We Flip for Camp: Using Video to Extend Outdoor Education into the Classroom

Every fall, our sixth-grade students and teachers attend a week-long outdoor education experience at a camp site. Students are engaged in a variety of curriculum-aligned activities such as studying pond life, observing rock formations, and navigating with a compass, as well as numerous team-building, art, and athletic experiences. This exciting week of experiential learning will be made even more engaging through student use of Flip video cameras to capture their camp experience.

Students are placed in cabin groups of roughly 10 sixth-graders and 2 high-school counselors. At the start of each day, each cabin group will be given a camera to record and narrate the highlights of the various hikes, studies, and activities that they are engaged in. The counselors can assist with capturing those moments when sixth-graders are too involved to do so. Following each activity, students will be asked to reflect on the experience and to do a brief on-camera interview where they can summarize the activity and share both their learning and personal reactions. Because each cabin group will have a camera for the entire day, every student will be involved in shooting, narrating, and being interviewed multiple times throughout the week. This will allow all students to practice communication skills such as summary and description, as well as to reinforce the concepts they are learning by explaining them in their own words. Each evening, clips can be edited and posted on a classroom website, so parents at home can see what their children have been doing each day.

After returning from camp the videos will not only be a nice keepsake for students, but will also be integrated into classroom learning experiences throughout the year. For example, students can view the videos to assist with reflective writing assignments in Language Arts class, or can edit multiple clips together in order to create a personalized summary of their camp experience. In Science class, students may select and edit together clips that best illustrate science concepts, such as different types of rocks or physical and chemical changes, as they are studied again later in the year.

The camp videos will also serve as a model for students to continue to document their learning in science class throughout the year. Students will use the cameras at school much the same way they did at camp by documenting and narrating various scientific investigations, activities, and projects. Students will also engage in regular reflection of the learning that took place during these activities, which can be recorded in a similar short interview format. With better access to computers at school, the students can become involved in editing these video segments to create regular science class video updates that can be posted on the class website.

By using Flip cameras as a tool to record, describe and reflect upon their learning experiences, students will be engaged in creating an authentic account of their experiences that will strengthen their understanding of their learning and create memories that will last a lifetime.