I'm a high school astronomy and physics teacher exploring the
educational use of social networking/video sharing sites. I'm aware
that class demos and experiments can be found on these site. However,
I'm more interested in their social dimension and how this might be
used to engage students/the public and improve science education. To
this end, I am conducting an experiment in the form of a YouTube
competition. I'm hoping that the readers of this group might enter or
help spread the word. You can find the call for entries at: http://www.phylm.com/

Phylm, pronounced "film," is a portmanteau of "physics" and "film,"
and for the past four years my students have produced short phylms.
Basically, they take Hollywood or home movies and analyze their
presentation of physics. Sometimes they want to know if the bus from
Speed could have made the jump. Sometimes they're curious about forces
they themselves have experienced. What makes the projects unique, is
that they draw on top of and narrate over the original clips--
producing a cross between a DVD commentary and VH1's Pop Up Video.

I am currently on a Fulbright exchange and my present school doesn't
have the same facilities as my home. So rather than let the project
die, I opened it up to the whole world via YouTube. I've put $100 of
my own money up to act as incentive since I can't very well give out
extra credit, and I've reached back into my contacts to put together a
rather diverse judges panel. It includes professors from Tufts and
Harvard, TV professionals from both sides of the Atlantic, high school
teachers, and even "mad scientists." A complete list can be found on
the competition's site (http://www.phylm.com/).

The due date for entries is May 1, 2007. Then we're using YouTube
ratings to narrow the field. So far, the call for entries has been
viewed almost 900 times, and a little over 200 copies of the official
rules have been downloaded. You can find the complete rules at the
site.

I think it's an interesting experiment in the global digital
classroom. Mainly I want educators to start thinking about how they
can use new media in the classroom. I don't want the knee-jerk
reaction to new technology to be, "ban it." I want it to be "how can
we use this?" So if you want to enter or you feel you can help spread
the word, that would be greatly appreciated. Either way, I hope you
take a look at the results come May.

============================
David A. Colarusso
Astronomy and Physics Teacher
http://www.davidcolarusso.com/

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