MultiMedia Tools

Lesson Idea Name: The Water Cycle

Content Area: Science
Grade Level(s): Fourth
Content Standard Addressed:
S4E3. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to demonstrate the water cycle.
b. Develop models to illustrate multiple pathways water may take during the water cycle (evaporation, condensation,
and precipitation).
Technology Standard Addressed: 6-Creative Communicator, 3-Knowlegde Constructor

Selected Technology Tool:

☒ Movie (list application):
iMovie
☐ Audio (list application):
☐ Other: (list)

URL(s) to support the lesson (if applicable):

https://app.discoveryeducation.com/learn/videos/b26a356a-dd6c-41fd-90d3-04342d829c10/

Bloom’s Taxonomy Level(s):

☒ Remembering ☒ Understanding ☒ Applying ☐ Analyzing ☐ Evaluating ☒ Creating

Levels of Technology Integration (LoTi Level):

☐ Level 1: Awareness ☐ Level 2: Exploration ☐ Level 3: Infusion ☐ Level 4: Integration

☒ Level 5: Expansion ☐ Level 6: Refinement

Universal Design for Learning (UDL)

Engagement: This lesson highlights engagement through the allowing students to create their own iMovies. This allows
students to have choice in what they wish to create and where they research for the information. It allows students to
also collaborate with their peers by sharing their videos at the end of the lesson. They can provide feedback to one
another on what areas can be improved to support the big ideas. The students will have time to reflect on their own
videos to self-assess their own learning.

Representation: This lesson shows multiple means of representation because students are creating a video regarding the
topic. They are required to activate their knowledge over the standard. They are reinforcing the new vocabulary in their
movies and are illustrating the water cycle through picture and information. They are highlight the big ideas from the
lesson in the creation of their own movies. Students can customize their videos, and they are required to include
voiceovers and music in their videos. The iMovie the teacher uses provides students with visuals as well as the new
vocabulary words decoded into terms each student can understand.

Action and Expression: This lesson incorporates action and expression because the students are using a multimedia tool
to communicate their knowledge from the lesson. They are able to access different tools that can help them build their
movies including different search engines, headphones with microphones, and their own device to create the movie
with. Their finished products will communicate to the teacher what skills or terms have been mastered and what may
need to be reviewed. Finally, they are given an opportunity to choose how they wish to express themselves through
visuals, music chosen, and voiceovers.

Spring 2018_SJB
 MultiMedia Tools
Lesson idea implementation:
For this lesson, the teacher will begin by introducing the new standard to the students. The teacher will explain that they
will be learning three new key terms through watching an iMovie. The teacher will play the Water Cycle iMovie to the
class. After, the teacher will write each new vocabulary word (evaporation, precipitation, condensation) on the board for
students to references during their independent work time.
The students will be given forty minutes of independent work time to complete their iMovie. During the independent
work time, students will be expected to create their own iMovie over the new vocabulary words. It should include a
visual for each word, written expression of the words, music, and a voice over. It should be between thirty seconds to
one minute long. The iMovies will be presented at the end of the lesson, and students will be allowed to give feedback to
their peers over their videos.
After the lesson, the three students who score the highest and receive the most positive per feedback will be posted to
the class blog page so the parents can view the students’ work. Their names and identifiers will be omitted for the
posting.
The whole lesson should take about an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes to complete. The iMovies the students make
serve as the summative assessment for the lesson. To differentiate for my EL students, I can have the key words
translated into their home language; however, the completed iMovie must be done in English. Each search engine can be
translated into whichever language needed to help the student understand the content. Also, the initial iMovie contains
visuals that can help the EL students make connections form the words to an image.
Importance of technology:
The multimedia tool iMovie was essential to the lesson because it provided the students with visuals as well as auditory
explanations of each vocabulary word. The visual aids allowed the students to get a better understanding of how they
can distinguish the words from one another. Without the iMovie, the lesson could still be taught using a regular
PowerPoint; however, the movie brings a fun energy into the lesson. It captures the students’ attention in a way that a
normal lecture would not. Other technology used during the lesson would be headphones with a microphone to record
narration for their videos.
Inspiration (optional):
For my iMovie, I included a portion of a video located on the Discovery Education website. This video gave an
explanation for the words addressed in the standard, as well as, other words that pertain to the water cycle. The visuals
used in the video show a detailed story for the water cycle. I feel it enhanced my lesson.
Internet Safety and Student Privacy:
For this lesson, the students will be making their own iMovies about the water cycle. The will be limited to using
DiscoveryEducation.org to source their videos and can only use school approved search engines such as netTrekker or
BrainPop. This work will be posted on the password-protected class blog to which only the parents know the password
to and stored on a classroom DropBox account only accessible to students and their parents. Since they are recording
their voice only, students are not sharing their personal information or shots of themselves within their projects. If
necessary, the teacher can obtain permission from parents before posting the work on the classroom blog. Each of these
precautions will ensure their internet safety while completing the project.
Reflective Practice:
I feel this activity can help keep students engaged and involved in their own learning. By allowing them to create either
own video, they will be researching more information over the standard. It can broaden their ideas and reinforce
concepts learned during the lesson. This video can be used at the beginning, middle or end of a lesson. It can serve as a
lesson opener or can be used during a review session. To extend this lesson, the students can experiment will the
different types of water seen during the cycle. This lesson can carry over into an experiment-based lesson. Other
technology tools that can be incorporated to the lesson is a stop-motion movie maker. If the students choose to, they
could also opt to create a short stop-motion video over the standard addressed.

Spring 2018_SJB