Integrating Educational Technologies

     Everybody enjoys a well-told story, and Science is full of these. Modern digital cameras--even less expensive versions--enable almost anyone to create movies and images. This month's theme--impact craters and their tsunamis--provides excellent opportunities for your students and you to construct stories based on science.

     Consider, for example, having students complete short stories for which you provide the opening lines, such as:

     "The boat trip from the mainland to the vacation island went very smoothly, taking less than fifteen minutes to complete the trip. Our kayaks and camping gear atop the car constantly promised exciting hours ahead. Of course, at that time, we had no awareness of the lethal 2-ton rock hurtling at 50,000 kilometers per hour toward its impact in the ocean only 2,500 kilometers away from our island.

     When we landed, we began to ....."

     Or you could have your students create poetry about a meteorite impact event. Dawn Sherwood (Highland Springs HS, VA) provides guides to several kinds of poems at http://earth2class.org/er/teachers/links.php.

     After your students create their short stories, poems, or other "Science Stories," they can use digital cameras or other educational technologies (such as videotapes) to create short movies that can be shared with other classes, parents, and others.

Your assignment:

1) What characteristics make student-created stories  effective as a classroom teaching tool?

2) When should this technique be used for full-class instruction, and when should they be used for small groups or individual projects?

3) Describe strategies to locate suitable  for your classes.

and

4) Design a lesson plan that incorporates at least one  .

E2C Follow-up:

You may send your model lesson and other responses to this "assignment" to michael@earth2class.org. If suitable, we will post your work in the E2C lesson plans and/or add them to this section of the Workshop website.