I soon realized that the difficult subject matter had not solidified in my students’ mind. Frustrated, I was at a loss as to help my students understand one of my favorite parts of biology, when a student emailed me a video from YouTube. The clip was a short segment that illustrated DNA replication. He stated, “You could show this in class, it helped me understand.”
The next day in class, I did show the video and although I thought it was a bit dry, all of my students watched. As they were watching, I saw many light bulbs come on, as they started to understand what was going on in DNA replication. I was impressed that my student not only took the initiative to find the video, but also that he was critical of the verbal text I was providing to the class. My words were not explaining this well enough so he found something better. Now, I have students emailing me video all the time, which makes me happy. This means that not only are they thinking about biology, but also they are taking the time to look up clips on YouTube. I hope this means that they are watching them.
3 comments:
Your entry shows how important it is to implement technology in the classroom. Kids today are obsessed with YouTube and as a result, it serves as a good tool to help students get a good understanding of what one is teaching.
The only resignation I have about using YouTube is that it oversimplifies some of the key concepts students need to know. Technology is essential in the classroom, but we also have to make sure that it doesn't eliminate some of the key concepts students need to learn in that particular content area.
I think it's great that your students were able to provide you with an additional resource for learning in YouTube. It's refreshing that they are finding a variety of mediums to learn more about a subject normally assosicated with reading and diagrams. Interactive classroom activities enhance learning; and, it's great that you were able to incorporate technology into your lesson -- I may have to look on that site to see if I can come up with anything for my classes.
There are some great teaching resources on YouTube for our students... Unfortunately, our school blocks YouTube and our internet connection is too slow to support it anyways.
Another thumbs down to the lack of technology support in DCPS.
-MF EDOOMCATOR
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