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2007-08 Final projects
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Using Chemistry Videos and Photographs to Support Teaching and Learning

	School: The Downs School, Berkshire
	Fellow: Emma Baker
	Email: emma.baker1@tiscali.co.uk

The aims of the project were:

	to produce a resource (for teachers) incorporating photographs and videos of chemistry experiments (KS3/4 and Salters AS/A2);
	to find how teachers could make best use of the resource and to modify the resource accordingly;
	to evaluate if the resource could make a contribution to supporting the teaching and learning of chemistry.

Why produce the resources?

There were a number of reasons why I sought to produce a resource of chemistry videos:

	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.
	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.
	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.
	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.
	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.

Resource Development

Approximately 50 chemistry experiments were videoed. These videos were filmed using a digital camcorder and a table that provided lighting above, below and to the side of the experiments in a busy school laboratory. The process of videoing experiments was challenging. The videos were then captured and edited using MovieMaker as part of Windows XP. Once captured, I learnt how to use the Macromedia Studio 8 software incorporating the web site creation software Dreamweaver and the image editing software Fireworks. The videos were organised so that they could be accessed via a web browser.

An initial resource was distributed on CD-ROM to a small number of chemistry teachers and advisors. Recipients were asked to look at the resource and to complete a questionnaire in order to gather their feedback and ideas about aspects requiring improvement. This initial feedback was useful, 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.

Further work was undertaken and a video resource page for each video was created which contained a small video preview window and a link to the full-screen better quality version. In addition, most video resource pages had a link to a Word document or PowerPoint presentation incorporated. The Word documents contained relevant chemical information, photographs captured from the video and questions which teachers could ask to guide students towards a better understanding. The PowerPoint presentations highlighted 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.

An information booklet entitled ‘Using Chemistry Videos and Photographs to Support Teaching and Learning in Chemistry’ was also produced. This booklet was written to accompany the CD-ROM and discusses how teachers can use video and photographic resources. Specific examples are discussed including:

	the use of these resources to develop teacher knowledge and support practical demonstration skills;
	as a plenary to a practical lesson;
	as an aid to improve student observation;
	as a substitute for a missed lesson;
	as a revision tool.

Website launch

In February, the resource was uploaded onto a website (www.chemistry-videos.org.uk). The website was advertised via e-mail to Salters Chemistry Teachers and some PGCE institutions. Requests were made to owners of other websites so that they might put a link to the site on their own website such as The Royal Society of Chemistry, ChemIT, Weblearn at Sheffield College, the Times Educational supplement (TES) and The Open University. Feedback was sought on the home page of the web page.

Feedback received

A questionnaire was produced to enable evaluation of the resource. Questionnaires were given to a number of teachers, Science PGCE students at Reading and Westminster College in addition to anyone who responded to the request for feedback on the web site. Obtaining feedback was incredibly difficult and realistically was most likely to have been received from those most interested in using the resource in their teaching. Two teachers contacted me via e-mail after having used the resource asking for permission to link to the site from their own school site. Two teachers asked if they could upload the videos to their school Virtual Learning Environment(VLE) so that their students could access the videos as part of a homework activity they wished to design.

The web site figures provided interesting data, for example, the number of users to the site, those other web sites linking to the site and the network names of the users accessing the site. The number of hits to the site showed a gradual increase, as did the number of hours spent on the site per week (which is currently about 40 hours per week). The observed dip in Easter week was seen as an encouraging, demonstrating that teachers, students or educational establishments were indeed making use of the site at other times. 34 other web sites to date (some schools and colleges) have linked to the site. Looking at the networks accessing the site, there are many examples of Schools, Sixth Form Colleges and Local Education Authorities which are using the site, some very regularly.

Wider Discusssion about the Project

A number of activities were undertaken to encourage the use of the resource and in an attempt to open up discussion about the use of video resources in supporting science teaching. Presentations were made to the following:

	Reading University PGCE science students
	Westminster College, Oxford PGCE science students.
	West Berkshire KS5 Science Network group
	The Downs School Staff

Discussion was interesting and support was offered to any teachers who wished to use video in their teaching. English teachers were shown how to video and were lent a camera so that they could video students doing their drama presentations, the video was then used to enable the students to undertake peer review of the presentations. Another teacher was given support on taking, editing and uploading videos to the web which she wished to do during her sabbatical three week trip on a scientific oceanographic trip as part of the Classroom at Sea project at The University of Southampton.

In March, a ‘My Brilliant Idea’ was published in the Times Education Supplement magazine discussing the use of a video and PowerPoint presentation with photographs as a plenary during a lesson on Halogen Displacement.

In April, the local area Association of Science Education (ASE) also published a short piece on the use of videos and photographs to support the teaching of chemistry.

The Future

I have applied to give a presentation of this work at the National ASE meeting in Liverpool in January.