Journal Entry #6

Journal Entry #6

Promoting Equity with Digital Video
by Randy Yerrick, Donna Ross, and Philip Molebash


This article talked about how teachers can use digital video in the classroom in a couple of ways to narrow the gap between genders and between native English speakers and English language learners. Historically, girls and children of color in science classes receive less positive reinforment, less of the teachers' attention, get less remedial help, volunteered less in class, and are asked fewer complex questions than white, middle- or upper- class boys.

The first method of using digital video in the classroom is where the students are assigned to making their own videos in small groups. Through the process of making a video - planning, storyboard creation, composing, shooting, editing - "specific skills and characteristics of diverse learners can be highlighted and best used through a collaborative process. Some students love to be funny and others attend carefully to details. Some students are very creative and others like to operate technology . . . In this way, digital video projects can traverse learning style and gender gaps . . ."

In addition, in creating these videos, students have to seek out the science around them, and in doing so, realize that science is all over and that they all have access to it.

The other way to promote equity with digital video is through the teacher's use of digital video in the classroom. Some students don't have the opportunity or means to "go places" and "see things", but the teacher can bring it to them through video. Teachers can even collaborate with teachers across the country to expose their students to "science" in other parts of the country (or world, for that matter).

How can I use digital video in my classroom to promote equity in learning science? One idea I thought of when reading this article was to connect with classrooms in, for example, Kansas, Minnesota and Louisiana and share our digital videos of different weather systems. Kansas kids could show tornadoes and talk about their experiences with them; Minnesota kids could show videos of snowstorms and show how they build snowmen or snowforts and talk about how much fun they have or how cold it is; Louisiana kids could show hurricane videos and talk about their feelings and what they do to prepare when a hurricane is coming. San Diego kids - well, there is no real weather here, but San Diego kids could show earthquake video and talk about their experiences of having felt one or knowing someone who experienced one. This idea would give all students equal opportunity to "visit" other parts of the country and learn, almost firsthand, about different weather systems and natural disasters.

How could my students use digital video in the classroom to promote equity in learning science? I could assign groups consisting of, where possible, students with various learning styles and abilities to work together to go out and make a video of science around them in everyday settings. For instance, one group could make a film at the local greenhouse that showed how plants start from seed and end up ready for sale. Another group could do a demonstration of how to bake bread and talk about the science behind it. I think to start with, I would come up with some examples and let the groups pick which topic they would like to do.