For Teachers

Notes on the Future Classroom

How to Use Classroom Encounters’ Media to Teach Science and Global Change and How Classroom Teaching is Changing

The full length DVDs obviously offer teachers the opportunity to learn themselves (build confidence) about global, climate, and environmental change science, as well as to see modeled how science is actually done and the habits of minds of leading scientists. The chapter stops let teachers navigate through the content as they like, and at their own pace. In the classroom, the chapter stops put teachers in charge – they can grab what they want (short video clips) when they want it - before, during, or after a lesson, hands-on activity, or lab. Teachers pick the clip that fits their performance need: to grab attention, model inquiry, connect to research and data, apply a concept, explain evidence, paint the big picture, or wrap up.

Our experience with teachers (and I'm a teacher), is that the most innovative ones want to intersperse short video into their "performances" to do just what I mentioned above. Students want it, and teachers create better and more interesting lessons. And they can also bring the outside world in, share first hand observations of scientists, explain and interpret real world data, and show the minds of scientists at work (at least with Classroom Encounters’ video this can be done easily).

We also find that the "market" is finally recognizing the needs of classroom teachers, and targeting them (by listening to what THEY want) and moving quickly in this direction. This summer, there’s been a growing interest in what we've been doing. Our library of media in particular has received attention since the video shorts fit teachers’ needs. In bite-sized segments, teachers can intersperse their lessons with media that connects students, via world-class scientists, to society’s quest to understand one of the greatest challenges of the day - our rapidly changing planet.

The media itself, and the participatory process of creating it with scientists, teachers, and students working together, also shows teachers and students how they can transform the learning process - engaging, inspiring, and motivating all participants - by building cooperative learning communities and harnessing 21st century communication technologies. The impetus to build media libraries - creating or accessing existing media assets that enable teachers to teach the standards and tackle 21st century science issues (like global change) - is clearly where the educational innovators are headed.

Rita Chang
Classroom Encounters, LLC
August, 2008