Summary

In this activity, students create a short YouTube screencast to explain how to solve an assigned problem or interpret an assigned model.

Grade Level

High School

NGSS Alignment

This activity will help prepare your students to meet the performance expectations in the following standards:

• Scientific and Engineering Practices:
  • Developing and Using Models

Objectives

By the end of this activity, students should be able to:

• Clearly explain the process they used to complete the assigned task.
• Use screen casting tools to interactively address a model or image throughout the verbal explanation.

Chemistry Topics

This activity supports students’ understanding of:

• Review
• Interdisciplinary
• Models

Time

Teacher Preparation: 5 minutes

Lesson: 40-50 minutes, with optional time for follow-up

Materials

• individual student devices with camera and internet connection (touchscreens are beneficial, but not required)
• any screen casting app or extension
• classroom LMS for ease of submission and review (optional)

Safety

• Be sure to check with your school’s IT department to ensure you choose programs that meet your privacy requirements for minors.

Teacher Notes

• For more information about this activity, read the author’s March 2026 Chemistry Solutions article, Lights, Camera, Chemistry: Implementing a "Be the YouTuber" Strategy in the High School Classroom
• Technology tools needed for students to make a video:
  • Laptop, Chromebook, or iPad with internal microphone (touchscreen ability is best, but the task can be accomplished without that ability).
  • Screen casting app, extension, or add-on; some potential screen casting apps you could consider include: Screencastify, Google’s built-in screen recorders
  • Tip: to initiate using Chromebooks just push [ctrl] + [shift] + [win]
  • Google also has different programs, based on the school’s access
  • Other learning management systems have built-in apps for creating videos
• The following tutorial videos can be helpful for teachers to review in advance:
  • Using the Screen Recorder with Notability on an iPad
  • Schoology for iPad-Upload a Video
• This activity is most effective when students have a way of annotating the screen, such as drawing tools on Google slides, any free online whiteboard, or other tools that are included in some screen casting apps.
• This technique is best used with topics that involve multiple steps or abstract theoretical concepts. It has been successfully used with topics such as:
  • Drawing Lewis structures
  • Using Lewis structures to predict geometry and polarity
  • Explaining the chemistry throughout each part of a voltaic cell
  • Explaining how to balance chemical equations
• It could also be used to demonstrate students’ thinking patterns in topics like:
  • Solving stoichiometry problems as a whole or using only individual portions such as determining the limiting reagent for a given scenario
  • Analyzing lab data from an experiment
  • Justifying answers to questions about periodic trends in atomic properties
• The video below (shared with permission) shows a student drawing a Lewis structure and using it to predict geometry and polarity of the molecule.

• Scoring these assignments is very flexible and can be done holistically or by using point-by-point rubrics, based on the assigned criteria.
• Student handouts are available for download for three different topics, but many other chemistry topics could be used for this assignment as well:
  • Balancing Equations
  • Lewis Structures
  • Galvanic Cells