At Parkway Central Middle

A small group of Parkway Central Middle School eighth graders aren’t just taking learning out of the building. They’re leaving a new high-tech lesson video for future students. 

This year, over 120 eighth graders at Parkway Middle are learning lessons in math, science and unified studies while building hot-air balloons. It’s called “Balloon-A-Tics.” 

The course ends in late spring with a mass balloon launch on the school’s athletic fields. 

But, this year, some of the kids formed a team to create a step-by-step teaching video. It will be available for next year’s students. Also, the video will be put on CD-ROM disks and the Internet so other schools can use it. 

Also, math teacher Judy Green and technology coordinator Tony Ambrose this month will showcase the kids’ video at a regional technology conference. A number of the kids will be excused from class to be on hand for the presentation. 

Over 1,000 technology educators meet Feb. 6-8 at the Midwest Educational Technology Conference in St. Louis. The balloon presentation is Tuesday, Feb. 6. 

The team of Parkway Middle “movie makers” did everything in the video. Some “starred” in the film clips showing the actual balloon-making. Then, the team developed a vocabulary of terms and built story boards. 

They edited film clips on computer. These included not only new ones but also clips from previous years when Green taught the course. It took three computers to store all the film clips that were available before editing started. 

Finally, they wrote a continuity script so the lesson will flow from start to finish. 

Fourteen-year-old Zach Handler thinks the video-making will help him in the future. “I’m hoping to go to New York University, which has a very good acting school,” he said. He mentioned movie-maker Spike Lee as one of the NYU grads. 

Thirteen-year-old Intelly Lee is another one who sees career benefit in this project. He plans a study either electrical engineering or computer management in college. 

The editing of film clips is done using Apple Computer’s iMovie software right in Green’s classroom. One of the lessons in the ballooning class deals with math. The students use trigonometry when figuring out how high and how far their balloons travel. 

Lee said, “It’s influenced me to study the math.” He said linking the math lesson to an actual outdoor exercise “will come in handy in understanding the trig.”

Thirteen-year-old Alyssa Curran is another team member who liked the math portion. “I think I want to be a CPA (certified public accountant) like my grandfather,” she said. 

Some of the other team members weren’t sure about the value to their future careers. But, they did like making both the balloons and the video. 

Thirteen-year-old Julie Knight said, “I really liked the hands-on experience of making the balloon and then editing the videotape on the computer.” 

Thirteen-year-old Jimmy Li was one of the team members who appeared in the clips about balloon making. Then, he got behind the scenes to edit the clips into the final video form.

Fourteen-year-old Elfirma Furlow also enjoyed the balloon-making. She said, “I really like it that I get to actually make the hot-air balloon.” The students divide into four-person teams to glue the seven tissue-paper panels together to make the balloon envelope. 

The students even developed a preference for the type of stick glue they used.

Then, they inserted a round wire frame to keep the bottom open when the hot air is blown into the balloon. The balloons get a test filling, using a hair drier. A draw-string at the top of the balloon to keep the hot air from flowing out. 

At the launch this spring, the school will have a bunch of home-made charcoal grills that will be used to inflate the balloons in the field. 

For fourteen-year-old Anna Wasim, the chance to do computer-editing was an appeal. She said, “I hope it helps me understand computers more.” 

The videotape project was an ambitious effort for the students. 

They also included something about the history of ballooning, which was actually the first way man succeeded in air flight. Balloons were used long before there were airplanes. 

The students also included film from last year’s demonstration of a full-sized hot-air balloon last year. Then, Spectrum Balloon Flights of St. Louis launched a commercial balloon with Dean Charles Schmitz of the UMSL College of Education aboard. 

Green said, “The pilot was so good that Dean Schmitz was able to pick a leaf off a tree as he went up.” Another Spectrum field trip and balloon launch is promised for this year.