InDepthEducation.com’s 3D Educator of the Month: Megan Power

3D Movie-Making?  In Kindergarten?  Although this might sound crazy to some, to Megan Power this is just a small example of what her students are capable of!  In her eleventh year of teaching in Poway Unified School District in San Diego, California, she has been an innovative technology integrator.  This is her sixth year making movies with her students, but last year marked their first year working in 3D… and it was a great success!  Their film “Flashback in Time” won two San Diego County Office of Education Innovative Video in Education (SDCOE iVIE) awards in the K-2 and People’s Choice divisions.

So, what does Megan have to say about teaching and learning in stereoscopic 3D?  Let’s find out!

Q: How long have you been working with 3D technologies and in what capacity?
Megan: I have been using stereoscopic 3D in my classroom for 1 year.

Q: What made you decide to integrate 3D teaching and learning into your classroom?
Megan: My kindergarten class was writing and filming a movie about decades in history last year and we wanted our audience to feel like they were really in the past. Our original idea was to film in 3D so the movie would be more realistic and allow viewers to experience the past with “future” technology. When researching the 20s, 50s, and 80s we found that 3D was around at those time periods. This finding became a very important piece that was threaded in our movie. 3D also gave the students a chance to learn about our sense of sight and about different perspectives.This directly connected to our comprehension work on inference and character perspectives.

Q: In what ways have you found 3D technologies innovative, unique and/or helpful in education?
Megan: 3D is exciting and engaging. Because it is so close to real life students remember concepts and content more. It brings a whole new depth to learning and video.

Q: What are your thoughts on student use (K-12 or college) of 3D technologies?
Megan: Any type of filming project with students is powerful. When you give students another dimension to work in, the project gets that much better. Students really have to think about the content and about the process of filming on a deeper level when creating in 3D. I would like to experiment more with 3D content in the classroom and am excited to see more students’ 3D projects.

Q: How can readers find out more about your work?
Megan: People can find out more by watching our movie on YouTube.

Flashback in Time 3D

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Are you making a difference in teaching and learning with stereoscopic 3D technologies?  Do you know someone who is?  Nominate them for InDepthEducation’s 3D Educator of the Month!