Description
Digital video has come of age. There are so many ways that moving images can be captured and used in the classroom to support learning. There are few pieces of hardware now produced that do not include a camera that will capture video. In the ELC classrooms this means that the still camera, the iPad, the Computer, the video cameras and the teachers' iPhones can all record video.
Selecting a Camera:
When deciding on a camera for you classroom, dimensions of difference include the size and quality of the lens, the type and quality of the microphone, the resolution of the video, the number of frames per second, the storage media, and the manner in which information is transfered to a computer or viesing device. Furthermore, you must decide if these tools will be for the students to use, and if so is the size of the recorder, or fragility of the device an important factor. Typically the larger the lens and the higher quality the glass, the better the quality of the image that is possible. So those still cameras with a nice zoom lens are almost always going to take a better video than a flip camera with a small fixed lens. If sound quality matters, then adding an externam microphone may be a good choice. Typically video cameras themselves have a good microphone and it is surprising how good even the iPhone microphones have become. Resolution does matter. If you plan for your video to display on a large screen TV then you will want a much higher resolution than if you simply plan to post your video on You Tube. How the information is stored and transferred also matters greatly. There are still cameras that use tape, but incresingly it is memory cards and a USB connection that allows the information to be transferred to a computer or screen. de
Suggestions for use
| Putting a recording device in the hands of a child can really empower them as the recorder of an event, the documenter of an activity, or the organizer of something to be shared with an audience. The easiest tool for doing this at the moment is the use of a tablet such as the iPad. Since an iPad has the ability to film video and edit right in the pad as well as display the finished movie on the pad, it is an ideal ECE tool. You can see on the right an image of a young girl documenting the construction of a special fort by her classmates. She was helping them film the construction they were doing so that they could show it at the end of creative play time. Such documentation of student work necessitates collaboration and has a positive community-building effect on the group. |
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Lesson Ideas
There have been a number of circumstances where specific science activities were documented by the students. When a butterfly or Saternid moth has been hatching, or chicks emerging from their eggs, children rush to document that event. Posting this on the school blog  has the great effect of allowing parents and family members to share in the event, and provides some great conversation around the dinner table. Furthermore, having the video available on the classroom computer for children to view and to revisit the event, is a pedagogically powerful way for students to focus on details of important learning actiities.
This page is still under serious construction as we work to add videos taken by the children and flesh out some missing elements
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