Artifact # 7
Health, Camera, Action!
Health, Camera, Action! is a lesson designed for a fourth grade classroom. It is centered around analyzing and discussing commercials and media targeted to this age group. This lesson focuses on making students aware of maintaining a healthy balance in their lives. This includes balancing fast food and video games with nutritious foods and physical activity.
Context
This activity was created in Foundations
3850 at Appalachian State University in the spring of 2001 as a partner
project. The main objective of this project was to use media to educate
students about healthy, balanced lives. Netscape Composer and Netscape
Navigator were the primary tools used to design this lesson plan web page.
The television, and the VCR were also used to record commercials which
were added to the web page as captured pictures. The internet was
also used to locate other information including pictures, icons, and links
to other helpful web sites for teachers.
Impact
Teachers can access Health, Camera, Action!
and use it in their own classrooms as an entire lesson or to enhance a
lesson that they already have. This activity encourages student interaction
and an opportunity to engage in hands-on learning. Students will
cover a number of content areas such as English, drama, technology, art,
and health. They will not only analyze and discuss commercials that
are targeted to them but will also create their own commercials that will
promote a healthy product to their peers. Students will be randomly
divided into groups of approximately four or five members. Each group
will complete a dialog script, props, and acting roles. The teacher
will videotape each groups commercial and the class view and discuss the
finished products. Discussion will not only be held for the commercials
taped off of the television but also for the student commercials.
Focus should be put on which products were better choices and how the others
were not entirely bad but should not consumed in large amounts. Furthermore,
this lesson plan allows teachers to address many of the competencies in
the North Carolina Standard Course of Study.
Alignment
Technology is a large component of Health,
Camera, Action! This project was compiled on a web page which teachers
and others can easily access. Research was done on the Internet to
provide further resources While online, search engines were used
to access health related web sites that were used to determine if the material
could be useful for teachers. If so, the web sites were connected to the
Health, Camera, Action! page as links. Commercials were observed
on the television and were recorded if they pertained to children.
The commercials were added to the page as captured pictures for teacher
use. The internet was also used to locate the North Carolina Course
of Study Competencies and these were added if they applied. Also, this
lesson is developed to support student involvement, inquiry and collaboration.
For students to fulfill the objectives of this lesson, they must be aware
of the subject matter that is being taught through this project (INTASC
7). This lesson is designed to be a learning experience that
covers competency goals that are relevant to the learners, based upon principles
of effective teaching and learning by incorporating media and technology.
Media is incorporated into learning by having students analyze commercials.
These commercials are also connected to the web site, making it possible
for student and teacher access. Health, Camera, Action! allows the
teacher to use creativity in presenting the material since the groups are
formed heterogeneously. It also gives students, from all backgrounds
and learning levels, the chance to create their own production using what
they've learned, the computer and their imagination; this in turn empowers
the groups to take control of their own learner (Technology
Competency 6B). The teacher will use the commercial videos
that are created by each of the groups as a way to assess the learning
that went on throughout the duration of this lesson (Technology
Competency 4A). The success of this lesson will be based on informative
lecture, instructional conversation among students and the completion of
student produced commercials. The teacher will present commercial clips,
which are connected to the Health, Camera, Action! web page, and encourage
students to analyze the intent of the commercials. Students can hold
varying viewpoints and will be encouraged to debate with one another to
give further thought to media. Students will also be divided into
small groups to create a commercial on something healthy. The group
will write the script, cast actors, create props and produce the commercial
which the teacher will videotape. Each group's commercial will be
shown to the entire class. Furthermore, this lesson establishes classroom
policies and procedures that ensure compliance with copyright law and child
protection (Technology
Competency 6A).