Science and Video Production Integration

This lesson is used in my computer lab where students come for their technology enrichment. We are integrating science into our technology video projects. Currently the students are creating a video about the Earth's natural resources. We took two 45 minute class periods to go about campus and film as many examples of natural resources as they could. The teams had to explain what they were filming, what type of natural resource it is and why. After filming we transferred the video from the camera to the computer. Our next step was to convert the video files from mp4 to avi since we use Windows Movie Maker to edit. Currently we are using an online converter, but this is time consuming and are having problems. We use flip video cameras to record. We need a better software program for editing. After a lesson in Movie Maker we put the movie together and showcase in the end. It is amazing to see how motivating it is for students. They really take control of filming and get very excited to put the movie together. There are many ways to incorporate video into science and that is just an example of one.