The Next Tech Thing: Second Grade Virtual Tour Guides through iPad App Smashes with Google Street View & DoInk Green Screens

Recently some second grade students working with Julie Olson and Rachel Studnicka at Groveland Elementary School did a creative app smash for their research projects. The end result was a video of themselves narrating a second moving video in the background. This virtual field trip with the students as a tour guide really brought their learning to life. Students were very excited about this and their projects turned out great, such as the one shown above (used with permission). Besides Egyptian pyramids, other students led tours to places such as Hawaii, Chile or along the Mississippi River.

Prior to recording, the students spent time selecting a topic for inquiry and researching it using Britannica online. After organizing their research, students spent time scripting out their narration with a template (I am broadcasting from… The reason I am here is… Here are the important facts you need to know… The most interesting facts about this topic are…). They also selected their background location and practiced panning and zooming around in it using Google Street View prior to the filming using the iOS 11 screen recording tool. Once they finished this recording, they saved it to the iPad camera roll to import into DoInk as the background for their green screen recording. Students also spent time learning to use DoInk and merging their two videos. DoInk’s green screen app is a great tool used by students in all of our grades--more on that in a couple previous posts here and here. Final projects were saved in Google Drive.

This is yet another great example of the use of technology for learning. It helps students make learning more meaningful, personal, and memorable. Throughout this project, students used multiple skills on the Minnetonka Teaching and Learning Framework besides technology: critical thinking, creativity, communication, and authentic and real world learning. Learn more about the Framework here. Related posts about app smashing, green screens, iPads, using technology for learning, and more can be found linked below:

One Year Later, Green Screens Are Everywhere in Minnetonka Schools

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