The video that I have selected to base this blog post on and which will help me further explain the concept of race to students ranging in the grades K-2 is a video from Sesame Street. I selected this video based on the simple yet informative description of race that it provides, along with the idea of the students possibly focusing more as it is presented by characters that they may be familiar with.
Given that the targeted audience for our Interactive Learning Resource is younger children, I assume that they would be most likely to respond to the video through learner-generated discussion. To help facilitate this, ideally, the educator would split the learners into smaller groups where the discussions can take place, this would allow each student to share their thoughts and opinions, what they learned, and how they would like to further educate themselves on this topic. After the discussion is completed, the educator could provide a small activity where the learners are asked to write what race means to them and what they learned from the video. This would engage with learner/learner, learner/content, and learner/self interactions, forcing them to engage with the material, each other, and their own personal thoughts and opinions on the topic.
I think that the video does a great job of showing that no matter what race somebody is, everyone is equal and should be treated as an equal. I believe that the video could have done a better, and more in-depth job of explaining what race means instead of just why people are of different races. Regarding this topic, I believe that some potential barriers may include the learners really grasping the importance of understanding race and what race means. This video may be of use when it comes to explaining race as it breaks down and helps explain it in a simplified way while using popular children’s characters that may help keep their attention focused on the topic being discussed.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dk_HYAiS26I
References:
Anderson, T. (2003). Getting the mix right again: An updated and theoretical rationale for interaction. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 4(2), 1–14.
Hi Megan! I appreciate that you found an age-appropriate video for your learners. It is also a great idea to initiate a group discussion after watching it. They might also be interested in interacting with the video itself. You can use the h5p interactive video plugin in WordPress and embed various into the video itself – https://wordpress.org/plugins/h5p. Here you can find some samples -https://h5p.org/interactive-video#example=617.