Peer Review

With more than 1000 videos that can be identified by the the AAAS
Benchmarks, the Atlas of Science Literacy, National Science Education Standards,
and/or all state standards, the user can be confident that this material represents the current state of our knoweldge about teaching and learning based on education research. Each subject or topic includes numerous videos that
show what experts or typical students know about the topics in the math and science standards.

This website is appropriate for K-12 teachers but it is up to the teacher to use their "pedagogical content knowledge" to interpret what changes are needed to improve classroom teaching based on what can be learned from the material presented. The resources are outstanding as a basis for discussion - but are not meant to serve as a "plug-and-play" teaching resource. The resources assume teaching to be a profession that requires reflection and judgment. They do not assume teaching to be a technical act of repeated actions that others direct the teacher to perform.

For teacher training this is an exceptional tool. Videos are catagorized
according to AAAS Benchmarks, the Atlas of Science Literacy, National Science
Education Standards, state standards, and instructional criteria. For example,
the Benchmarks section has chapter selections along with grade levels in the
video selection process. In the list of videos pertaining to a Benchmark
chapter and grade level, you will find a brief description of its contents.
After choosing the video, you have the title along with the Benchmarks addressed
for that particular clip. In the Other Standards section, you can find
videos containing the NSES and the state standards that apply to the particular
clip. You can also download a transcript for many of the chosen videos in this section.

Inexperienced preservice teachers may need help in
understanding why the different selections of this website are useful. Some theoretical knowledge of science pedagogy must be understood for the videos to be useful to a new teacher practitioner.

The user can view science video clips according to
instructional criteria including benchmarks and standards, or with open search functions. Although still somewhat incomplete, the Strand Map Service (SMS), which uses maps based on the Project 2061 Atlas of Science Literacy, is a new feature with interactive strand maps as the interface for accessing resources. This feature holds potential to drastically improve the way resources are sequenced for searching a web-based repository, in this case with an organization based on the scope and sequence of the associated Atlas. Meanwhile, text searching is also an option. To find a video pertaining to blood circulation, for example, there is a quick search that will locate clips for all grade levels (K-12) using the terms "heart" or "blood." Since there are different ways to find appropriate video material, students may need some demonstrations and encouragement to use the collection
effectively.

This peer review assumes that users have the required plug-ins for accessing the HSDVL. For those who have the required technology there are very few concerns about the ease of use for students and faculty in
using this tool. One of the few concerns is that a search yields redundant results that are not clearly redundant until one views the video clips. Another concern is that the point in a video that deals with a concept identified in a search can be embedded deep in the video clip. For example, in an interview with an expert (http://hsdvl.org/video.php?record_serial=483) where Dr Peter Hewson talks about sense making, children discuss their ideas about the human heart at 9 minutes into the 30 minute video. One can easily do a text search for the word "heart" in the pdf file transcript, but it is not so easy to locate that part of the discussion in the video.