Videos and Creative Thinking

Yet again we have another tech task in class :). This time we are supposed to go online and find "two good" videos that we could use in our classroom. Videos are great to use as a teaching and learning tool. They offer different perspectives for the visual and auditory learners when viewing. Also offer something for kinesthetic learners while creating a video. I see videos as a good way of stimulating class discussions and a good reinforcement of what has already been taught.

When I do have a teaching job and the school allowed it I would put up student videos online (YouTube or a class website). It offers the students to create something for an authentic audience. Making videos is another outlet for student creativity that relates to their generation. Most kids now have their own cameras that have a video camera function and are able to take short clips of video. Also there seems to be a few video creator programs available that I'm sure wouldn't be too hard to figure out.

Well those two videos I found come from TEDTalks, more specifically TEDEd. The first video is called Where We Get Our Fresh Water. It is a three and a half minute video that explains where fresh water comes from and how it is consumed through the use of numbers and discussion. http://ed.ted.com/lessons/where-we-get-our-fresh-water-christiana-z-peppard This video would be good to use in a social studies and science class. I also like how there are a few follow up questions after the video. That would be good to test if the students had been paying attention or not, ha ha.

The second video I found is called Life of an Astronaut which follows the beginning of an astronaut’s career and all the different tasks they have to do. Johnny Carr narrates it and makes it very personal. This video is interesting at five minutes long and cartoon like animation. http://ed.ted.com/lessons/life-of-an-astronaut-jerry-carr This video would be good to use in a science class. It also goes with my earlier post on podcasts; maybe I will be able to share this video during my placement as well :).