FlippEd Geo Buddies

Objectives

Students will create videos to demonstrate their understanding of geometric shapes in the real world. They will also collaborate on a teacher-controlled social network, utilizing the free web-based tool Edmodo.com.

Preparation

Teacher will set up the students' Edmodo.com accounts.

Materials

Flip camera with accompanying software, computer with Internet access, school campus, pencil, paper.

Develop Prior Knowledge

Teacher develops prior knowledge by taking the students on in-school field trips to discuss geometric shapes and their applications in real-world settings. The teacher also demonstrates and discusses with the students acceptable behavior on a social network, giving examples and nonexamples of appropriate comments when social networking.

Guided Instruction

The teacher will demonstrate how to use the camera and its accompanying software in order to edit videos. Teacher will allow students time to gather into groups of four or five in order to decide, discuss, and write a brief narrative description of the geometric shapes they intend to capture on video. The teacher will also show the students how to access and use their Edmodo.com accounts, emphasizing the importance of appropriate social networking skills.

Collaborative Group Project

Students will gather into groups of four to five to capture videos of real-world geometric shapes on their school campus. They will add the narrative description to the video as they record the geometric shape in real time. They will utilize the software accompanying the Flip camera to edit the video. They will save the video on the computer and upload the videos to Edmodo.com.

Assessment

Students will collaborate and critique each other’s video postings on Edmodo.com. They will use constructive comments demonstrated in prior instruction. The teacher will monitor all conversations on Edmodo.com through the teacher page, edit for appropriateness if necessary, and review student created-content and critiques in the classroom, projecting the information for all to see and discuss.

NCTM Standards

Grades 3–5 Expectations: In grades 3–5 all students should–

•identify, compare, and analyze attributes of two- and three-dimensional shapes and develop vocabulary to describe the attributes;

•classify two- and three-dimensional shapes according to their properties and develop definitions of classes of shapes such as triangles and pyramids;

•investigate, describe, and reason about the results of subdividing, combining, and transforming shapes;

•explore congruence and similarity;

•make and test conjectures about geometric properties and relationships and develop logical arguments to justify conclusions.