Re: HS teacher seeks proof of principle

On Apr 5, 5:03 am, Sam Wormley <sworml...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
blogg...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
I'm a high school physics teacher exploring the educational use of
social networking/video sharing sites. I'm aware that class demos and
experiments can be found on these site. However, I'm more interested
in their social dimension and how this might be used to engage
students/the public and improve science education. To this end, I am
conducting an experiment in the form of a YouTube competition. I'm
hoping that the readers of this group might enter or help spread the
word. You can find the call for entries at:http://www.phylm.com/

Phylm, pronounced "film," is a portmanteau of "physics" and "film,"
and for the past four years my students have produced short phylms.
Basically, they take Hollywood or home movies and analyze their
presentation of physics. Sometimes they want to know if the bus from
Speed could have made the jump. Sometimes they're curious about forces
they themselves have experienced. What makes the projects unique, is
that they draw on top of and narrate over the original clips--
producing a cross between a DVD commentary and VH1's Pop Up Video.

I am currently on a Fulbright exchange and my present school doesn't
have the same facilities as my home. So rather than let the project
die, I opened it up to the whole world via YouTube. I've put $100 of
my own money up to act as incentive since I can't very well give out
extra credit, and I've reached back into my contacts to put together a
rather diverse judges panel. It includes professors from Tufts and
Harvard, TV professionals from both sides of the Atlantic, high school
teachers, and even "mad scientists." A complete list can be found on
the competition's site (http://www.phylm.com/).

The due date for entries is May 1, 2007. Then we're using YouTube
ratings to narrow the field. So far, the call for entries has been
viewed almost 900 times, and a little over 200 copies of the official
rules have been downloaded. You can find the complete rules at the
site.

I think it's an interesting experiment in the global digital
classroom. Mainly I want educators to start thinking about how they
can use new media in the classroom. I don't want the knee-jerk
reaction to new technology to be, "ban it." I want it to be "how can
we use this?" So if you want to enter or you feel you can help spread
the word, that would be greatly appreciated. Either way, I hope you
take a look at the results come May.

============================
David A. Colarusso
Astronomy and Physics Teacher
http://www.davidcolarusso.com/

Using the spoken word to create imagery in the minds of my students
is one technique I use a lot. Also chalk & blackboard for diagrams,
outlines, concepts and problems. I do use video or computer projection
for animations, some imagery, or other presentation, but technology is
more often than not, just in the way. Seriously!

Many times I would agree with you. The number of times I've seen
presenters lean on things like PowerPoint makes me question the
existence of original thought. However, I think the problem of
technology "being in the way" is more a function of its misuse than
some intrinsic property. What this project is trying to do is engage
students to analyze and externalize their understanding of a specific
situation as presented via the moving image.

.

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