Podcasts For Students
Digital storytelling through the podcast medium has been on an upswing since the early 2000s when radio programs began declining in popularity and companies like Apple discovered a more efficient way to deliver audio entertainment. Now, podcasts about almost any topic imaginable can be streamed online, often free of charge.
For high school and college students, this presents a whole new frontier of content. Here are some of our podcast recommendations for students:
- Homecoming: Hosted by Cooke Scholar Angelreana Choi, Homecoming releases weekly episodes about the perspectives of Asian, Asian American, and mixed race Asian people. Angelreana interviews a new guest each time, and is currently eleven episodes in to Season 2.
- Code Switch: This free NPR podcast tackles issues of race in all facets of society. Each month, NPR releases four episodes that offer new perspective on the political and cultural climate. Not all episodes are appropriate for a young audience, but NPR recommends these episodes for kids.
- Opening the Blinds: This one-off podcast, created by Cooke Scholar Megan Vaz, is a bite-sized narrative about healing from childhood trauma and looking at your surroundings through a different lens. Megan was selected as one of The New York Time’s annual Student Podcast Contest winners in June of last year.
- The Imforium: Youtuber Thomas Frank and artist Martin Boehme discuss the psychology of learning, productivity, and how to be a more capable person among other topics. The Inforium even has an episode on how to start your own podcast! Bonus resource: Thomas Frank also runs the College Info Geek website, where he creates tools to help students become better at studying and learning.
- Freakonomics Radio: For the most curious of students, Stephen J. Dubner’s podcast carries on the legacy of the wildly popular “Freakonomics” book he published in 2005. Episodes cover a wide range of topics on “things you always thought you knew (but didn’t) and things you never thought you wanted to know (but do),” as described on the official website.
- Science Friday: Produced by WNYC Studios (New York Public Radio), Science Friday releases weekly episodes on entertaining scientific facts and stories. Adjacent podcast “Science Diction” explores the linguistic history of scientific words, and “Undiscovered” centers around the many lucky breaks and chance encounters that result in scientific discoveries.
*The views expressed in this blog post and in any linked content are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Cooke Foundation staff members or the Foundation’s Board of Directors.