Ecoscenarios
It all started with a Newsela article...
In groups, students selected an article that focused on one organism somewhere in the world. They researched that organism based on the ecological concepts they had learned: its trophic level and where it falls in a food chain, biotic and abiotic impacts, reproductive potential, human impacts, physical and behavioral adaptations, and potential solutions to the problems it faces.
They translated that research into nonfiction text that followed a narrative structure: introduction of subject and setting, rising action, climax and resolution. Next, they used storyboard paper to link their words to visuals.
Then they created those visuals, scene by scene using construction paper (and in one video, goldfish crackers). They moved those scenes to one of the seven the stop motion stations set up in our classroom: iPads, tripods, a chair and a bungee cord to hold the tripod in place (see the above photo). Scene by scene images were uploaded onto laptops and manipulated using iMovie.
Additionally, over 180 individual audio clips were recorded and painstakingly paired with the images. Editing was the favorite part of this process for most students - not only did they pair their images with their spoken narration, they also included sound effects, transitions, overlaid text and included a credits page.
Here's a behind the scenes video that Kevin Peterka created for us.
There was A LOT that went into these 3-6 minute videos. We hope you enjoy them as much as our students enjoyed creating them!
Click on the species below, you'll be redirected to the video on YouTube.
In groups, students selected an article that focused on one organism somewhere in the world. They researched that organism based on the ecological concepts they had learned: its trophic level and where it falls in a food chain, biotic and abiotic impacts, reproductive potential, human impacts, physical and behavioral adaptations, and potential solutions to the problems it faces.
They translated that research into nonfiction text that followed a narrative structure: introduction of subject and setting, rising action, climax and resolution. Next, they used storyboard paper to link their words to visuals.
Then they created those visuals, scene by scene using construction paper (and in one video, goldfish crackers). They moved those scenes to one of the seven the stop motion stations set up in our classroom: iPads, tripods, a chair and a bungee cord to hold the tripod in place (see the above photo). Scene by scene images were uploaded onto laptops and manipulated using iMovie.
Additionally, over 180 individual audio clips were recorded and painstakingly paired with the images. Editing was the favorite part of this process for most students - not only did they pair their images with their spoken narration, they also included sound effects, transitions, overlaid text and included a credits page.
Here's a behind the scenes video that Kevin Peterka created for us.
There was A LOT that went into these 3-6 minute videos. We hope you enjoy them as much as our students enjoyed creating them!
Click on the species below, you'll be redirected to the video on YouTube.
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