Teacher resources » Make an impact
Overview
In this activity, students will create an awareness video about an environmental issue impacting their school, community, or region and work to advocate a call to action to help improve the health of their world.
Students can choose a topic that is meaningful to them and their peers; research and describe an endangered species in your area, create a PSA about plastic consumption or litter, collaborate on the importance of community gardens, energy and water conservation, or the 4 R’s.
Keywords: STEM, Social Sciences, Creative Communication, Showcase
Good for: Teams, critical thinking
Grade level: K-12
Skill Level: Beginner
Student Instructions
Copy and paste the information below directly into the description box when creating your student assignment, or, use it as inspiration to make your own!
Design and create a video to raise awareness about the issue you researched. Your video should be between 2 and 3 minutes in length. This video will be a showcase of what you learned during this experience and highlight the results of what you found in your research and what you want others to know about the issue you are advocating for.
Some things to consider:
- What did you learn about your topic that you want to share with your classmates, your school community or your neighborhood?
- What is the most important thing you want other people to know and to care about?
- Add a call to action. What do you want people to do for your cause or issue after they watch your video?
- How will you make your video interesting in order to capture your audience’s attention and help them become excited about becoming an advocate for your cause or issue? What editing features or storytelling techniques will you use to make this happen?
Tips to help your instruction in this activity or help to get you started!
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For younger students, do this activity as a class project. Keep it small and focus on an issue affecting your classroom or school.
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Use the Claim, Evidence, and Reasoning research methodology to ground your project in sound practices used by professional scientists. Create your own graphic organizer or check out some examples in the resources below.
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Keep it short! Have students do a quick webcam recording explaining how they might help the health of their school or community.
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If you plan to include narration as part of your video, make sure you have students write a script and rehearse what they are going to say.
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Choose a focus area and have all teams work within that one area. For example, have all groups create a video about an endangered species in your region and what is needed to prevent that species from going extinct!
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STEM: This activity fits perfectly in a phenomenon based learning environment where you and your students generate questions about the world around you. Use this collaborative research experience to answer those phenomena based questions. Students will practice collecting, analyzing, and presenting data in a fun and engaging way.
Social Science: Use this research experience to kickstart a deep dive into a social, cultural, or political issue impacting the lives of your students, your school, or your community. Engaging in this work through the lens of anthropology, sociology, or political science offers critical ways to develop understanding of a problem and creates impactful learning moments.
Creative Communication: This activity allows for students to communicate to their classmates in creative ways. Using video helps students learn how to communicate complex ideas clearly and effectively to others. Increasing the opportunities for students to become creative communicators helps deepen understanding, and creates engaging and enhanced learning experiences.
Showcase: This project is perfect for a culminating experience or as part of a students video portfolio assessment. Allowing students to showcase their work is a powerful way to drive reflection and create an environment where students feel personally involved in their learning, driving deeper connections and meaning making experiences.