Vuvox is a freeware which allows users to create -amongst others- presentations and videos using a wide range of sources including existing or new videos, documents, sound clips etc. Because of its versatile nature into what can be included, Vuvox allows the creation of very didactic animations and presentations -a nice change from the Power Point Tradition -which although useful- can be severing to creativity.
In Science, students are often required to "plan" experimental designs. For this purpose, students are usually asked to submit a form-like report which describes -in a written manner only- the way in which they expect to develop and carry out the experiment of their choice.
Although the nature of this task is to enhance the learner's ingenuity, the manner in which the learner is usually asked to "present" this ingenuity seems like deterrent to creativity -after all, how many artists produce a beautiful sculpture by first describing it on paper?
Bearing in mind that the design of an experiment is in many aspects no different to the creation of a piece of art, it would seem more adequate that a student asked to develop an experimental design should be able to visually describe what it is that he/she is planning on. Vuvox could therefore be used to allow students to "plan" experiments with the use of visual aids: photographs or videos of the way in which they plan to set up apparatus; sources of inspiration or models for comparison; the manner in which data will be recorded or even the means for controlling experimental values.
When asked to produce an experimental design, students often overlook many of the concepts listed above. By encouraging students to make videos or take photographs of their design as they produce it -and persuade them to organize it in a comprehensive manner- we as teachers may be facilitating this creative process. In addition, by having a hands-on activity in the creation of their design, students are more likely to gain a deeper understanding of what they are doing and the implications of their experimental design, than if they were just describing it in abstract. Because of the nature of Vuvox, students working "together" may combine individually obtained ideas/images/videos and organize them without having to be working "together" in a temporal frame. This is an advantage over designs produce on a paper whilst students are sitting together -not necessarily close to sources of ideas or inspiration-.
Producing an experimental design through Vuvox, has the added value that the experimental design is more readily available for other members of the class: By embedding it on You Tube or a similar file sharing platform, students may "see" what it is that their peers have designed and share their creations in a more user friendly manner: Teenagers are, after all, more likely to click on a youtube link than read an academic journal.
By using Vuvox as the medium to display an experimental design and Youtube as a means of sharing it, the additional message of the much needed creativity in Science is underlined. The concept of using an interactive platform to design and present the design an experiment strays away from the traditional image of the scientist as a man in white coat piled up with papers and complicated abstract calculations and links the activity to the reality of the student.
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