As the Scimathics 10 class has moved through November, we have been working on a project surrounding genetics. Basically we learned all about how genes work and how people become different or the same based on these concepts. We then moved on to some smaller activity/projects to test our new knowledge. Finally, we worked on and completed a cloning themed video explaining genetics in depth through animation and voiceover.
To learn a science concept there is a certain amount of studying, worksheets, and hard learning one must do. So, to start the unit and project we did that. For a few days we did lots of lessons and studying to understand the concepts of genes, genotype, alleles and other genetics related things. After this slightly dry point in the genetics unit, things started to speed up and really become interesting.
For the majority of this unit, we were working on our video. We worked in pairs and I went with Jessie for this video. At the beginning of the project, we agreed Jessie would do most of the script, I would edit and create the video, and we would share the voiceover part. To start the script we had to compile a lot of our knowledge into one document. To do this we used google docs. Once our information was in one place we were ready to start the script. Because this is Jessie’s part I didn’t do much of it. Over the next few days she worked hard and completed this part of the video process. The next step was creating the animation. To create this videos animation I used keynote magic move with screen record. Once you have your transition animations on keynote you simply screen record and go through your keynote presentation. Once that’s done you can go into iMovie and edit the speeds of the video to fit with the voiceover. After that I pretty much just waited for Jessie to finish hers. We uploaded to YouTube. Now we were done the project.
In reflection, this project was awesome. It served its purpose and taught us more about genetics and video skills than any standard textbook learning could. one thing I would have done differently is to make sure there is more communication between the group partners when we are out of class. Often when the video just needed a few things done, one member of the group wouldn’t respond or be able to do it for the deadline. Overall though, I think I did my group did well, I think everyone did well, and it was definitely a result worth celebration.