Have you been meaning to create some simple videos, maybe to illustrate your favorite hands-on science activity?

If you already have a high-end digital video camera, professional backdrops and lighting, and FinalCut pro, you can stop reading right now.

But what if you don’t have any of that equipment, and still want to make some stop action animations or do time-lapse photography to capture, say, a chemical reaction or weather patterns?

Let’s get some advice from Asia Ward and Peter Kirschmann of  Science Museum of Minnesota (SMM), who make very cool videos for relatively little money. They’ve already made several videos of howtosmile.org activities, including the Pickle Battery video and the Water Pressure Blaster video (on activity page, scroll down and look for video on the lower left).

Check out their step-by-step tips on how to make science videos. It’s set up like a hands-on activity, with a Materials List that includes an inexpensive webcam, some editing software, and a light table you can make for under $30.

Why video?

Howtosmile.org has been putting  a lot of effort into making videos of its hands-on math and science activities, as well as making it easy for users to upload their own videos to howtosmile.org. Sherry Hsi, SMILE Principal Investigator and Research Director at UC Berkeley’s Lawrence Hall of Science, explains why.

“Videos lower the barrier to anyone who might be intimidated by working with hands-on materials. They allow us to reach educators in yet another way–not just through downloadable instructions for hands-on activities, but also with visual and aural representations of the activity itself.

“And digital videos let howtosmile.org community members contribute their tips, tricks, and mods of an activity to the broader informal science teaching community.

“Because digital video cameras and production tools are so ubiquitous in mobile computers and smart phones, videos are a great way for people to share STEM knowledge and exchange teaching practices.

It’s a wonderful way to grow distributed expertise across multiple learning organizations.

In the photo above, Asia and Peter manipulate a green felt hand across a mock-up of the SMILE web site to make the Pickle Battery Video.