Outdoor and Environmental Education → Go Green → Environmental Films
Environmental Films...A Project Based Learning Opportunity
MCPS Outdoor Environmental Education Programs is collaborating with the American Film Institute and American University’s School of Communication Film and Media Arts Department to offer a great opportunity: the Environmental Film Festival! This is an authentic, project-based learning unit that starts early in the academic year with student questions about an environmental issue that stir their curiosity and passion.
Through the course of six months, students
- conduct a thorough investigation of their selected issue which integrates the content indicators
- develop a timeline for completion of a media presentation
- learn to use technology – cameras, filming techniques, sound and film editing, etc., to create their final presentation
The project culminates with a student created environmental documentary, public service announcement (PSA), or animated product. Benefits for students include student engagement in a project that integrates science, technology, social studies, and language instruction to increase academic achievement. Final products will be aired in the spring at AFI, and will also be sent to ITV to be broadcast in the spring.
MCPS Environmental Film Festival Guidelines and Overview 2016
Judges Report and Rubric for Films
Sample Student Films
Wasted: Winner 2015
Coke And Pepsi: Winner 2014
- A Murky Future : Winner 2014
- Water: A Disappearing Lifeline in our Fragile World: the importance of water in the Chesapeake Bay
- The Water Cycle: A short film on the water cycle
- 2043: A short film about our current environmental actions and the potential results
- A Sad Little Bag: A short film about recycling
- Simple Green: A documentary about green building techniques *winner of the 2009 MCPS Environmental Film Festival*
- Footprints on the Water: A documentary about human impact on the Chesapeake Bay
- A Convenient Truth: A documentary about the impact of water bottle usage
- Blair's Campaign for Wind Power: A documentary about the impact of using wind as an energy source
- Beecline: A documentary about the importance of honey bees and what could be lost as their population declines
Questions? Contact Brian Shilling