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Flockton 1st School Curriculum
Flockton Primary School, Kirklees - Mixed class Year 3/4
A Digital Video Project in partnership with the National Coal Mining Museum, Wakefield
In March 2003 pupils from Flockton Primary School, Kirklees took part in a local Digital Video project. The aim of this activity was to identify opportunities for enhancing the history and literacy curriculum through the use of Digital Video and also to develop effective practice in inspiring and developing pupil’s work with Digital Video.
Day 1
Barbara Ainscough (ICT Consultant) worked with a mixed class of Year 3/4 pupils. Pupils were involved in a simple introductory session in analyzing film using a range of recent and familiar TV adverts. Throughout this activity they were encouraged to learn how to identify and count the number of clips in an advert, time the overall duration of the advert, talk about the genre, storyboard, type of shot, camera angle, lighting and the use of transitions between clips. It was explained that transitions in a movie are like a paragraph to a piece of text, they mark a change in time or sequence.
Pupils were trained to use the Digital Video camera and undertake simple editing procedures in a Digital Video-editing package (iMovie) on the computer.
The following skills were taught:
- Using the camera, hardware and software for filming and editing
- Importing, saving and retrieving files
- Understanding the language of film
Barbara Ainscough asked pupils to consider and apply all they had learned from analyzing the TV adverts in their own work, in particular, when filming, keep it simple, and keep it short! As some say, for every 1 hour of film footage it takes 24 hours of good editing!
None of the pupils had used a Digital Video camera or software before. Throughout the first day pupils worked in groups brainstorming (see spidergram) and preparing questions for Mrs Lockwood, a 1940’s housewife actress based at the National Coal Mining Museum (NCM). They had been asked by their teacher to imagine themselves as TV interviewers way back in 1949, and consider what questions they would ask Mrs Lockwood when they met her the following week on their school trip to the NCM. All pupils were involved in filming each other talking about what question they were to ask Mrs Lockwood at the museum.
By the end of the day the class were able to celebrate their success by watching their first ever movie, watching themselves being interviewed. Because they had applied their understanding of film there was little if any editing to do.
Day 2
All pupils visited the NCM. The class was split into two groups in order to accommodate the visit to the disused underground coalmines. Barbara Ainscough was able to work with one of the groups, supporting them with filming and images, reinforcing the idea for a variety of short clips, some moving and some still. In the afternoon pupils were involved in a range of activities including interviewing and filming Mrs Lockwood.
Planning Spider-gram
- A planning 'spider gram'
Day 3
Working in groups of four Barbara Ainscough worked with pupils throughout the day to assemble a select range of the film taken at the museum to compose a montage ‘Images from the National Coal Mining Museum’. Pupils were involved in developing and refining their ideas by bringing together film footage and still clips they had taken, and organizing and reorganizing video, still images, sound and text.
The teachers involved in the NCM Digital Video project make the following observations:
- There was an increase in pupil engagement with the history and literacy curriculum
- A range of learning styles was being developed
- It motivated a wider range of pupils especially pupils with special needs, than traditional teaching methods, providing greater access to the curriculum.
Pupils worked well together throughout the project and all were impressed that a wide range of personal skills were being developed:
- Negotiation
- Thinking
- Collaborative working
- Communication
All pupils were involved in sharing information, and encouraged to be sensitive to the needs of the audience, thinking carefully about content and quality of their presentations. They were asked to talk about what they had done and compare it with other more traditional methods that they have used in the past.
The integration of Digital Video within the history curriculum enabled pupils to express their ideas more creatively, which led to a better understanding of the subject. The Digital Video technologies enabled pupils to see history from a different point of view. For their brief time at the NCM spent with Mrs Lockwood pupils could imagine they were living in 1949, their final Digital Video presentations a reminder of their short journey back in time.
Barbara Ainscough April 2003
ICT Consultant
boo(at)barbaraa.free-online.co.uk
For more information about:
The National Coal Mining Museum For England
Digital Video in the curriculum:
Becta ICT Advice: www.ictadvice.org.uk
Advice and guidance on using ICT in the classroom.
Becta Creativity in Digital Video Awards: www.becta.org.uk
Celebrates excellence in pupils’ creative use of Digital Video.
Becta Digital Video Pilot: www.becta.org.uk
Information about the pilot scheme run by Becta.
Teacher Resource Exchange (TRE): www.tre.ngfl.gov.uk
A database of resources and activities to help teachers develop and share good practice.
School Trip to the National Coal Mining Museum of England
This video shows a school trip to the National Coal Mining Museum of England. The children get to put on the safety hats and visit a real coal mine...
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