Environmental Issues Commercials

In my Geography class, I teach about environmental issues, have students create a habitat, and plant a garden at the school. This occurs in the spring (around May) and I want to have students create a commercial video with flip cams to educate the entire school at an assembly!. It will involve research skills, presentation skills, and collaborative skills. It is a hands-on, constructivist activity.

1. Students, in groups of 3-4 will choose an environmental issue to research, present, and inform. (e.g., recycling, water pollution, trash, etc.)
2. Students will utilize my classroom laptops to research the topic and create a bibliography of 10 sites which have potentially good information about the topic.
3. Students will then narrow the list to 5 sites and rearch the topic in the following categories:
a. what is the issue?
b. what is harmful or good?
c. local & global effect?
d. other
4. Students will then create an Inspiration web or PowerPoint presentation to educate the class.
5. The groups will then utilize the flip cams to come up with an original commercial to educate the public. The commercials need to be creative, educational and tell the who, when. where, why , and how of the issue in 30-45 seconds.
6. Videos will then be shared with the class and school!

Throughout this project, students will also be planting a garden, cleaning up the school grounds, recycling aluminum, and recycling paper.