Use YouTube to teach – CARIMAC

WESTERN BUREAU: SIX FINAL year students from the Caribbean Institute of Media and Communication (CARIMAC) have developed a learning programme, which is designed to help bolster the teaching and learning of Mathematics in the secondary institution, using audio and video mechanism.

The initiative, which is called the ‘Technology Communication Analysis Planning Project’ (Tech CAPP), was recently rolled out at the Herbert Morrison Technical High School in Montego Bay, St James. The programme, which is aimed at reshaping the way Mathematics is taught, will span some four weeks.

The project tested the impact of Information Communication Technology (ICT) as a teaching tool on students’ performance by using YouTube as the platform, given that the online social website offers both audio and visual assistance.

During the rollout, a recorded session was done with the participating mathematics teacher on two challenging topics – Trigonometry and Pythagoras Theorem – to facilitate the videos, which were then uploaded to YouTube.

However, before the participating students were exposed to the recorded content, a visual, auditory and kinesthetic (VAK) learning style questionnaire was administered as well as a test done on their knowledge of the Trigonometry topic.

“During the session, students had the option to stop and replay the content of the videos,” explained Cheryl Belcher-Peart, a lecturer at CARIMAC. “This resulted in a better understanding of the subject area, proving social media, such as YouTube, to be an effective platform that can help students’ comprehension and retention skills in mathematics.”