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To
produce a set of resources comprising of edited,
annotated and narrated video
clips of AS/A2 Chemistry experiments |
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School:
The Downs School, Berkshire |
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Fellow: Emma Baker |
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Email: emma.baker1@tiscali.co.uk |
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The aims of the project are: |
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to produce
a resource (for teachers) incorporating
photographs and videos of chemistry
experiments (KS3/4 and Salters AS/A2); |
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to find how teachers
could make best use of the resource
and to modify the resource accordingly; |
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to evaluate if the resource could
make a contribution to supporting the
teaching and learning of chemistry. |
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Why produce the resources? |
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There were a number of reasons
why I sought to produce a resource of chemistry
videos: |
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As a teacher
I was often frustrated by the absence
of students, attending university open
days, missing either student practicals
or demonstrations. Where the practical
or demonstration had been videoed, I
had been able to quickly show the student
the observations that had been made
in the lesson. |
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With 18 A Level students
in a class I felt that in some practical
lessons I was unable to probe and question
students’ understanding of the
observations made. Where practicals
or demonstrations had been videoed,
I had been able to use the video in
the plenary and question and explain
the observations made to improve student
understanding. |
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As a Head of Chemistry, I frequently
recommend class practicals and demonstrations
to colleagues whose specialism may not
be chemistry. I was aware that sometimes
these had been conducted without sufficient
guidance being given about the questions
that students could be asked and I felt
that this was something I should seek
to address. |
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Where practicals and demonstrations
had been videoed they had been successfully
used later to enable students to revise
their observations and ideas in a short
amount of time. |
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Remembering back to my NQT days,
I realised that the experience of my
students today differs from my students
at the beginning of my career. As a
new teacher I was not always best prepared
to question and further my students
understanding and I felt that videos
might be used to support the professional
development of new teachers. |
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Progress to date |
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Approximately 50 chemistry
experiments have been videoed. These videos
have been filmed using a digital camcorder
and a table that provides lighting above,
below and to the side of the experiments in
a busy school laboratory (often whilst lessons
were being taught by my colleagues in the
science dept). The process of videoing experiments
was challenging. The lighting levels were
difficult to optimise and the necessity to
video during school hours in the back of science
laboratories during lessons in the summer
term resulted in the sound having to be removed
on some videos. [During the filming of the
majority of the videos, the neighbouring school
building was being demolished which quite
often masked the sound of the reactions themselves.]
The videos were then captured and edited using
MovieMaker which is the software available
on my teachers laptop as part of Windows XP.
Once captured, I needed to learn how to use
the Macromedia Studio 8 software incorporating
the web site creation software Dreamweaver
and the image editing software Fireworks.
A Year 12 ICT student acted as an ICT Consultant
providing me with support and guidance. The
videos were organised so that they can be
accessed via a web browser although it has
been copied onto CD-ROM to enable the video
clips to be viewed on a desktop computer or
be projected without the need for web access
in the classroom. |
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In July, I distributed the
resource along with a questionnaire to a small
number of chemistry teachers and advisors.
In addition to looking at the resource, recipients
were also asked to complete a questionnaire
in order to gather their feedback and ideas
about aspects requiring improvement. This
initial feedback was very useful and allowed
me to define my target audience for this resource
as being AS/A2 Salters chemistry teachers.
It was felt by non-Salters chemistry teachers
that the layout of the resource would make
it difficult for them to use the resource
effectively. In addition, the comments highlighted
a number of areas for improvement including
the need for in-depth explanations of the
chemistry behind each of the videos. Other
feedback included comments on how different
teachers would use the resource in their classrooms
and with members of their department. This
led me to think about the different ways the
videos could be used by teachers and how these
different ideas could be circulated amongst
the proposed future users of the resource. |
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Further work has since been
undertaken and each video now has a video
resource page that contains a small video
preview window and a link to the full-screen
better quality version. In addition, most
video resource pages contain a link to a Word
document or PowerPoint presentation. The Word
documents contain relevant chemical information,
photographs captured from the video and questions
which teachers could ask to guide students
towards a better understanding. The PowerPoint
presentations highlight important observations
that should be made during the video (using
photographs and accompanying notes) that can
be used by teachers to summarise a demonstration
or student practical. |
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I have produced an information
booklet entitled ‘Using Chemistry Videos
and Photographs to Support Teaching and Learning
in Chemistry’. This booklet has been
written to accompany the CD-ROM and discusses
how teachers can use video and photographic
resources. Specific examples are discussed
including: |
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the use
of these resources to develop teacher
knowledge and support practical demonstration
skills; |
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as a plenary to a
practical lesson; |
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as an aid to improve student observation; |
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as a substitute for a missed lesson; |
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as a revision tool. |
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Future Plans |
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Over the next few months a
number of additional changes will be made
to the resource prior to it being re-issued
to around 10 Salters Chemistry teachers for
evaluation. It is the intention that these
teachers will use the resource in their teaching.
Feedback from these teachers will then enable
a more thorough evaluation and revision of
the resource prior to it being distributed
more widely. In addition, a copy of the resource
has been given to a number of A2 chemistry
students. It is anticipated that these students
will use the resource as a revision aid and
feedback from these students will also be
sought. |
