Rights and Responsibilities: Grass Born to Be Stepped On

In this project, students from Mansfield Middle School in Storrs, CT research an aspect of history that illustrates a topic involving rights and responsibilities and create a historical documentary. Using iMovie allows students to experience all learning styles, including auditory, visual, kinesthetic, and so on.

Working in small groups, students use the Internet and other resources to research an aspect of history that illustrates rights and responsibilities, including historical events, issues and ideas, and the people involved. Students use both primary and secondary sources and learn how to properly cite sources. One example would be to research the treatment of females in China over the last half century. Groups write a draft documentary script that captures important elements of the historical time period, then use a digital video camera to film footage for the project. They also locate appropriate music and images, scanning images from books or downloading them from the Internet, and taking photos with a digital still camera. Students import all images into iPhoto and import music into iTunes. They then work in iMovie to create their documentary. They import video clips and images, record narration, and add music, titles, effects, and transitions. Students can export the completed movies to QuickTime and burn them on a CD, export them to videotape, or use iDVD software and a SuperDrive to include them on a DVD. The finished iMovie projects are shared with the class.

After completing this project, students will be able to:

• Share an aspect of rights and responsibilities in history and how it affects the country and its inhabitants.
• Understand how to effectively research a topic.
• Develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills that will help them manage and use information.
• Use technology to create a documentary that demonstrates what they have learned.

After completing this project, students will be able to:

• Use the Internet to research a topic and to locate information and download images.
• Use a digital video camera to film footage.
• Use a digital still camera to take photos.
• Import images into iPhoto.
• Import music into iTunes.
• Use iMovie to import and edit video, including adding narration.
• Arrange media to make a persuasive presentation.
• Scan images and import them into iPhoto (optional).

Student work can be assessed using the following criteria:

• Historical Quality (accurate, shows analysis, historical context, wide research, uses primary resources)
• Relation to Theme (demonstrates significance of topic in history and draws conclusions)
• Written Material (clear, appropriate, organized)
• Presentation (visual impact, correctly uses maps and photos)

Internet

iLife How-To Guides

Tools

Macintosh computers (computer with a CD burner or a SuperDrive is optional), digital video camera, digital still camera, scanner (optional), external microphone (optional), Internet connection, iMovie, iPhoto, iTunes, iDVD (optional), AppleWorks