As a child, I can remember the excitement in the classroom when the television trolley was wheeled in for an occasional TV lesson. In a modern classroom, with an interactive screen and YouTube on demand, we’re a little more blasé about the use of video content, and perhaps we overuse it.

Videos can be effective if used well. Media can serve as a “hook” that opens up the lesson. Videos can activate prior knowledge, engage the student with something mysterious or visually appealing, or establish a purpose for learning. The right video clips can provide awe and wonder to your lesson. 

Videos can also be used to explain a concept, combining it with visuals and animations that make it more engaging than just telling them yourself.

In a 1998 study by Mayer and Moreno, students were found to learn most effectively when they were shown an animation that was accompanied by narration, rather than the using same animation with added on-screen text. This reduced cognitive load on visual working memory by also using the auditory channel rather than all the content being visual. For a great overview of the way we process information see Oliver Caviglioli’s book “Dual Coding for Teachers”.

I love a good video with a song in it, they can be great for recalling and summarising the key points of a lesson. Search YouTube for “Echolocation Song” and “Camel Adaptation Song” for two of my favourites. I’ve found these work best at the end of a lesson as part of a summary task. Put the captions up and the children can sing along. I’ve seen them used before introducing the lesson content and they’re less effective as the children don’t yet know what the song is all about or what the words mean. The best ones can be as catchy as advertising jingles.

Tips for Using Videos

• Check it before you play it. Does it match the learning objective? Could the content be delivered better by you?
• If it’s a video you’ve used before, make sure it’s still there. Give yourself some time to find an alternative.
• Keep them short. No longer than 3 minutes. If a video is longer than that, only show a short section.
• Lose the distracting banners and comments. Play it full-screen or use the sharing code to embed the video directly into a PowerPoint or Google slide. You could even add a question, or keywords alongside the video.
• If the video has a song, save it for later in the lesson when the children understand the concept, don’t start with it.

Here’s how to embed a video into a PowerPoint Slide to lose the adverts

Strategies for playing videos

• Give the children a focus when playing the video. This could be a focus question or two to look for as the video plays or vocabulary you want them to find the meaning of.
• To reduce cognitive load, play the video through once. Then give the focus question, then play it again. 
• Pause at important points, highlight or explain.  
• Occasionally play a video with the sound down. Can the children infer what is going on in the video? Then play it again with the sound on. Do they need to revise their ideas?
• AEIOU: While watching a video, children look out for an Adjective to describe something they say, an Emotion to describe how it made them feel, something interesting, something that made them go Oh, and an Um – a question they have after watching it.

Further Reading

Caviglioli, O., (2019) Dual Coding With Teachers. John Catt

Brame, C.J. (2017). Effective educational videos: Principles and Guidelines for Maximising Student Learning from Video Content. Life Sciences Education, 15(4), 16 https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.16-03-0125

Mayer, R.E., & Moreno, R. (1998). A Split-Attention Effect in Multimedia Learning: Evidence for Dual Processing Systems in Working Memory. Journal of Educational Psychology, 90, 312-320. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.90.2.312