This is great! It’s like DOOM- Math version. Here’s what I mean, you are looking the the problem and seeing what the student is doing without any exterior cues. Many Ss are well versed in picking up visual cues from Ts or other Ss. I found myself thinking like the student and not like a teacher. I started predicting what the Ss was going to do, or trying to decide how they were thinking based on initial comments or writing. I really like the fact that you get their first impression ideas and explanations, you can see their thought process without any refinement. If you played a video of student work for the class, it would be great for error checking and you could pause at any point in the video to address skills or make predictions. This would also be an easy medium to give individual feedback.

Some things I did not like is that you do not have a “record” of all of their work for quick reference. In order to be able to see each step, you have to play the video back. I would have to develop a folder of assignments of assessments (for accountability purposes) which could cause issues on my limited server space. It would also take longer to assess Ss work because you do have to play each video- it could become an issue for teachers with large Ss numbers. I also wonder how this would work for group-type work- I would imagine you would have to train students in proper digital recording (one talking or drawing at a time, everyone provides their input).

As part of a team of grade 7 and 8 teachers in Gravenhurst, Ontario we have been using Educreations as a student tool to record Ss thinking when given a rich, open task to solve. Within an agreed upon and student developed framework for math talk communication, Ss record what they are visualizing when presented with a problem and then their ideas and math talk verbalization are recorded too. Ss then have a conversation and representation to look back on and to listen to so that they have more ideas and connections for solving the problem or open task. It has helped several students who are initially reluctant to share their ideas, who process information at a differing speed or who solve problems more effectively when working collaboratively!

Wow, for me the real goldmine of this is her presentation, since Educreations is a bit out of reach unless you have a tablet school, which I don’t.

I am printing out her words to hang by my desk as a reminder of just what the heck I’m supposed to be doing up there:

My job as a teacher is to:
1) promote student thinking
2) respond to student thinking

I promote student thinking by asking rich questions.
I respond to student thinking by posing further questions that either scaffold, redirect, probe, or extend.

Both skills need practicing.

That is the most beautiful job description I’ve ever read.

Marian’s approach means less guesswork compared to scanned/handed-in work; there’s less “What was he thinking?” You see this in Pershan’s math mistakes; part of the draw is this puzzle aspect. Listening to our students tells us so much more about what they know than what shows up on paper. Our K-2 colleagues get this. As someone who once taught (mostly) 15- to 18-year-olds and now teaches 5- to 8-year-olds, that’s been one take away for me.

One advantage of videos that show the student and the teacher is that, watching a kid-only video, you may wish you could ask a clarifying (That’s not on Marian’s list. Huh.) or probing question. The teacher in the video can ask this question for you. Fingers crossed. One disadvantage is that the teacher may get in the way, perhaps paraphrasing what he wants to hear rather than what the student is saying. I know I’ve done this (e.g. “So, are you saying…”) [Note: I’ll watch your student & teacher example after posting this comment, so I’m just speculating/reflecting here, not commenting on the teacher in the video.]

I’ll quibble a bit with teaching through a lesson or a problem having the same appeal. When I poked with the Khan khomment, I meant those step-by-step kid-created how-to factor/rationalize the denominator/solve for x videos (“teaching through a lesson”?). I’m with you there. When I think teaching through a problem, I’m thinking of seeing/hearing a student’s own strategy for an activity in which she has not already been given a way to solve it — that’s not a problem, but practice (or worked example?). Then again, what I describe is formative, not summative, so I guess I’ll withdraw my quibble.

This notion of “polished” is interesting. Certainly, Khan isn’t polished in terms of style (just a man and his Wacom pen, after all) or in terms of being rehearsed (that Wikipedia comment). I guess that’s why you added the adjective.

But, yes, I’d want a quick, unrehearsed video (not a project) from my students that explained their thinking (not just what they did). Ideally, these videos would clock in at < 4 min. Maybe that’s another disadvantage as compared to paper: this really limits the problems you can pose if we’re stuck on capturing kids’ initial rather than rehearsed thoughts.

If the video is not created in the problem-solving moment, can we think of it as reflection rather than rehearsal time? This involves setting clear expectations — wanting to hear stories of missteps as well as success — and teaching students what communication in mathematics looks like. So, for the child in Marian’s video, I’d want to hear from her about how she came to realize that the three sides didn’t have to be equal, not just that 5, 7, 8 works.

My students used the Explain Everything app recently to create review videos for the Algebra end-of-course exam. They’re quite fun, and many of them are wrong. Since our class culture embraces mistakes pretty comfortably, we used the incorrect videos as talking points just as much as the correct ones. Feel free to check them out – and be kind, we’re really new at this!

https://www.thinglink.com/scene/515598950074417152

We are a Year 1-8 school in NZ and many classes are using educreations and/or explain everything for children to record their thinking through and solving problems in maths (among other things). It really is a fantastic way of getting an understanding of how they are thinking independently and any misconceptions they have. The children all have their own blogs and embed their educreations onto their blog as evidence of what different strategies they can use.
It is great that they are able to access educreation from their chromebooks. It would be amazing if there was the ability to create a template that could be used by each child to record on as you can do in explaineverything. I love both of these apps – they are so powerful in the classroom.

@Wade Roberts – do students and teachers have access to the actual video files in Educreations? Sometimes kids like to remix their work (cut from a screen cast to a video demonstrating how to, say, use a graphing calculator for something, then back to the screen cast… or… add music, transitions, etc.). I’m curious if Educreations give students that type of control/ownership over the vids. Thanks!