"Making History Come Alive"
Levin, H. (2003). Making history come alive. Learning and Leading with technology, 31(3), 22-27.
The problem with a large video project like this one is that it takes up so much time and effort. Personally I don’t think that there is any one particular part of most math or science classes that is important enough to merit such a large portion of a course, but I will suggest an idea anyway.
An example of using video interviews as part of a course that I think would be really cool would be in a high school biology class. Students would interview qualified people and capture different points of view on the history of life on the earth. Some would interview scientists and talk about some of the theories on how the earth was created like the big bang. Others would talk to several scientists about the theory of evolution (there are many different variations and scientists don’t often agree). And other groups of students would interview people about the theory of creation (Once again many different versions depending on which religion the speaker believes in). Personally I think that a project like this would be a great way to present the students with a lot of good information and multiple viewpoints and let them make their own decisions. Unfortunately I am almost certain that a project like this will never occur in a public school for political reasons.
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I agree with you that doing a video is a time consuming process. I want to be a P.E. teacher, so having the students make a video would not be an affective use of their time. However, I really enjoyed your idea for using a video in a Biology class. It would be a fantastic way for the kids to discover knowledge on their own. It would also be a good way for the kids to discover the many opinions out there when it comes to science. However, you are probably right that a public school would not appreciate this type of discovery.
ReplyDeleteThomas, you had an excellent point about concerns with political views to keep in mind when assigning video projects. This is also a good factor to keep in mind for any project, technology related or not. Thank you for the insight!
ReplyDeleteSarah, I agree, I am also hoping to be a P.E. teacher and creating a video project for our classrooms might not be an efficient use of time. We can however use videos for units like Dance. We can assign students to tape choreographed dances with video as an assessment of what they have learned in the dance unit in our classes. Creating a project like that might free up class time and the students can use the time learning more dances then taking the time putting together and presenting a dance in class as an assessment.