| School videos - which include other visual media such | | | | emphasized. Take the examples of the many |
| as YouTube clips, DVDs, recorded television shows | | | | educational videos involving animated and very lifelike |
| and online Flash media presentations - are invaluable in | | | | computer simulations of dinosaurs. You don't want |
| all classrooms as a teaching tool, and this includes the | | | | your class to accept things such as the coloring and |
| science lab. Videos are not just for days when the | | | | the noises of the dinosaurs are indisputable facts - |
| relief teacher is taking your class or when you need to | | | | instead, talk about the assumptions and scientific |
| fill in a lesson slot or two at the end of term - or you | | | | principles that the creators of the video used to |
| need a bit of space to grade papers. Used properly, | | | | generate their realistic dinosaurs. |
| videos are a highly effective teaching tool, especially if | | | | At the other end of the spectrum, you don't want your |
| you have visual learners in your class. | | | | students to think - "Video/TV/DVD = entertainment so |
| One of the reasons why school videos are so useful | | | | therefore I can goof off and not pay attention." But a |
| in the science classroom is that they engage the | | | | few strategies can avoid this problem. |
| emotions as well as the mind. All too often, science | | | | * Use the screen as a chalkboard. Use the pause |
| can be seen as boring, dry and theoretical. But a | | | | button at a suitable moment and take the time to point |
| well-chosen video can turn this stereotype around. You | | | | out various features of what they can see in the |
| just have to look at the phenomenal success of the | | | | school videos. This is very effective used in |
| late Steve Irwin ("The Crocodile Hunter") to see how | | | | conjunction with the Frame Advance tool. |
| emotions, fun and information can be combined | | | | * Run the video without the sound. You have three |
| successfully to help people learn more about the world | | | | options if you do this. The simplest method is to play |
| around them. Videos can also be used to show how a | | | | the subtitles - this makes your students read as well |
| particular scientific principle can affect people's | | | | as watch, which is a more active form of thinking. The |
| everyday lives - for example, how an earthquake can | | | | second option is for you to provide the soundtrack. |
| disrupt whole communities. | | | | Use this alongside the pause button if you have to. |
| However, you don't want your students to watch | | | | The third option requires two or even more viewings: |
| passively. At one end of the spectrum, we don't want | | | | your students watch once to see what's going on. |
| the situation where viewers take in everything | | | | Then they provide their own soundtracks. Finally, |
| unthinkingly. If the school videos you have chosen | | | | watch the video with the "real" soundtrack playing. |
| involve recreations or simulations, then this needs to be | | | | |