Featured Films for Learning

September 2008 - Posts

• Writhlington School's Orchid project make FFL's

  You can really see the results of a ‘full on' day's learning for the students of Writhlington School who made ‘Films for Learning'..... What better way to inspire and kick-start learning than to create films for the classroom? The opportunity presented to us by Mark and ‘Films for Learning'  was too good to miss, and we jumped at it. Together with our well-established and successful Orchid Project, students selected from the English department at Writhlington School spent the day developing skills in team-work, communication, leadership, responsibility and problem-solving to name a few. In addition, the students' subject knowledge soared, to include understanding of the Orchid Project's conservation methods, scientific processes, the global relevance of sustainability and geographical locations. The results were impressive: four films and thirty or so smiling faces. The four films made by the Writhlington students were Sowing Orchid Seeds: To View >>>CLICK HERE<<< Sowing Sinking Seeds: To View >>>CLICK HERE<<< Growing Green Pod Orchid Seed: To View >>>CLICK HERE<<< Replating Orchids   Students involved in the Orchid Project are used to celebrity status, having recently appeared on the BBC's ‘Gardener's World'; they regularly appear at national shows and have accumulated an impressive silverware collection from the Chelsea Flower Show and many other exhibitions. But the collaboration with the English department was something new, and priceless for those involved. As a cross-curricular venture, the day was a real success. Mark led a tutorial on filming processes and terminology before the English students were given a tour of filming locations including laboratories and greenhouses. The four teams combined 2 Orchid with 4 English experts, and soon assigned roles to their team-members; a Director was elected for each team and the creative juices flowed. The team-work did not necessarily come naturally, but leadership skills emerged, and those with a strong degree of resilience gave up their lunch-break and time after school to get the films finished. Those with particular musical flare were chosen to compose a score, and in the meantime the films took shape. Once the editing process began, all were keen to polish the morning's efforts into good quality, informative films. Mini-interviews were conducted, and the production of voice-overs gave those with clarity and eloquence a chance to shine. The day was action-packed and exhilarating, and provided an example of learning at its best. Students yielded surprising talents, and there were chances for all to make an impression throughout the day. As individual learning earns a higher status within the education system, producing films in the classroom seems to offer many of the key ingredients, with technical and creative opportunities alike. Soon, we'll be putting together some more films for the website, to celebrate successes elsewhere in the school. Moreover, we hope to enable learning and raise the profile of achievement. This film project was coordinatated by Helen Wardlaw who is an English Teacher at Writhlington School. The Writhlington Orchid project is run by Simon Pugh-Jones who is a Science Teacher at Writhlington School. To visit the WrithlingtonOrchid Project >>>CLICK HERE<<< Posted Sep 26 2008, 11:58 AM by Markr with no comments Filed under: film, School, replating, seeds, Orchid, Simon Pugh-Jones, Writhlington, sowing, gardners world, BBC, Helen Wardlaw

• First Films for Learning Project

  Introduction In the summer of 2005 The Thomas Hardye School (THS) in Dorset worked with Toolkit, a creative learning consultancy. They developed a model for students, staff and partner schools (secondary, middle and first) to make films about areas of Science and Technology which teachers find difficult, tricky or dangerous to explain. The initial stage of this project was funded with an award from NESTA (National endowment for Science Technology and the Arts). The model was innovative for more than just its use of video. Teachers become clients, commissioning student film companies to make films that would be of direct use to the teachers in the classroom. This approach gave the films double learning value, creating new learning experiences for the students who made the films and the students who then viewed them. The client/film company relationship creates the potential to generate genuine collaboration between teacher and student, bringing a freshness of vision to the subject that has potential to hook students into watching the videos (potentially more than slick professionally produced videos). The films were disseminated through a the first Films for Learning website and are now available in the FFL Theatre enabling students and teachers to share films across the internet. Film One: To view Doppler for Dummies >>>CLICK HERE<<< Film Two: To view The Story of Yeast >>>CLICK HERE<<< Film Three To view Van de Graaf >>>CLICK HERE<<< Film Four To view >>>CLICK HERE<<< A prototype Films for Learning website was hosted by the South West Grid for Learning for two years until Microsoft developed this site for FFL. The first workshop During the summer of 2005 we ran a two day scoping workshop for six Science and Technology teachers from the THS to develop this model. 30 students from all year groups were then led by the six teachers, Toolkit and support staff from THS to undertake filmmaking, leading to the production of our first Films for Learning. Evaluation Below are the results of a survey of the confidence of students participating in last summers FFL workshop. This was undertaken with a survey completed by each participating student at the end of every day. The results though simplistic give a realistic picture of the initial success of the project. If students feel confident in the technology and the subject they are communication we hope learning is improved. The next steps With the support of the Leading Edge National Collaborative (LENC) we then attempted to identify whether the FFL model specifically supported the ‘harder to reach/teach' students. We were particularly interested in following students in the lowest 20th percentile of achievement who were studying for Key Stage 3 tests in the Dorchester Area Schools Partnership (DASP). Posted Sep 23 2008, 07:45 PM by Markr with no comments Filed under: film, bread, waves, yeast, sound, doppler, graaf, eye dissection, electricity, de graaf, van de graaf

• FFL Workshops for Dorset Primary Teachers and Support staff

  Films for Learning Workshops for primary teachers and support staff. Here are eight films which made during two workshops run by jointly by John Foot from the Dorset County Council Primary team and Mark Richardson from Films for Learning. The workshops were designed to introduce staff to film making techniques and create opportunities for using film making to support learning in primary schools. The aspect of learning we commissioned each group to make a film about was numeracy. First workshop: Film One: Fair Bears Fractions Film Two: Mr Odd and Mrs Even Film Three: Sorting Shapes Films Four: Water Water Second Workshop Film Five: Bears Maths Movie Film Six: I Know My Place Values Films Seven: Measuring Capacity Film Eight During the day participants learnt: The technical skills of filming, capturing and editing as well as publishing finished material. How to maximise the impact on the development of National Curriculum Keys Skills. Strategies for evaluation of both on-going work and the impact of the project. Good practice in Internet safety. How to contribute to an on-line community. Following the course, participants have opportunities to: Borrow up to 5 cameras, tripods and laptops (for no charge) from Films for learning. Network with others engaged in the project through the Films for Learning community. Access technical support from colleagues. Here are is the documentation and support material we used to support this workshop You may use these for your own training; however we would appreciate feedback of your experiences using this material in training other teachers or for use in lessons. Plan for day's workshop (Word doc.) Intoduction to FFL (Power point) FFL - Just do it! (Powerpoint) Assessment documents (pdf) Posted Sep 04 2008, 08:57 PM by Markr with no comments Filed under: film, odd, shapes, even, training, maths, values, fractions, Dorset, Primary Team, capacity, numeracy

• Cerne Abbas Habitat Project

  This film was made by Years 3 and 4 at Cerne Abbas First School for their science project on habitats. The pupils shot all the footage, scripted the film, performed the music, made the animations and edited about 60% of the film.... This project was undertaken to develop the communication skills and film making skills of Year 3 and 4 children at Cerne Abbas First School.  This project was also developed to support Article 29 of the Rights Respecting Schools agenda, 'Education should teach children to respect the natural environment'. View the Cerne Abbas Habitats film >>>Click HERE<<< Their teacher (Mrs Jan Crisford) and I (Mark Richardson) wanted to develop the pupils's ICT skills whilst exploring aspects of their recent science project on habitats within the schools grounds. The students had also been recent studying the Romans in history and had made mosaics, this we saw as an opportunity to link the collage work which is also featured in the film and animated. The management of this project was relatively straightforward. We had three habitats to make films about. We had 24 children and a full day to work with. The children were split into four mixed ability groups, three groups made films about the three specific habitats and the fourth group made the links between each film. The day was split into the following activities. First half of morning: Introduce days activity Watch a Film for Learning Watch an extract of the ‘Really Wild Show' (recorded using BBC iplayer) Discuss how these films were made... using camera, different camera angle, ‘cutaways', narration, editing etc. Explain how to use cameras Brainstorm/Mind map task Storyboard (-identify beginning middle and end) Create simple Shot list. Assign roles for each group member Break Shoot in groups Lunch (We captured all footage over lunch and put all clips into collections in Moviemaker so pupils could be introduced to editing immediately after lunch break) Introduction to editing using Moviemaker.... specifically drag and drop from collections and trim. Make animations using photo facility on video cameras Record music with pupils. Last 15 minutes View films with all pupils The four films were edited together that evening so the children, staff and parents were able to watch the finished film first in assembly then at home through the FFL Theatre. Cerne Abbas Habitat Project Assessment Docunt are available >>>HERE<<< for Assessing Learning through FFL work in a Primary context. The results from feedback provided by the pupils and staff will be available here soon. Posted Sep 04 2008, 08:32 PM by Markr with no comments Filed under: Year 3, habitat, Cerne Abbas First School, Year 4, Cerne Abbas, film, Rights Respecting Schools