MultiMedia Tools

Lesson Idea Name: Biomes

Content Area: Life Science
Grade Level(s): 7th
Content Standard Addressed:
S7L4. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to examine the interdependence of organisms with
one another and their environments.
d. Ask questions to gather and synthesize information from multiple sources to differentiate between Earth’s
major terrestrial biomes (i.e., tropical rain forest, savanna, temperate forest, desert, grassland, taiga, and
tundra) and aquatic ecosystems (i.e., freshwater, estuaries, and marine).

Technology Standard Addressed:

6Creative Communicator
Students communicate clearly and express themselves creatively for a variety of purposes using the
platforms, tools, styles, formats and digital media appropriate to their goals.
6b
Students create original works or responsibly repurpose or remix digital resources into new creations.

Selected Technology Tool:

☒ Movie (list application):
☐ Audio (list application):
☐ Other: (list)
URL(s) to support the lesson (if applicable):

Bloom’s Taxonomy Level(s):

☒ Remembering ☒ Understanding ☒ Applying ☒ Analyzing ☒ Evaluating ☒ Creating

Levels of Technology Integration (LoTi Level):

☐ Level 1: Awareness ☐ Level 2: Exploration ☐ Level 3: Infusion ☒ Level 4: Integration
☒ Level 5: Expansion ☐ Level 6: Refinement

Universal Design for Learning (UDL):

Engagement: The students are required to create their own video about the topic given. The students will be
broken up into groups, but exceeding 4 people to a group. Each student will participate in the creation of the
movie.
Representation: The students will create a video about 1 biome that they have chosen. The video will be
represented by a title page, still images, short clip, more images and an end page with a credit screen.
Action and Expression: The only guidelines for the video are for the students to include the features above.
The expression of the video can be anyway that the student(s) want it to be. Music, audio or recording of
themselves can be included in the video.

Lesson idea implementation:

I will begin this lesson by telling the students that we will be going over different biomes for the week. After a
quick introduction to what biomes are, I will display my video for the class. During the video, I will ask the
students to pay attention and watch closely to the video itself. After the video is done, I will get feedback
from the students about the video. I will then explain to the students that they will be creating a video
themselves about the biome that they choose. Only one biome can be chosen unless we have an odd number

Spring 2018_SJB
 MultiMedia Tools
of groups. I will give the students about 3-4 days to create the video. The students will be assessed by the
information displayed in the video and how well the video was put together. Depending on the level of
accuracy in the video, I can tell if the students truly learned the material and understand it.
The learning of the students will be extended to a higher level because the students are expected to create
their own product using information that they found either in the textbook or on the web. After the 3-4 days
of working on the video, I will have the groups present their videos to the class. After a group is done
presenting their video, I will ask the students different questions about their biomes. The questions are
designed to have the students think and analyze their topic to see if they retained and learned the topic.
Importance of technology:
The use of this software is to give complete control to the students and let them create a video of their own.
The purpose of using a software that gives complete control to the user is for experience of interacting with
different perspectives of that software. Learning different uses and how to use various software, along with
combining it with educational material, will raise the critical thinking level of the student and increase the
LoTi score in the classroom. By doing this project without giving the student complete control, the student
and the teacher will miss out on the impact that this project will cause.
Internet Safety and Student Privacy:
By having the students create their own video, we are putting them, and the teacher, at risk of their internet
safety. This means that the identity and any personal information may be used by the student. To minimize
this risk, I will explain to the students the importance of copyrights and how they can affect the student. I will
stress strongly the importance of giving credit to the source where information was found. Because these
sources may not be original work of the student, they must always give credit. Students will not give any
personal information to any sites. We will only use softwares that are approved by the school and do not ask
for personal information to be given. The use of personal emails or information about the student will not be
allowed. I will give the students a copy of the internet safety rules and how to use different sources in their
project.
Reflective Practice:
I feel as though this project will keep the students involved in their learning. Not only will the student be
creating their own work, but they will be interacting with the information. The students will be using the new
information to create their own work. This will require the student to become well aware of every
perspective of how to use the software and how to incorporate the information. After the students are done
creating and presenting their video, I will post each video to our class blog. This will allow the students to go
back and view the videos. This video project will be used to reinforce the material presented in class.

Spring 2018_SJB