Lights, Camera, Action; How BrainPOP Videos Lead to High Levels of Learning
Jerry Jones, M. Ed.
Education Leader | Transfr Workforce Manager | ACSA San Diego & Imperial County Principal of the Year | Providing Career Pathways & Upward Mobility for ALL Students
I have had the amazing opportunity to walk into thousands of classrooms over the last 17 years as a school site administrator.?Prior to this, I was an elementary teacher for 8 years, so I have had countless experiences to interact with students and observe scores of talented, dynamic, thoughtful and innovative teachers.
Simultaneously, I have watched my own two children, who are now teenagers in high school, and watch what motivates them to learn and how they best retain information.?One of the best ways to grab students attention, get them excited about learning and help them to clearly understand a topic is through the use of movies.
I have seen my 16 year old daughter learn how to make intricate bracelets in 2nd grade and then market them to other students, make slime in 5th grade and learn to market and sell to others, both near and afar, and then learn how to make fashion videos in high school where she has a fashion account and collaborates with many companies who pay her to market their products; all because of watching videos. Because of these learning passion projects, she has a remarkable understanding of who she is and what she wants to accomplish in school and beyond.?I have watched my 17 year old son, who is not a traditional learner, know things about history, religion and geography in a way that I will likely never know; because he enjoys watching videos on topics that interest him and that are presented in his preferred learning style. ?
Videos have long been used in school to support learning and they “have been repeatedly shown to be astonishingly effective in supporting student engagement and retention. Students self-report greater interest and enjoyment; teachers report better classroom results and richer understanding of essential content. They even help improve standardized test scores, for those concerned with such things” (Short Educational Videos Are Better for Learning ).?
In looking at?John Hattie's research , which ranks "252 Influences And Effect Sizes Related To Student Achievement " Micro-Teaching/Video review of Lessons has an effect size of 0.88. An effect size of 0.40 or greater is considered significant and is equal to one year's growth in one year's time, so a .88 will accelerate student learning in ways that so many students need!
The following are my top, research-based, reasons why videos provide equity and excellence, and are an essential component to high levels of learning for all students. ?
Equity and Narrowing the Knowledge Gap
When planning lessons, students’ prior knowledge should always be taken into consideration. This is another area that is key for learning and has an effect size of .93.?"For certain topics and concepts video can help novice students who have lower prior knowledge process the concept you are teaching more easily (Reiser & Dempsey, 2007)." Prior to students being able to engage in new material, collaborate and participate with their peers and engage in academic discourse in the ways that we know students learn best, one of the best things we can do as educators is to provide the background knowledge and vocabulary that students need to understand novel concepts.?Education researcher Pauline Gibbons tells us,
“Rather than trying to simplify information, amplifying the curriculum means finding as many ways as possible to make key information comprehensible.” (Using Video Content to Amplify Learning )
Videos are a great resource for amplifying the curriculum and making information comprehensible for ALL students; whether it be emerging bilingual students, students with disabilities, or students who simply do not have the background knowledge to effectively participate at their appropriate grade level. In Natalie Wexler's book, The Knowledge Gap, she builds her case asserting that cognitive science suggests?that the key to understanding is having solid background knowledge on the subject.
When students have a better understanding of the content and vocabulary, students will naturally be more engaged, more confident and the academic discourse between students will be so much richer. When this occurs, achievement will follow.?
Save Time & Accelerate Learning
As a principal, I did not want classrooms watching full-length videos or films.?I have always felt that we need to maximize our precious educational time.?Brief videos however, are a great way to impart meaningful content in a short amount of time.?“Intuitively, many of us probably already know this, but the research also backs it up. A large-scale study based on 6.9 million video-watching sessions found that student engagement…had a median engagement time of, at most, 6 minutes, regardless of overall video length.” (“What’s the Optimum Length for an Instructional Video? And Why is it Important?” ). BrainPOP has hundreds of videos, all searchable by topic, that are generally no more than five-minutes in length.
Over the last 2+ years, students have had their routines of school disrupted. So, while they have likely increased their flexibility, independence, problem solving and technological skills during their remote, hybrid and asynchronous learning times; it is likely, that students may not have received some of the grade level content that they would have received under more typical circumstances.
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Andrew Gardner, wrote a blog on, “The Case for Accelerated Learning: Supporting Student Success ,” and in it, he shared that with acceleration, context in king: “Providing context for students to better understand their current course of study is key to learning acceleration. BrainPOP effectively builds background knowledge...and clearly communicates main ideas and introduces or reinforces essential vocabulary. Visual explanations demystify complex ideas in ways that words alone can’t.?Social studies and science curricula frequently have a spiraling structure by presenting consistent themes through increasingly complex studies. Are you teaching the Civil War to students who never completed their study of the American Revolution? A few BrainPOP lessons can quickly present essential concepts such as liberty, freedom, and justice that bring the causes of the Civil War into sharp relief.”?
Inspiring and Engaging Students?
Videos are able to grab a student’s attention, spark curiosity and create a more engaging sensory experience than using print materials alone.?Very few students respond well to the use of text on its own. With videos, “learners actually get to see and hear the concept being taught, and they can process it in the same way they process their everyday interactions.” (Why Videos are Important in Education )
Studies have shown that video learning has positive outcomes on multiple levels, including increased motivation and deeper learning, and can specifically impact students’ ability to facilitate discussions and identify problems. https://givingcompass.org/article/the-importance-of-videos-for-teaching-and-learning https://motionbox.io/blog/benefits-of-using-videos-in-the-classroom
There is strong evidence (5 Benefits of Using Videos in the Classroom ) that videos can inspire and engage students when incorporated into student-centered learning activities through:
BrainPOP videos inspire students to connect and engage deeply into any topic?across the curriculum by making it relatable, entertaining, and easy to understand.?And when students are engaged, interacting, participating, and feeling confident, there will be increased achievement for all students.
Increase Knowledge Retention, Inspired Thinking and Deepen Learning!
When students are able to utilize a multi-model form of learning, in the case of videos, visual, auditory, discussion (through the use of pause points ) reading (through closed captioning or reading the movie transcript) students are able to understand and remember more: “Studies have shown that the use of short video clips allows for more efficient processing and memory recall. The visual and auditory nature of videos appeals to a wide audience and allows each user to process information in a way that’s natural to them.” (Why Videos are Important in Education ) Additionally, the use of videos "stimulates the cognitive processes of thinking, reasoning, problem-solving, decision-making, and creating. Videos take the student beyond recall-and-relate activities and help to engage viewers with more complex themes,?and to facilitate further engagement with the content (“10 Reasons to Use Video for Education” ).
BrainPOP develops deep understanding across all curriculum areas and makes?rigorous learning accessible to?all?students.??Allowing students to have content and background knowledge and build essential vocabulary are keys that unlocking knowledge for students of all backgrounds.?
Other Related Articles by Jerry Jones on why BrainPOP is an?Essential?Learning Platform for Students:
Additional Resources:
Learning Designer, M.Ed
2 年BrainPOP videos infused into intentional instructional design make a powerful impact when teaching and learning! Golden Line from your article: "When students are able to utilize a multi-model form of learning, in the case of videos, visual, auditory, discussion (through the use of?pause points) reading (through closed captioning or reading the movie transcript) students are able to understand and remember more."