Snapshot Serengeti Talk

Writing a Story (interdisciplinary)

  • ajg by ajg

    I'm an instructional designer at college level in the sciences, but as I was constructing a sequence and then chatting about it --- I realized the process could make a good project for students, tailored to any grade level.

    The base of the activity is to find an interesting image, an image that the student wants to know more about. Ideal images would be suited to a sequence --- grazing wildebeest, moving in herds, lions hanging out all day by the camera, birth of a gazelle, lion attack, hyena attack, etc.

    Depending on the grade level - students could use our hack method of altering the end of the URL of the image to find others in the sequence or seeing if another user here has tagged them into a sequence. No matter the grade level this hits the 21st century skills of gathering and data mining.

    Then with the sequence --- and depending on the grade level and class the activity is for --- a narrative/story/fiction/observation journal could be written by the students.

    • from the animal(s) perspective as a 'Day in the Life'
    • pretending to be a researcher hiding in the brush observing animals
    • fictional story anthropomorphizing the animals in the images

    If the activity is in a writing class it might take on a focus of a certain style of writing or poetry. The emphasis would be on the writing. Advanced writing class might focus on adding bits of research into the project, researching facts about the animals and the Serengeti, or researching issues surrounding conservation in the Serengeti.

    If the activity was in a science class the focus may be on putting together the day of the sequence with real content/research on the animals/environment placed into the presentation. The emphasis would be on the science/zoology and facts or designing questions to ask the science team.

    Of course - the activity would be designed around the learning goals/outcomes of the teacher and if K-12 how it can hit the points of national standards.

    Posted

  • kosmala by kosmala scientist

    Thanks for the great writing ideas, ajg!

    Posted