ExplanaJam Rules

Submission Guidelines

• Each class can submit up to 3 explanations to the contest

  • Teachers are encouraged to hold within-class contests to identify the top 3 explanations

  • 3 videos will be added to the contest Flipgrid page (instructions will be emailed to teachers)

• Explanations are limited to 3 minutes

  • The phenomena should be clearly identified and the cause of the phenomena must be partially explained

  • Students must explain their phenomena verbally or via ASL

  • Students can use images to help explain, but no audio or video from external sources is allowed

• Prizes will be awarded in a number of categories

  • Elementary, Middle & High School will be judged separately

  • Special awards for most engaging, best production, and most inspirational

  • Special award for explanations of Climate Change phenomena at all grade levels

• Submissions will remain private

  • Submitted videos are not shared publicly until winners are announced (winners can decide to share their video or not)

  • Prize winners will be asked to give permission for their videos to be shared

    • Video Release Form (only for videos promoted to the finals)

We developed a rubric aligned to the three dimensions of the Next Generation Science Standards. Discuss it with your students! Click on the arrow in the upper right to open the rubric document on its own page.

(Note that elementary and middle school students will be scored using the rubric, but in an age-appropriate manner.)

Here are some notes from the ExplanaJam Q&A last week:

Q: Should the students pick their own topic for the video?

A: It is up to you, the classroom teacher. Feel free to use this to motivate an explanation activity if that is helpful or leave it to students to do on their own. You have discretion about how the videos are presented. But make sure the ones they create will fit the guidelines (3 minutes max, no use of outside video)

Q: Should all the students get permission to release the video?

A: No, only the top videos that you submit to us (3 max per class) need to have the permission. You can do this after you have picked them. We have a form in English and Spanish to send home.

Q: What if students want to work in teams?

A: This is a good question. We do not currently have any rule against pairs or team produced videos. In the future we may need to have different categories.

Q: Can students use images or video clips from outside sources?

A: Still images are fine to use, but students should cite the source. Videos can only be used if they are short and there is no explanation (no words in the video or the audio is a good rule of thumb). Students talking over a short video is fine.

Q: What do the teachers get if their students win?

A: Teachers will get gift cards ($30)

Q: How does the judging work?

A: We have a panel of judges who look at the videos. They compare videos by grade level using the rubric.

Don't forget to register your class(es). We will send submission instructions to the registration list only.

ExplanaJam Registration

pass it on!

CSLC Team