Teaching With Educational Videos

Educational videos can make a big impact in the classroom, as long as you know how to draw out the value of the experience. While such tools were once used to fill time or to add to a lesson, they tended to be flat presentations of interesting concepts made boring by monotone narrators. Much has changed in this arena and the options available to you through a multitude of resources bring in-class movies to a whole new level.

When educational videos are used in the classroom, they go beyond the traditional curriculum to teach concepts in a completely different format. They allow for interactive learning when you draw out critical thinking skills through active learning lessons. When students are introduced to the video as a tool within the entire curriculum offering, they gain more from the overall experience than just the curriculum or movie alone.

Here, we will provide you with a few steps to follow to ensure you not only select an appropriate movie to use in your classroom, but also how to maximize the overall learning experience through interactive learning lessons and other activities.

Step 1: The Choice
To ensure you can maximize the learning experience from educational videos, select a movie that is appropriate and fits the current curriculum.

Documentaries are one choice that can offer an experience complete with interviews and firsthand accounts. Such movies capture real-life and true-story situations or events that enable students to relate to the content.

Step 2: The Timetable
It is important the videos you select fit within your allotted time for the lesson. This does not mean you can't select longer movies, just be sure you allow for the proper amount of time and the content doesn't lose meaning with the gap in viewing time.

Keep in mind, too that filling the entire class period with a video can lead to sleepy students who may lose interest. Try to break it up a bit with discussion or active learning activities.

Step 3: The Discussion
If you don't discuss the movie with the class, you have lost the value the educational videos can present. Be sure to review all the basic ideas of the video and point out those ideas that apply to the lesson and the class. If the video is the movie version of a book read in class, highlight the changes that had to be made for the movie version. It is also important to discuss plot points and pivotal scenes.

Step 4: The Notes
Taking notes during educational videos is a great way to ensure your students not only pay attention, but likely retain more information. If they know they will be quizzed at the end of the video, allow them to use their notes to answer the questions, therefore increasing their investment in the note taking process.

Find More Free Educational Games Articles