Assignment – Creating a Multimedia Enhanced Student Activity
Circle Geometry – Properties of Circles
General Outcome
Use direct and indirect measurement to solve problems.
Specific Outcomes
Solve problems and justify the solution strategy, using the following circle properties:
• the perpendicular from the centre of a circle to a chord bisects the chord
• the measure of the central angle is equal to twice the measure of the inscribed angle subtended by the same arc
• the inscribed angles subtended by the same arc are congruent
• a tangent to a circle is perpendicular to the radius at the point of tangency.
Your Task – Your group (3 or 4 students) will have to explain one of the properties of circles listed above in the specific outcomes.
You will need to include two of the following in your explanation:
- a graphic, using layering, portraying your property
- an audio file describing your property
- a video explaining with visuals, your property
- a piece of text describing your property
Your explanation should also include:
- definitions of any difficult terminology
- examples of questions including your property
- practice questions and answers for your colleagues
You will be presenting your explanations to the class. Each member of your group should have a speaking part, and each group member should be in charge of one of the multimedia or practice questions. This does not mean that they are the only ones creating it, but they are the leader for that task.
You should also submit a plan before you go ahead with your multimedia. You can do this on a Google doc if you like.
Here are some resources you can use to help you in creating your multimedia portions.
Graphics –
link to SumoPaint – a site used to create graphics with layering
YouTube video to help with layering
Microsoft Word – on computer, also can be used to create graphics
Audio –
Audacity – on computer, can be used to record and edit audio
YouTube video to help with editing in Audacity
link to internet archives – audio that can be safely used from the internet
Video –
Adobe Premier Pro – on computer, can be used to edit video
YouTube video to help with editing video
Discussion
This group activity is geared towards Grade 9 students and the Circle Geometry Unit in math. The idea is for each group to focus on one of the specific outcomes, and then present their projects to the class so that everyone can get some insight into each of the four outcomes. I would use this as a summative assignment after I had done some direct teaching and practice in circle geometry. Sometimes group work can be difficult to organize, so I will choose the groups the students will be working in. They are also to tell me who is in charge of which task and every group member will have a speaking role so that each member is contributing. Ohler looks at assessment and notes to ‘(i)nclude self-assessment and peer review. Include these whenever possible and appropriate. Media development relies on risk taking and honest self-assessment of the outcome. It also relies on a community of learners sharing their skills and insights.’ (Ohler, J. 2016). Creating this multimedia is a group effort and students need to be able to work and rely on each other as well as fairly assess one another.
I have used some YouTube videos to help with the tutorial process. There are so many useful videos on YouTube where students can learn visually and pause and restart the video when needed. I would like to look into creating some videos where I am walking through a ‘how to’ task on my computer. This may be something I look into for the next assignment.
The students also need to submit a plan for their project. Levine and Alexander say ‘Web 2.0 productivity tools are approaching mainstream use…For rich-media content creation, Web 2.0 tools have lowered the barriers by moving the process of (expensive) desktop video-editing software to (free) web-based applications and at the same time ostensibly moving the focus from using the tool to telling the story with the tool.’ (Alexander, B. and Levine, A. 2008). They can use a Google doc where everyone can contribute and focus on the planning rather than on the tool. This (Google docs and Google drive) have been a very successful means of groups working and communicating together in my classroom this year. There are so many online tools and software programs for free now where students can focus on their teaching and learning and not solely on using the appropriate software.
References
Alexander, B. and Levine, A. (2008) “Web 2.0 Storytelling: Emergence of a New Genre” Educause Review 43:6, November/December 2008
https://er.educause.edu/articles/2008/10/web-20-storytelling-emergence-of-a-new-genre
Ohler, J. (2016). Art, Storytelling, Technology and Education
http://web.archive.org/web/20160517115321/http://www.jasonohler.com/storytelling/indexWIX.cfm