PATHMAKERS was an interactive module developed for the Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia with originally produced video interviews of renowned experts who served as exemplars of the following themes:
- Explorers and the Horizons of Discovery: Buzz Aldrin, Apollo 11 astronaut, the first landing on the moon
- The Artist in the Modern Era: Helen Frankenthaler, Modern Artist, Abstract Expressionist
- The Novel and the American Experience: Kurt Vonnegut, Author and WWII veteran
- The Athlete in the Modern Era: Jackie Joyner-Kersee, multiple Olympic medal winner, ranked as one of the greatest athletes in the women’s heptathlon & long jump
- Innovators and Inventors: Paul McCready, Inventor of the Gossamer Condor, the first human-powered aircraft capable of controlled and sustained flight
- Great Thinkers and the Horizons of Knowledge: Stephen Jay Gould, Paleontologist & Evolutionary Biologist
MAKING CONNECTIONS: A MATHEMATICS VIDEO LIBRARY
Following the Principles and Standards for School Mathematics developed by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, a major textbook publisher needed a video series to accompany their new textbook editions. For an audience ranging from Kindergarten through 8th grade, I developed, wrote, produced, and directed the 7-part video series “Making Connections: A Mathematics Video Library.” A variety of production genres — animation, documentary, narrative — were used to teach mathematics thinking:
- Concepts of symbols
- Basic problem solving
- Manipulatives to teach core concepts like the division algorithm and the relationship of multiplication to area
- Strategies for intermediate problem solving
- Novel manipulatives like high speed photography to understand ratios
- Advanced problem solving using the issue of renewable energy, by analyzing data, evaluating results, and exploring alternatives
CRITICAL THINKING PROJECT
Professor John Chaffee, Director, Critical Thinking and Reasoning Studies at the City University of New York, developed an interdisciplinary program for college students to help develop fundamental thinking abilities.
For a video adjunct to that course, I worked with Professor Chaffee to develop, produce and co-write a one hour television program for Annenberg/CPB/PBS and a distance learning series, starring Cynthia Harris, which portrays the difficult decision on the “right to die” using a mix of film dramatization, expert interview and multi-camera video panel discussion.
