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Productions

Mixed generations produce media in the wild

TGC brings together kids and elders as campers — guiding them into learning expeditions in nature and the local community. Without demanding any particular result, the camp has found that immersing diverse groups in collaborative activities leads to positive intergenerational exchanges. TMS stokes interactions between young and old by facilitating intergenerational camper directed documentary videos on their travels.

Participation in collaborative video productions while immersed in nature encourages intergenerational campers to interview each other, frame moments they find most magical, and think critically about what makes this experience special in the editing process. The end result, a documentary recap of each years’ camp. 

The Generation Connection has been connecting young people and older generations to each other, their community, and the environment since 2003. Their approach immerses intergenerational groups in outdoor activities lead by local experts in environmental science, art, media, conservation, farming, and physical activity (to name a few). The genius of camp founder Joel Daunic’s vision is in curating the types of activities that engage campers across generations, blending learning and play, and recognizing the win-win exchanges of energy and wisdom between unlikely co-campers.

The Media Spot has been embedded with the camp since year 1, working with small intergenerational groups of campers to frame each experience with the camera and make decisions about the footage to be edited together to share the value of camp. This process promotes media literacy by encouraging campers old and young to think critically about how they can use video to communicate what they are learning, while also giving audiences an authentic window into the intergenerational dynamic at camp.

2015 Camp Theme: Minding Earth’s Garden

This year, campers considered the relationship between humans and the Earth’s resources (aka the “fruits of the garden”). Campers realized they are active participants in Earth’s garden, and hopefully left camp aiming to become “stewards”.

Through this year’s video production, TMS aimed at:

  • keeping the campers mindful of how the theme was relevant to the places we went,
  • reinforcing place-based learning
  • creating teaching tools/PR for the camp and the businesses/orgs/individuals we visited
  • capturing the way that place-based learning allows kids and seniors to think about relationships: to nature, to each other, to different generations.

Visit thegenerationconnection.com to watch video clips dating back to 2003, and read more about this innovative organization!

 

By The Media Spot

The Media Spot collaborates with educators to integrate media literacy education into a variety of learning environments.