The Art of PerSuAsion
Related keywords
Microsoft Excel › Microsoft Office ... › Microsoft Word › Partners in Learn... › StickySorter › Windows 7 › Windows Movie Maker › Age 7 and below › Ages 11 - 13 › Ages 8 - 10 › Citizenship › Digital/Media Lit... › Environment › Health studies an... › Language arts and... › Social Studies › Technology/ICT › Twenty-first cent... ›
Gold level
Published on 10/14/2014
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Learning objectives
- to identify an authentic problem and collaborate to write and present opinion pieces in the form of Public Service Announcements.
- to use video cameras and digital cameras, to download film, to use video editing programs, and to publish the final product to the internet.
- to measure the impact of their PSAs using formative and summative assessments and to graph the results using Excel.
Created for
Age 7 and below
Ages 11 - 13
Ages 8 - 10
Subject
Citizenship
Digital/Media Literacy
Environment
Health studies and personal safety
Language arts and literacy
Social Studies
Technology/ICT
Twenty-first century skills
21st Century Skills
Collaboration
Communication
Knowledge building & critical thinking
Global awareness & civic literacy
ICT for learning
Problem solving & innovation (creativity)
Student self-assessment
Featured tools
Microsoft ExcelMicrosoft Offi...
Microsoft Word
Partners in Le...
StickySorterWindows 7
Windows Movie ...
Required hardware
PC
Tablet
Phone
Electronic white board
Instructional approach
Project based learning (PBL)
Learning activity details
As a teacher with 14 years’ experience and coach of the Student Technology Leadership Program (STLP), I have led students to use Project Based Learning to empower them as leaders community in order to collaborate, create, learn, and achieve. For the past 3 years, my students have been using a variety of technologies to create Public Service Announcements (PSAs). Beginning with the Earth Day unit in first grade, the first PSA was titled Reducing Our Carbon Footprint. The students have also created PSAs about the importance of voting, not texting while driving, and the latest series is about school safety procedures. The “Be Prepared” series features earthquake procedures, severe weather procedures, and currently the STLP students are working on a film about bus safety procedures. The students have learned how to measure the impact of their films and have uploaded films to their own channel on You Tube. Kentucky Educational Television (KET) has also accepted the films into production on KET’s web site. In April 2014, the STLP created a showcase, presented to judges, and were declared the Kentucky State Champions. The STLP students were invited to and presented at the ISTE Conference in Atlanta, GA in June 2014.
The success of the PSA project was a result of the collaboration the students had with each other and with people in the community who aided the students in idea development, filming techniques, and publishing the videos. The STLP students developed roles within the group such as one child being the expert in digital citizenship. She made sure that the students were safe after the films were published on You Tube by only using stage names in the film and/or only using first names. Also, the student and her father wrote, performed, and recorded original jingles at a recording studio so that copyright issues were avoided. Other roles include writing scripts, camera person, director, cue card developer, and film producer. Community partnerships were forged with a local television station that played the “Get Out the Vote” PSAs during the election, professional development with KET, and promotion of the videos through the local radio stations.
Knowledge construction was attained as the students brainstormed ideas and then researched their beliefs. In some cases, the students changed their belief system after the research, and they also learned to evaluate the truthfulness of sources on the internet. For example, while researching the amount of electricity used to keep a phone charger plugged into the wall, the students were astonished to learn how much electricity is wasted, and they began to unplug chargers when not in use.
The students especially enjoy real-world problem solving and the satisfaction of seeing their work through the final PSA product. When beginning the Earthquake Procedures PSA, they had to decide how to create the special effect of an earthquake. As they were working at the Smart Board, the students in the upstairs classroom began to change classes and the image on the Smart Board shook as the projector moved with the students' footsteps. The STLP students consulted the teacher in the classroom, and she agreed to have the students to move around to cause the artificial earthquake. This was an effective solution to their problem.
This learning activity is long-term as the students work to improve their PSAs. The students are quick to find a new app to create more innovative films. One example is the FX Home app used to create Hollywood effects in their films. The tornado preparedness PSA was much more effective and realistic when the students added a tornado special effect to the video of the school building.
Leading the students to be innovative and preparing them for the 21st century is satisfying for both the ones who learn, including me, and for the ones who teach, including the students!
The success of the PSA project was a result of the collaboration the students had with each other and with people in the community who aided the students in idea development, filming techniques, and publishing the videos. The STLP students developed roles within the group such as one child being the expert in digital citizenship. She made sure that the students were safe after the films were published on You Tube by only using stage names in the film and/or only using first names. Also, the student and her father wrote, performed, and recorded original jingles at a recording studio so that copyright issues were avoided. Other roles include writing scripts, camera person, director, cue card developer, and film producer. Community partnerships were forged with a local television station that played the “Get Out the Vote” PSAs during the election, professional development with KET, and promotion of the videos through the local radio stations.
Knowledge construction was attained as the students brainstormed ideas and then researched their beliefs. In some cases, the students changed their belief system after the research, and they also learned to evaluate the truthfulness of sources on the internet. For example, while researching the amount of electricity used to keep a phone charger plugged into the wall, the students were astonished to learn how much electricity is wasted, and they began to unplug chargers when not in use.
The students especially enjoy real-world problem solving and the satisfaction of seeing their work through the final PSA product. When beginning the Earthquake Procedures PSA, they had to decide how to create the special effect of an earthquake. As they were working at the Smart Board, the students in the upstairs classroom began to change classes and the image on the Smart Board shook as the projector moved with the students' footsteps. The STLP students consulted the teacher in the classroom, and she agreed to have the students to move around to cause the artificial earthquake. This was an effective solution to their problem.
This learning activity is long-term as the students work to improve their PSAs. The students are quick to find a new app to create more innovative films. One example is the FX Home app used to create Hollywood effects in their films. The tornado preparedness PSA was much more effective and realistic when the students added a tornado special effect to the video of the school building.
Leading the students to be innovative and preparing them for the 21st century is satisfying for both the ones who learn, including me, and for the ones who teach, including the students!