The Life Cycle of a Coconut Palm

This summer, as part of the Master’s program, I am taking an Education Technology class. In this course we are learning technology applications that we can use for and with our students in the classroom.
On Monday, our professor gave us a new assignment – a Slowmation or Claymation video project. This is a very fun technology that incorporates hands-on project building with a number of technology applications. We were divided into groups of three and on Monday, we were to come up with a subject for our video, research it on-line in class and develop a storyboard, which included reasearch, narration and visual ideas or sketches for the video frames themselves. My group decided to develop a story about the Life Cycle of a Coconut Palm.
On Wednesday, when we met again, we were handed a bag of construction paper, play dough, and other art supplies; a digital still camera and tripod and were sent to a room to create all of the artwork, make still images (approximately 120-150 frames); then transfer the stills to video; record an audio track, then imbed the audio into the video; and load the finished product on YouTube.
Most assuredly, not one student in the class felt there was even a slight, remote possibility that we could make this project happen in three hours. But, we all did. It was a flurry, to say the least, to accomplish. We made little play-dough objects, construction paper cut-outs for all of the scenes, learned the new audio recording technology and how to put all of it together in an entertaining, educational little movie. It was a great time!
And here’s The Life Cycle of a Coconut Palm for you to watch and, hopefully, enjoy.