On Monday I spent an interesting afternoon at Newhart Middle School in Mission Viejo as a judge for the Social Studies Film Festival. The students in Ms. Oliver's class made iMovies for their social studies projects.
The students found images and video clips on the web, conducted research, wrote a screenplay, and then assembled their project using Apple iMovie and green screen software.
The films were on ancient China and India and boy did I learn a lot!
Did you know that India was the first country to raise chickens as a domestic animal? I also learned that Confucius was very much a believer in community and constructivist leadership. Who knew?
Most importantly, it's clear that Ms. Oliver understands that it's not just about using technology in the classroom!
Her techno-constructivist, project-based approach is about creating a collaborative environment for students and allowing them the freedom to use technology as a means to explore, build relationships, and in the process, actively engage in the subject matter.
The films were really, really impressive. And I'm sure a couple of these kids are bound for fame at Sundance... so watch out Speilberg, Lucas, and Lee...here comes the net generation!
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