Quick overview: Documentary Storm (www.documentarystorm.com) is a website that has categorized hundreds of on-line video documentaries found across the web. Simply browse, click, and play!
How does this site work? You can search for videos by keyword or browse through the different categories. Categories include biography, science, crime, health, history, art, society, war, biology, politics, the universe, etc..
What works best? I find this site works best when you browse through the different categories instead of searching by keyword. For example, if you were teaching a world history course and searched for “ancient greeks” you may not find much. On the other hand, if you were to browse the history category you may stumble upon an interesting documentary on engineering ancient empires, which may be just as interesting and pertinent to your world history class!
How can this be used in the classroom: Documentaries can be used to start a class discussion or used as a source of inspiration for a written essay or class project. If you have a digital projector in your classroom, documentaries can be screened in class. If students all have regular access to computers at home, you can even assign a documentary to be viewed for homework. (Source: Lise Demers, Place Cartier Adult Education Centre, Lester B. Pearson School Board)
