Science Helps Me Win in the Real World

My students are always asking me "when will I ever use this?" Now I finally have a real-life example of how they can use all of this science they are studying...

On Thursday morning I was driving to work. I had tuned in to my favorite pop station on the radio. Every morning they do trivia, and it is often impossible to get through to win. This morning the question was very interesting. The question was "what children's toy was originally marketed as a wallpaper cleaner?"


I was in my car and I instantly phoned into the radio station. Yes, I knew the answer to the question. The irony behind all of this is that we discussed this very subject on Tuesday. We have been discussing adaptive technology (any product that has been redesigned for a totally different purpose and/or use). We used this children's toy as an example. 

Have you guessed the answer to the question yet? It is PLAY-DOH!


The radio host was shocked that anyone actually knew the answer to that question. She laughed when I told her that my students were just discussing this very topic only two days earlier.  


Also, throughout the day, I had tons of students telling me that they heard me on the morning radio show. I just laughed at the thought we all listen to the same radio channel. What are the chances!

Naturally, I took all of this information to my students letting them know that what I am teaching them can be used later in life...even if it is only to win a radio trivia question. (For the record, I won a pack of several CDs that I will get to choose from the radio station's "vault." Hey, it is not much, but I love it!)