iMovie is a tool that can be used in a multitude of ways by teachers to enhance lesson plans in the classroom.  Teachers may use their own video or pictures, as well as all media that is obtainable through the Fair Use guidelines, to construct unique activities for students.  There are features that are particularly beneficial for geography lessons!  Below is short guide for teachers who are interested in using iMovie to help students formulate a deeper understanding of a geography lesson.

Assistance by Apple

Apple has created a short clip to help new users get familiar with the basic functions of iMovie.  Here you will find suggestions of how to enhance a standard video presentation.

http://www.apple.com/ilife/imovie/

Select a subject to focus your lesson:

• Start by deciding exactly what you want your students to walk away with after the lesson.  What do expect them to describe about the feature or region? 
• Collect all of your visuals, particularly any pictures or video that you want to use.  NOTE: Most pictures that are used by Wikipedia have been released to the public for Fair Use. 
• Chances are that if you have iMovie you should also have iPhoto.  Having your pictures saved in iPhoto will make uploading them into iMovie much easier.  The same can be said about music using iTunes.  Remember, you may only use 30 seconds of a song that your have purchased legally.  Both of these libraries are linked automatically in the bottom right section of your iMovie screen. 

How can you use iMovie in a Geography lesson?

Use the Mapping features!

• Under the backgrounds tab in the bottom right hand corner of iMovie, you will find a series of mapping features. 
• Once you click and drag the feature you like into the editing box, you will be asked to enter the name of a city.  You will soon find that almost every city in the world is registered in this feature! 
• If you are working with multiple locations, you can also enter a second city.  This will activate an animation (not unlike the one seen in Indiana Jones) that will connect the two cities via a moving red line. 
• These features give students an immediate global perspective of the location in question. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Likh7MRGsac

Scavenger Hunt!

• Prepare a lesson that asks students to “travel the world” on a scavenger hunt.  This could be a search for a buried treasure, a lost artifact, or even an escaped convict like in “Catch Me if You Can.”   
• Use iMovie to present clues for the students to use in their hunt.  They can find the answers on their own personal maps and then check them against your iMovie maps.  The possibilities are limitless! 

The world’s biggest, smallest, tallest, shortest…

• Take your students on a tour of the world’s extremes.  For example: If you want to show your students the tallest buildings in the world, you can upload photos of those buildings and input their locations into the mapping features. 
• With a little organization using nifty transitions and music, you can create a personalized tour of these features.
• NOTE: Any time you decide to add a transition (also located in the bottom right hand corner of iMovie) it will automatically adjust the length of the two surrounding video/picture clips.  You may have to reset the length of those clips, in seconds, using the editing function.  You will also have to realign your audio clips (click and drag) so that they match the visual.  Remember, you just have to hit the spacebar to test all of the clips in the viewfinder.

Narrate your own story

• Perhaps you recently traveled to France with your family over the summer break.  You want to share some of the information you gathered on this trip with your new class in the upcoming school year. 
• Instead of showing a boring slideshow, create an iMovie!  Not only can you create a personalized account of this vacation, but you may enjoy putting those pictures and video to use. 
• Take video on these special trips for the sole purpose of using it in the classroom.  This might mean taking video that omits family members so that it can be used for universal purposes. 
• Remember, you can always record your own audio for these videos if you want to manipulate your narration at a later date. This feature can be found in the middle of the iMovie screen by clicking on the microphone icon. 

Have the students create their own iMovie!

• You may be surprised how many students can manipulate iMovie to create personalized stories. Have them shoot video in class.

Additional Resources and Supplemental Readings

You may download and/or print free world maps at

http://www.freeworldmaps.net/ and http://www.yourchildlearns.com/geography.htm

There are a variety of free pre-designed lessons for Scavenger Hunts at 

http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/archives/scavenger_hunt.shtml

For more information and ideas about the World’s Extremes, visit

http://scienceray.com/earth-sciences/the-worlds-extremes/

To look at how various teachers have used iMovie in education, visit 

http://edweb.sdsu.edu/sciencetg/ie/