Kilgore Gifted Students are Participating in NASA Spotlite Design Challenge

Seventh and eighth grade students in Lisa Ann Wilson’s Digital Studio class at Kilgore Gifted Center are participating in the NASA eClips Spotlite Design Challenge. As a part of this authentic project-based learning experience, students are tasked with creating a short video (90-120 seconds) that confronts a common science misconception and introduces a quick activity that viewers can conduct to confront the misconception themselves. The target audience for the created videos are elementary- and middle school-aged students.  

Working individually and in cooperative groups, Wilson’s students researched a misconception, determined a short demonstration that could be used to confront the misconception, and wrote a script to creatively introduce the misconception topic. They provided and received feedback on their scripts through a peer review process. Students have begun filming their demonstrations and their intros and outros. When complete, the video rough drafts will be submitted to the NASA eClips team and NASA subject matter experts for feedback. Students will make requested revisions to their videos and resubmit them. Videos that receive a NASA “stamp of approval” will be featured on the NASA eClips website and may become the “Engage” segment of a 5E instructional lesson (Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate/Extend, and Evaluate) that can be accessed and used by educators from around the country.  

Seventh grader Joshua Mason-Ruffin said, “Our film is about a scientist/spy who tries to find secret documents and head back to the moon during the day. His misconception is that the moon can only be seen at night. He learns that the moon CAN be seen during the day.”  Eighth grader Andrew Monroe is addressing the same misconception but in a scenario: “My film is about two astronauts. One doesn't realize the moon can be seen during the day. The other is there to educate him and the audience that the moon can be seen at other times.”  Mason-Ruffin added, “Filming is the easiest part of the project because I have experience with the camera equipment. Editing is a little more difficult because it takes longer than acting on camera.”  Monroe concurred, “The thing I like the most is filming. I find it fun to act on camera. The script writing is more difficult because everything needs to be clarified and sometimes others won't understand your vision.” 

Previously, Hampton City School students produced and received NASA approval for these videos: “Characteristics of Plants,” “Heat and Temperature,” “Magnets and Metals 1,” “Magnets and Metals 2,” “Objects at Rest,” “Physical Change,” “Plant Adaptations to Seasonal Change,” “Sound Waves and Media,” and “Stars.” Lessons have been written around several of the HCS student-produced videos: “NASA Spotlite Interactive Lesson:  Heat and Temperature,” “NASA Spotlite Interactive Lesson: Magnets and Metals” (teacher packet, student packet), “NASA Spotlite Interactive Lesson: Objects at Rest” (teacher packet, student packet), “NASA Spotlite Interactive Lesson: Physical Change,” “NASA Spotlite Interactive Lesson: Sound and Media” (teacher packet, student packet), and “NASA Spotlite Interactive Lesson: Stars.”

Wilson shared, “The Spotlite project is perfect for Digital Studio because students are placed in the role of making a film for ‘a client.’ One of the biggest themes in this elective is learning how to convey a message to an audience. Students must meet the challenge of submitting their demo clip and then their whole film for feedback by NASA; and then possibly reworking the film according to that feedback. What a valuable life skill! I've enjoyed the Spotlite project every year my students have participated - this is the third year - and plan to participate again in the future.”