It’s gratifying to see how many people have viewed the videos on the history of the Periodic Table since they were posted a few days ago. As soon as I had them uploaded, I had to turn right around and create another video for a PBS Innovative Teachers contest that I am entering. This video has to be under three minutes (I had 1/3 second to spare . . . ) and show a project my students and I have worked on that proves I’m an innovative teacher, so I chose The Elements Unearthed Project, of course. I figured even if I’m not chosen, I can at least use a short video overview of the project to place on this blog and show people at conferences (such as the NSTA conference next week).
So here it is:
It was in HD format (similar to the Business Profile Videos I do for clients) but WordPress seems to want videos only at 720 x 480, so I apologize if the video is a bit squished. It talks about several projects my students have done, such as the Mars Exploration Student Data Team program back in 2003-04 and the AM to FM documentary we did for KUED (Salt Lake City’s PBS station) in 2007. Then it discusses this project, why we’re doing it, and how it engages students in authentic learning.
I’ll place this video on the Videos page as well as the About Us page so that it’s easy to find no matter where this post gets to. I uploaded my application to PBS this afternoon (successfully) and will hear about the contest sometime in April. If I’m one of the ten top finalists, it will mean a trip to Austin, Texas to the annual PBS conference in May, where I hope to pitch this project to the movers and shakers there. Since I’ve done a documentary for PBS before (albeit a local station) I feel on somewhat familiar ground here.
But again there’s no rest for the wicked, so it’s back to work putting together my Keynote presentation for next week, writing a few proposals, packing – oh, and doing some work for pay, as well.
The Elements Unearthed 
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