World War One… made easier by the digital age.
The First World War project is aimed at fifteen and sixteen year old Standard Grade pupils with the aim of bringing a new awareness and understanding to one of the grimmest periods in British history. It also introduces pupils to the idea of researching information from a variety of sources including the World Wide Web.
The pupils target was to create a short video of 2-3 minutes duration telling the story of an ex-soldier who attended their school and then lost their life in the conflict. The key part of this video is an original voice-over, which is written by the pupils after researching the war and the soldier's part in it. With this information pupils then recorded their voice-over and use archived photographs and video clips, to illustrate the story.
The War Memorial in Bellshill
Designing the project
It is the story of a man who lived in the pupils' town and attended their school, a man who will have sat in the very room in which the pupils are being taught. Using two main research sources, the Commonwealth War Graves web site and an excellent locally produced booklet, "Bellshill/Mossend Monument, The Ultimate Sacrifice," by Hugh Quinn and Joseph O'Raw.
From these two sources a local man was identified for whom there was a reasonable amount of information available. The soldier/ex pupil selected was Edwin Trydell of the Grenadier Guards, 4th Battalion, who was killed in action in an attack on Bernafay Wood during the battle of the Somme. Mr Trydell's old Regiment, the Grenadier Guards, were also able to provide a little extra information about Edwin, including the fact that he actually lived within the school grounds, in the "Academy House" (it is believed that his father was the school caretaker/janitor).
The final part of the preparation was to import a series of video clips, sound files and still pictures of World War One and the streets of Bellshill at the turn of the century into the video editing package.
For pupils the project can be broken into four distinct stages:
- Research
- Writing the voice over
- Learning video editing
- Making the video.
Research
Pupils were given a brief outline of the project and issued with a set of "Pupil Notes" giving a full explanation of the project. The pupils started with the soldier's name, rank, regiment and date of death. Using the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's site, a BBC documentary video and the links to other relevant web sites pupils take notes to use later when writing their voice over.
Writing the voiceover
- What happened to the person you're writing about (e.g. tell his story), including a brief description of the battle in which he lost his life;
- How new military technology would have affected the soldiers in the trenches (e.g. machineguns, artillery, tanks, gas, barbed wire etc.)
- What trench life was like for a typical soldier; and
- What effect do you think living in the trenches would have had on the soldiers physically and mentally?
Learning video editing
The Learning Centre is very conscious that video is only a tool, a means to an end, so when we teach video editing we strip out any non-essential functions (e.g. special effects, transitions etc.) thus cutting the learning time to literally 2-3 hours. The Learning Centre produced a full set of notes to help educators to learn and teach the software.
Making the video
This is the most popular part of the process as far as the pupils are concerned. Pupils are even able to take a copy of their film home to show friends and family.
This project not only introduces pupils to ICT and helps make a difficult and disturbing subject more relevant to young people, it is also good fun for staff and pupils alike.
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