Because by its very nature, video draws upon and enhances analytical, problem solving, and cooperative skills...
VidKids is designed to help educators incorporate video and related media into all areas of the elementary school curriculum.
Because there is a lot more to video than MTV...
Video can inform, document, entertain, and instruct. But it can also do much more! Like paint, clay, or language, video can be a medium for creative expression and communication. VidKids exposes students to a whole new world-one beyond that which they see on television. Students get to see a variety of innovative and unique videos made by artists and other young people, and participate in a series of activities designed to help them articulate their own visions. VidKids encourages creativity and exploration in the video medium.
Because VidKids puts kids on the other side of the camera...
Video is a part of everyday life for today's kids. Many households are equipped with VCR's and regularly rent "videos." Some families own camcorders, and most schools use this equipment every day. Children are also familiar with video through television. Yet while kids are well aquainted with video, their relationship to the medium is most often passive in nature-as television viewers or as the objects of their parents' video footage. VidKids seeks to change this by putting kids on the other side of the camera. VidKids activities are designed to put the camera into kids' hands, and to give them the opportunity to discover first-hand the technical and creative possibilities of video.