Science teacher starts online podcast “Facts of the Week” (Mall)

Manu Van Haverbeke from Balen is a physics teacher at Campus Het Spoor in Mall. To stimulate interest in science among his students, he started a video podcast this year Fact of the week† Discusses a science topic in a weekly short film. A new episode is released every Friday.

“It’s really been my practice to share interesting articles about science with students,” he says. “These were science articles I found on news websites or in popular science journals. But these articles are often written too long or too difficult, so that they are not always picked up. That is how the idea came to explain science topics in a short and understandable way. Movies are perfect for that.”

He got inspired by his science podcast Nerdland† “I listen to this podcast every Sunday evening when I drive my son to his room,” says Manu. “Of course he goes Nerdland In more detail on scientific topics, while my videos are usually only six to seven minutes long. I consciously choose short films so that the viewer can attract his full attention. It’s not always easy to keep it short. But the main goal is to spark interest in science. In the description of the videos, I also provide links for those who want to know more about this topic. ”

Fact of the week It deals with scientific topics in a very broad sense. “Robots, planets and microplastics, among other things, have already been reviewed,” Manu says. “I often try to respond to current events. Students or colleagues also point out the topics. Even the introductory video for the podcast was shot by two students using drone footage in their spare time.”

Meanwhile, the podcast has a hundred subscribers. “The podcast was originally intended for science students, but at the same time it was chosen by colleagues and other interested parties. For the movie about planets, for example, I did an online interview with someone from the Urania Public Observatory. The association also shared the video via its website.” (metric tons)