One of my student projects was awarded an Ed May Grant from the BC Teachers’ Federation for the 2020-2021 school year. This had previously been posted in the BCTF Social Justice Newsletter, but those outside of BC don't have access, so I am finally posting it here. I have also added an update at the end to show what we've been up to with the equipment we purchased with the grant.
Project Goals
I applied for the Ed May grant to help bring awareness to science communication, like the importance of photos, videos and podcasts in the field. I also wanted students to explore the UN sustainable development goals and develop a project that was in line with at least one of the SDGs. Further, communicating in French isn't always easy for our anglo-dominant francophones. Therefore, I thought that combining digital storytelling within their projects to allow them to explore different ways of scientific communication and to help them find their voice. The funds that we received from the Ed May grant went towards purchasing photography and podcasting equipment for our digital storytelling.
Challenges and strengths This year was an interesting time to be doing such a community based project. We had to adapt our project many times as COVID restrictions changed. Our intentions to work with the Squamish Community changed to focusing on our school community. Instead of seeing people in person, we emailed, zoomed and did online surveys to collect data. Because of these changes, we didn’t get the data we needed, but we were able to learn about response biases and adapt the information we could use to support our stories. Students were also learning about the UN’s sustainable development goals for the first time. I believe that their comfort level with topics like Climate Change is what made them all gravitate to the same GSDs. Although there were many COVID related hurdles, we also found some benefits. As National Geographic Explorers couldn’t travel as much, we applied to have one paired with our class. Photojournalist Alec Jacobson Zoomed in with students once a month. We went through the process of telling a story through photography and captions and the importance and impact of photos. Those sessions were informative and really had students thinking about scientific communication in a different way. |
An end that is also a beginning
Through this project, we are learning to be flexible and to adapt. Students in the class have developed their communication skills and have learned of a variety of ways that one can share information and capture audiences. They have also seen that they can effect change in their school through the actions and engagements of younger students. They have become more aware of their actions on our earth and reflected on the UN sustainable development goals. They have learned to tie those into their learning in science but also in other subjects and understand why they are so important for our future. Further, other students have asked to create their own podcasts. We now have students throughout the school who are excited about communicating their learning and sharing it with others.
Next year, our grade 7 and 8 class will grow from 5 to 21 students. We have learned a lot this year and will use that knowledge to continue to improve. We will start a similar project, focusing on different SDGs, and continue to build on the excitement and the momentum from this year's project.
Resources
More information on the free National Geographic courses on Geo-Inquiry and Digital Storytelling (Photography, Video and Audio) can be found here : https://www.nationalgeographic.org/education/professional-development/courses/
Project Update !
The podcast and photography equipment are also being used for our School Newspaper, where students are using the podcast equipment for interviews that they later transcribe. We have been documenting all important events at our school for the past two years and sending our paper to parents each month so that they can connect with our school community. We are so thankful to have this equipment that continues to inspire our projects.
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