Blog

Rationale
The purpose of this week’s minilab activity is to provide you with a means of ‘documenting’ environmental phenomena and expand, even further, the range of original media objects, such as sound clips, that you can create for your science program. For this week’s post, you are going to go outside and document an environmental phenomenon (e.g., wind, sunlight, precipitation) with your choice of either images, video, or sound using your digital camera or mobile phone.
Getting outside can mean going for a walk or just stepping outside your door or out on the balcony. If you are unable to go outside, you may document something through the window. Depending on the weather, you may be able to capture interesting weather-related sounds, including sounds that result from an outdoor phenomenon such as the sound of wind, birds or rain. Even the sound of birds relates to the weather because the type of birds you hear depend on the season and the region you’re in. Those of you who have never tried creating a sound recording would learn a lot if you chose this option.
HOW TO: Documenting the “sounds” of the environment:
https://ccld415p22mm01.blog.ryerson.ca/embedding-sound/
“The sound of Cicadas always reminds me of heat and sunlight because you tend to only hear them on the hottest days of summer. The Cicada is also an emblem of Provence and the South of France, so it has cultural, as well as regional, meaning.”
tip:
First, check the weather for the week, and consider planning your ‘documentation’ session on the day a particular weather phenomena is likely to occur. Make note of days where there will be wind or precipitation. Or if it’s a sunny day, you’ll likely hear the sounds of birds early in the morning. You can also include a ‘screen capture’ of the weather from this time period for your mini-lab blog post.
Drafting your blog post
1. Draft post: Create a ‘draft’ post that with the title “Module 6: Experiencing [your choice of weather

/environmental phenomena].” You will include this week’s category.
2. Choose a spring experience: Choose a time and a place (maybe a nearby park?) you can observe something interesting about the spring weather/season. Following prompt 3 (next) you’ll observe and document interesting weather-related imagery, video, or sounds, including sounds that result from an outdoor phenomenon such as the sound of wind, birds or rain. Even the sound of birds can be related to the weather because the type of birds you hear depend on the season and the region you’re in (like redwing black birds by the waterfront). If you’ve never recorded or posted a sound file will find this useful for your teaching (especially creating dynamic digital content for virtualized learning).
3. Choice of media documentation: You may select ONE (or more) of the following media options to document your experience. Option 1: photos: take 3 digital images using your digital phone (they do not have to be ‘good’ photos!); Option 2: video: record a very short video (1 minute or less) that can be uploaded to a service like TIkTok or YouTube and that allows you to EMBED the video from that service. Option 3: Audio: record a very short audio clip (1 minute or less) that can be uploaded to SoundCloud: https://ccld415p22mm01.blog.ryerson.ca/embedding-sound/
4. Writing your post: You will write 250-350 words about the reasons for your chosen weather/environmental phenomena and how it relates to the start of spring and changes in temperature and your surroundings along with your sensory experiences of these things. With reference to at least ideas concepts and ideas from the module, discuss how the use/creation of weather-specific media could be incorporated into a lesson (of any kind) that might be integrated with picture books or other play-based activities related to spring.
5. Final touches: Remember to save the post as a ‘draft’ until next Saturday (week 7), when you can click ‘publish.’