Clairton CASTLE: Makey Makey
Students at Clairton CASTLE were introduced to the Makey Makey, an invention kit that turns everyday objects into touchpads for a computer. From becoming a human piano to playing Pong on oranges, students experimented with basic circuit-building.
Clairton CASTLE: Virtual DJing 101
Students at Clairton’s CASTLE program were introduced to the audio mixing software Virtual DJ Pro, with which they used to alter various songs ranging from The Lion King’s “Hakuna Mata” to Aretha Franklin’s “Respect.”
Clairton Voices
During the 2013-2014 school year, SLB Radio Productions, Inc., in partnership with The Consortium For Public Education, convened a group of middle school boys at Clairton Education Center participating in CASTLE (Clairton’s After -School Teaching & Learning Experience).
While learning about digital audio recording, the group also spent time discussing attributes of male role models and identifying men with a connection to Clairton to be interviewed. With support as needed, students then arranged, conducted and edited the interviews.
Clairton CASTLE: Alien Stories
Radio clubbers at Clairton’s CASTLE program wrote and recorded stories about making first contact with an alien species. Unfortunately, most of the aliens turned out to be more like the titular alien in “Alien” rather than like an E.T. or a Mork or a Chewbacca.
Clairton CASTLE: Audio Mad Lib
Radio Clubers at Clairton used MacBooks to assemble an Audio Mad Lib; using previous recorded clips of verbs and nouns, as well as the “body” of the Mad Lib (secretly recorded at the SLB studios), students built a finished Mad Lib in Adobe Audition. But, rather than conforming to boring, generic coherence, most of the students rendered their finished Mad Libs into Pink Floyd’s “The Wall.”