Educ 463 - Digital Cameras in the Classroom

I think I'll take this weekly installment of my blog down a slightly different path than usual. Rather than possible uses of technology I'll evaluate two lesson plans that have integrated technology and extrapolate its use to the secondary sciences.

Since we have been discussing the use of movie cameras in class I think it would be highly appropriate to discuss some lesson plans where other teachers have used digital camera's in their classroom. The first lesson is by a Mrs. Daughty, a fourth grade elementary teacher. The lesson of interest is her weather project discussing the different types of clouds. The introduction to clouds is typical, setting up the theory and knowledge prior, but the project itself is exciting. In lesson 3, the students research, write, and act out a fictional news report of a hurricane. Not only does this technology brings to life a realistic situation that students may have experienced from television or the movies, but they also learn quite a bit. Since the students must storyboard and write their lines they are actively engaged in high level thinking. Not only that, they must do prior research of a hurricane and present some of its facts in a logical and believable manner.

Here is a great example of using many potentital curriculum PLO's in a student driven project. The best part of this type of project is it transcends grade levels. A teacher could just as easily have students do research of various weather phenomenon (ie. gloabal warming and its affects on us and the world, wind circulation, albedo, etc.) and rather than doing a poster and presentation to the class the students could create a mini news report or special and have it taped. This uses some of the skills developed earlier with potentially more creative results.

The second lesson plan I wish to discuss can be found here. This uses video camera's in a slightly different sense. Instead of reports or news flash type programs where heavy preparation is required, this lesson uses a more laid back and fluid approach. By breaking up the students into various groups and giving them samples and cameras, the students can investigate and conduct experiments on the rocks and document it using a camera. The process and results can then be played out to the rest of the class for evaluation and discussion. This medium allows students to demonstrate practices they use in the class and allow other students to learn and assist them in improving. This type of lesson is extremely powerful when giving each group of students a different rock or mineral to investigate so that the other students can learn without having to investigate the rock or mineral themselves.