Although we can talk about a topic that we want our students to research, debate, agree/disagree with, do a documentary on, etc., we can motivate them by showing them a YouTube video about the topic. For example, you can show them the video, Spanish is Texas town’s official language, for motivation. Students can listen and write down the major points of both sides.
Then they can research this topic and related ones (Should some towns in Peru have Quecha as their official language although Spanish is the national language? How has Canada dealt with two languages both being the official language?) They can do Internet research, find other YouTube videos to support their side, interview people in person or electronically (email, IM, Skype, videoconferencing, etc.). They can present their factual and emotional evidence to support their view through PowerPoint, other YouTube videos, actual live interviews, their own YouTube video about the topic, a podcast, etc. English students and Social Studies students who hate to write an essay will eagerly do this assignment and then they can write it up in the state-rubric essay writing format.
One advantage of using a YouTube video is that the students can replay the video as often as they want to make sure that they understand the arguments on both sides. They can even style their response in the same or a similar format. They have the scaffolding of the video to help them as they check their information against the video.
How do you use YouTube to help students with their research?
© Harry Grover Tuttle, 2007
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