Seeing Through My Lenses: A GoPro Approach to Teach a Laboratory Module

Abstract

The current video filming technique in the laboratory setting allows the students to understand the procedures from the third person’s view. Students’ connection with the demonstrator in such videos may not be as strong as if the first-person view (FPV) is used. As instructors in the laboratory, how do we capture students’ attention in a manner that will make it an even more realistic demonstration? In this paper, we discuss the application of a small device, the GoPro camera, which empowers the laboratory demonstrator to teach his or her students in a new perspective and allows the student to see through the demonstrator’s lenses. Students who have viewed the GoPro-made FPV instructional videos found this new technique to be engaging and useful in enhancing their knowledge and understanding of scientific experiments. Adopting the FPV technique with GoPro devices allows the instructor to break out of the banal and narrow scope which is characteristic of a single recording and in the process, make the learning journey in the laboratory more authentic.