Title: Video Excursions



Title: Ecosystem Excursions

Author: Karla Lockman

Date: 30 July 2009

Overview: Wisconsin students will make a video field trip visiting several Wisconsin ecosystems. Students will research local ecosystems, construct a script, film, edit their video, and mail it to Crestway High School near Cape Town, South Africa. Crestway High School students under the supervision of Life Science Teacher Suzanne Short will undertake a similar project so that Wisconsin students will view a video field trip to several South African ecosystems.

Grade Levels: Grade 10 Learners

Curricular Areas: Life Science, Biology

Objectives: After completing this Video Excursions activity, 10th grade SPASH Biology students will be able to

1) describe characteristics and residents of three WI ecosystems

2) construct a video including writing a script and using technology to film and edit

3) develop a greater understanding of ecosystems in South Africa

Introduction: It is necessary that students become familiar with their natural surroundings; identify species, describe processes, and understand the interrelatedness of the biotic and abiotic components of a ecosystem. SPASH students will visit a local forest, wetland, and prairie/grassland area, inventory plant & animal species, make a general description of the area, test for water quality, rate of decomposition, and biomass when appropriate. After writing a script, students will narrate at each ecosystem location on camera. Classmates will edit the video and prepare it for the South African students.

Setting: SPASH Biology Room 2334, wetland behind school, Holiday Trail forest, Holiday Trail grassland area

Vocabulary: species richness, biodiversity, canopy, understory, ground layer, dissolved oxygen, decomposition, pollination, seed dispersal, symbiotic relationship, predation, and others

Materials & Resources: flip video camera (minimum of 3), access to natural areas, access to i-movie or Windows movie editor, burnable DVD’s

Preparation: Visit the natural areas and document hazards (poison ivy, road traffic), estimate walking time to/from natural areas, check with administration regarding bringing students outdoors (take a radio & epi pen), reserve science laptops, reserve flip cameras, review concepts of ecosystem & biodiversity with students, remind students of appropriate behavior on excursions, whiteboard, markers (2 hours for prep)

Day 1 – Becoming familiar with WI ecosystems (outdoors)

SPASH students should take 1 class period becoming familiar with the wetland, grassland, and forest near the school. Students should work in groups of 3 and attempt to answer the following questions:

A) How would you describe the general appearance of this ecosystem?

B) What organisms are present? How do organisms interact with one another? Why are these interactions vitally important to the health of this ecosystem?

C) What abiotic things are present? How do organisms interact with the abiotic components of this ecosystem?

D) Has this area been impacted by humans? If so, how? Is the impact positive or negative? How do you know?

E) What would you want a student in South Africa to know about this ecosystem? Describe at least 3 things.

Day 2 Writing a Script (back in the classroom)

On each of the 3 classroom whiteboards, write the name of the ecosystem investigated the previous day (forest, grassland, wetland). Students should select 1 person from their group of 3 to be the forest delegate, 1 person to be grassland delegate, and 1 person to be the wetland delegate. Delegates should go up to the white boards and write their answers to Question E under the appropriate heading. If someone has already written the idea, instead of writing it again, simply put a tally mark. Ask students to stay by the white boards. They have now just formed 3 new groups; the wetland group, grassland group, and forest group. These groups are now the crews that will film at the different areas, edit the film, and prepare the video for South Africa students. Each crew should work together to write a 10-minute script that incorporates the most popular answers for Question E (written on the board). Crews should also divide the group up and assign roles. Roles can vary, but it is recommended that the following roles be filled:

o Producer – leader of the group in charge of keeping everyone on task and on time, oversees the writing of the script.

o Director – positions reporters so that lighting, sound, and movement is smooth, gives direction to begin filming and cut filming, helps with writing the script.

o Reporters (up to 4) – people in charge of memorizing the script and energetically narrating on camera, help with writing the script.

o Film crew (up to 2) – responsibly operate the flip camera, communicate director about lighting, sound, and movement, work with reporters to get the best shot, help with writing the script.

o Film editor (up to 2) – work with Windows or i-Movie to edit the video into a 10-minute documentary about your ecosystem, censor for school appropriateness, and burn onto a CD/DVD, help with writing the script

Scripts should be written, proofread and practiced/memorized for filming on Day 3.

Day 3 Filming Day (outdoors)

Students will be breaking up into the 3 crews, walking to the natural areas and filming the 10-minute video segment. Advise students to take an additional 5+ minutes of video of the natural environment, plants, or animals (if they are lucky/quiet enough to see some) as “filler” material. This will be important for the Film editors. It is also recommended that the video should be captured in 1-2 minute segments. The segments will be easier to upload, merge, and edit.

Day 4 Editing Day (back in the classroom)

The Film Editors, Director, and Producer will work together today to edit the film taken on Day 3. The video must be 10-minutes in length, easy to hear (if some parts are hard to understand, students should add subtitles), and have smooth transitions. When completed, the videos should be saved on Mrs. Lockman’s flash drive. Mrs. Lockman will then burn the DVD/CD to be sent to South Africa. The Reporters and Film Crew should take the flip cameras around the school (quietly and without disrupting other classes) and take the South African students on a “tour” of the school. These videos will be edited by Mrs. Lockman and burned to the video field trip DVD/CD. With the remaining class time, students should write a short letter to a student at Crestway High introducing themselves, describing their home/school, likes/dislikes, and any hobbies they might have. These letters will be included in the mailing of the video field trip.

Evaluation: Evaluations will be in 3 ways; formative assessment, summative assessment, peer evaluation. The formative assessment will be the teacher’s observations on each of the activity days. Comments should be made relating to attitude, work ethic, participation, respect, cooperation, and level of contribution to the group. The summative assessment will look at the 10-minute video. Does the video accomplish Question E (or Questions A-D)? Is it concise, clear, understandable, interesting, and appropriate? Does it have smooth transitions, a good flow, and accurate information at an appropriate grade level? Peer evaluations will ask students to comment on the work ethic and participation of the other members on their crew including attitude, amount of work contributed, and earned grade. Rubrics will be made for each type of assessment and distributed to the class during the introduction to this assignment.

Wisconsin Academic Standards: C.12.2, C.12.6, F.12.7, G.12.1

References: Biology Textbook, Wisconsin DPI website

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