time as they are spoken. It’s basically a podcast playing on a karaoke machine.

Audiograms offer a multisensory learning experience, combining the power of audio with visually engaging elements. Whether they are visual learners, auditory learners, or a combination of both, these videos allow students to interact with engaging, culturally-relevant content. Audiograms also support learners at different reading levels and different levels of English proficiency.

I originally started to make these videos for my students, and began sharing them so other educators and students could benefit. My original goal was to make UDL aligned curriculum materials, but really, these videos are just for anyone who likes science, and/or podcasts, and also struggles to focus sometimes.

Podcast Attributions
(I have no affiliation with the podcasts I turn into audiograms, other than my own general obsession with them)

You can check out Alie Ward's podcast Ologies at this link: https://www.alieward.com/ologies

Listen to the G-rated episode of Smologies at this link: https://www.alieward.com/smologies/ci...

Listen to the full length episode of Ologies (NSFW cuz she goes and does a cuss): https://www.alieward.com/ologies/cica...

Learn more about all of Alie’s work at her website https://www.alieward.com/

Download the Cicada Safari app at the Apple Store or Google Play Store

Check out Dr. Kritsky’s website: http://genekritsky.com/

Also see CicadaMania.com, and follow them on Instagram @cicadamania

If you are the creator of this original audio content and you would like to get in touch with me, please contact me at katherinemoeur@gmail.com.


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