High School Lesson Plan: Public Service Announcement

Public Service Announcement

Teacher: Lauren Economou

Grade Level: 9-12

Brief History: The most common topics of Public Service Announcements (PSAs) are health and safety-related, although any message considered to be "helpful" to the public can be a PSA. A typical PSA will be part of a public awareness campaign to inform or educate the public against smoking or compulsive gambling. Often, a celebrity may promote a foundation and ask for support from viewers or listeners, an example being Michael J. Fox's PSAs in the U.S. supporting research into Parkinson's Disease. Today TV or radio stations typically use PSAs as a way to fill unsold commercial time, or to demonstrate their commitment to a particular cause.



National Art Content Standards:

9-12 Content Standard 1: Understanding and applying media, techniques, and processe

9-12 Content Standard 2: Using knowledge of structures and functions

9-12 Content Standard 3: Choosing and evaluating a range of subject matter, symbols, and ideas

9-12 Content Standard 4: Understanding the visual arts in relation to history and cultures

9-12 Content Standard 5: Reflecting upon and assessing the characteristics and merits of their

work and the work of others

9-12 Content Standard 6: Making connections between visual arts and other disciplines



National Education Standards for Technology:

1. Basic operations and concepts

· Students demonstrate a sound understanding of the nature and operation of technology systems.

· Students are proficient in the use of technology.

2. Social, ethical, and human issues

· Students practice responsible use of technology systems, information, and software.

· Students develop positive attitudes toward technology uses that support lifelong learning, collaboration, personal pursuits, and productivity.

3. Technology productivity tools

· Students use technology tools to enhance learning, increase productivity, and promote creativity.

· Students use productivity tools to collaborate in constructing technology-enhanced models, prepare publications, and produce other creative works.

4. Technology communications tools

· Students use a variety of media and formats to communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences.

5. Technology research tools

· Students use technology to locate, evaluate, and collect information from a variety of sources.

· Students use technology tools to process data and report results.

· Students evaluate and select new information resources and technological innovations based on the appropriateness for specific tasks.

6. Technology problem-solving and decision-making tools

· Students use technology resources for solving problems and making informed decisions.

· Students employ technology in the development of strategies for solving problems in the real world.



Goal: Each student will research the topic “environmental issues in our community.” In teams of three, students will collaborate their ideas and research and select an issue to highlight in a short public service announcement that members of each team will write, direct, and film together.



Objectives: Students will:

- use the synthesized information from several disciplines to solve real-life problems

- understand complex ecological systems from the points of view of multiple subject areas

- study the political, social, cultural, spiritual, economic, and scientific issues that impact the development of a sustainable, healthy ecosystem

- practice independent and collaborative learning skills

- become aware of local and global issues that effect their communities

- educate the community through the use of technology

- learn how to gather data and statistics through research techniques

- use Google Earth and/or Google Sketchup to research topics, and include them in PSAs



Requirements:

- individual student research including data and statistics on environmental and ecological issues effecting the local community.

- maximum 3 minutes long filmed public service announcement in teams of 3 students that should include student research, Google Earth and/or Sketchup, and other visuals used collaboratively to educate the public about the issue at hand. Students should use Google Earth as a map of their community to pinpoint areas they are focusing on in their PSAs. They can use sketchup to highlight certain areas, i.e. building complexes, rivers/lakes/creeks, factories, ect. that relate to their PSA topic.

- written outline or script for PSA



Materials/Supplies: computers, digital video recorders, film editing software, Google Earth and Sketchup programs, any other artistic mediums needed to make visuals



Introduction to Lesson: Students will first be asked to research ecological and environmental issues affecting our community. Teacher will then explain a public service announcement, and show examples of different PSAs on a number of topics to students to give them inspiration for their own PSAs. Teacher will then divide the class into teams of three students each, and each team will be asked to narrow their research down to one topic to focus their PSA on. Students will then be introduced to some new technology: Google Earth and Google Sketchup, computer programs that could potentially be used in the PSAs as helpful visuals to assist in educating the public. For example, Google Earth could be used to document certain community ecological issues on a map, and Google Sketchup could be used to highlight potential damage of community areas from problems such as Global Warming. Students will also be given an introduction to the school’s digital film technology and computer editing software.



Directions:

1. Research ecological and environmental issues effecting our community using the Internet

2. Get into your assigned teams of 3, and decide on a main idea for your PSA

3. Using critical thinking and analysis, come up with a rough draft on paper for your PSA idea. You should answer these questions:

- What topic did your group decide to focus on and why?

- How do you plan to utilize technology to educate the viewer about your issue?

- What do you believe are the most important points to touch on, and how will your group effectively do that in under 3 minutes?

4. Once your draft has been approved, come up with a final script for your PSA

5. Construct any visuals you need for your PSA before filming

6. Document and edit your PSA using digital film equipment and technology



Critique/Evaluation/Assessment: Teacher will hold a screening at the end of the project, and the class will watch all of the PSAs. Each student will have to write their responses to questions about each PSA directly following its screening, such as, “Was this PSA effective? Why or why not? What was done effectively and what could be done better? Did you learn anything from this PSA that you did not know before? What do you think about the group’s use of technology and visuals to educate viewers?” After all PSAs are viewed, students will be asked to read constructive comments to the class, and a discussion will ensue.

Students will also set up a class blog where they will post their PSA videos. This is a way they can get feedback from the blogosphere, as well as learning how to set up a blog. This will be a place where students can also share ideas about art and ecology.



Time Allotment: Several weeks



Vocabulary:

Public Service Announcement- a non-commercial advertisement typically on radio or television, broadcast for the public good. The main concept is to modify public attitudes by raising awareness about specific issues.



Bibliography/References:

Greenmuseum: Online environmental museum

· http://greenmuseum.org/c/aen/Curric/dublin.php

· http://greenmuseum.org/c/aen/Curric/intro.php

· http://greenmuseum.org/c/aen/Curric/charac.php

Wikipedia

· http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_service_announcement

Google Technology Programs: Google Earth & Google Sketchup

· http://earth.google.com/

· http://sketchup.google.com/