Teaching with Soundscapes

As teachers we are always looking for ways to help our students create connections with the things they are learning. Much has been writen about using images and slide design effectively for this purpose, but what about sound?
A well-crafted radio broadcast has the ability to transport us to a different world as we close our eyes and let the sounds soak us. Our brains can be free of visual stimuli and there are free to create pictures as we imagine what it must be like to be there, what the people look like, what it might smell like.
A “soundscape” is a collection of the typical background noise that exists in a particular place. For residents, it becomes such a part of the place that they may not even notice it until they’ve moved and suddenly, they can’t sleep because they miss the sound of the train, the ocean, or the creeking of an old house.
The idea is to create a soundscape which can help transport your students mentally to the place and time you are referencing in your lesson. Teaching about Rome? Why not take your students there with sounds of people and animals around a busy Roman town? Challenge your students to do an “on location” podcast about infectious diseases.
The steps involved in creating a soundscape include finding sounds and mixing them. Two of the sites I like to are the Free Sound Project and Soundjay. Both sites allow you to search for sound clips and download them although you need an account on Freesound.org. To mix them, Garageband is a great choice for Mac users but there’s also Audacity which is available as a free download for Mac or PC. Once youve created your soundscape, just press play and let your students minds paint the contextual picture of your lesson.
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Has anyone tried this yet? Have any soundscapes you’d like to share?

Photo: by Chiu Longina on Flickr!