Video

Video is one of the most familiar tools we use in the classroom with students.

I feel videos should be short and to the point- students get bored easily and switch off. The use of video for dissection (as in the course material) is an alternative to the mess and sometimes fear and apprehension a lot of students have when faced with dissecting small animals in the lab. I have seen more than a few students faint at the start of a biology lesson (mostly boys!).

Although science is very much a hands on subject, the use of science concept videos is beneficial when used in a supporting role (Wetzel 2008). Students lose interest quickly after six or seven minutes of viewing a video. Wetzel suggests that the use of short videos is ideal for explaining or demonstrating concepts and allows students to remain focused.

Videos used to enhance learning can be very beneficial to students who have different learning needs. Also, advantages of video usage in the classroom vary according to the subject. For learning a foreign language video can really help to draw links between hearing and seeing the material.

Canning-Wilson (2000) claims ‘that the use of illustrations, visuals, pictures, perceptions, mental images, figures, impressions, likenesses, cartoons, charts, graphs, colours, replicas, reproductions, or anything else used to help one see an immediate meaning in the language may benefit the learner by helping to clarify the message, provided the visual works in a positive way to enhance or supplement the language point’.

Using video in this manner creates links between visual and aural material and these links are essential when learning a foreign language. Visual images can help learners to remember important concepts.

According to Marzano & Pickering (1997), the diversity of interests and abilities among learners makes constructing engaging tasks challenging. Using videos in the in the classroom may increase the number of learners who find the tasks interesting, and so remain engaged.

best

Mia

References.

Marzano, R.J & Pickering, D.J. (1997) Dimensions of Learning: Teacher’s Manual. McRel, Colorado. USA.

Wetzel, D.R (2008) Teacher Tube - Science Videos Support Learning Using Short Videos from Online Resources Reinforce Content Knowledge Viewed August 19, 2009.
http://teachertipstraining.suite101.com/article.cfm/teacher_tube_science_videos_support_teaching

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