The Three Types of Rock: Rocks, Rocks, and more Rocks!
Core Curriculum: Science
Standard 3: Students will understand the basic properties of rocks, the processes involved in the formation of soils, and the needs of plants provided by soil.
Lynsi and I chose this topic because it was something that interested us both, and because it was different than what our peers were most likely going to be doing. We decided early on that we didn’t want to stay in our “safe area” of doing lesson plans for Social Studies, instead branching out into a slightly different section of the Core Curriculum where we would have to stretch ourselves a little more. We also thought that introducing the three types of rock would be a lot more fun and interesting to show in a video presentation, as opposed to lecturing about it.
This podcast connects to the NETS and INTASC Standards in several ways. First, a podcast helps us communicate our instruction clearly and accurately, while giving students a fun way to view/learn the material. Podcasts also help to accommodate individual students’ cultural, physical, emotional, social, and intellectual growth, by giving them a simple, easy to understand lesson and allowing them to answer the questions in the podcast at their own level of understanding; all of it done in a non-threatening way. This podcast is also a way to model your own creativeness, and give students ideas on how to use their own in similar ways for future projects.
There are a few potential drawbacks to using our podcast series in the classroom, however. The visuals on the podcast only last for about five seconds each, giving the viewer limited time to take in the details needed to answer the questions; if it were for an actual lesson, the video would need to be elongated and the pictures allowed to show for a longer period of time. Podcasts also don’t allow for much in-lecture discussion-time, which some students may need to process the ideas the video is teaching.
I think that if given the opportunity, I would love to use this video in one of my future classes. I believe students need variety in their learning experiences, and this podcast would be an excellent break from the traditional lectures about rock-formation. It would make a great lead-in for a more in-depth look at how rocks are formed and how to identify them.
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