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Has anyone done an unboxing video project?

Andrea Wong

Unboxing videos still seem to be a pretty big trend on social media and I finally decided to give it a shot as a class project. I wish I could give credit to whoever thought of this idea, but I heard about it from a teacher friend, who got the idea from another teacher friend, and…you get the idea. 

I would like to have students work in groups on this project and I am hoping to assign each group one of the Levers of Climate Action to focus on so we get different perspectives throughout the videos. Students would have to:

  • Come up with a main focus for the box (maybe one of the Grand Challenges?)
  • Decide who would be sending and who would be receiving/opening the box
  • Come up with items for the box; these don’t have to be actual items though. They can be images or other items representing what students would put in if they could.
  • Students will have to be deliberate in choosing what kind of box to put their items in, any music they might want to play, if/what type of packaging is inside, if a note is included, etc.
  • Students will have to react to each of the items they unbox and explain what they like about them or if anything is missing/if more needs to be done.

I’m still working out all the details but my students are excited about the project and I am too!

Has anyone done a project like this before? Any advice for me?

  • I have not done anything like this but you just gave me an idea for my future classes! I'm thinking maybe I could incorporate a unboxing video into the recipe for revolutions assignment, they create a video unboxing the components needed for a revolution. 

  • I teach a "Great Inventions" class and I'm dialing this up for the final unit.  This is epic.  I did an unboxing video for my AI Rabbit R1.  I waited a week to put the video on social media and in that short amount of time I realized nobody was interested, our phones could all do the same thing as the Rabbit.  But I'm going to have my kids do an unboxing video on a PAST invention from history!  Something like... the lightbulb!  Or the astrolabe- or stirrups- wow, this might be fun.

  •  

    A few years back I did something like this... I didn't know it had a name. When I did the museum project, I encouraged students to think of original ways to create their exhibit. I gave extra points for thinking "outside the box" (no pun intended).  I worked with one group to develop the ideas of their kiosk inside a box instead of on display. Students had to explain the items to each group of onlookers as they moved from station to station.

    It worked out very well. I was impressed with the group's decisions. It also proved a good move to allow choices in how to make the displays because I don't think every group could have pulled it off. 

  • I absolutely love this idea,  . I can see the sender & receiver of the box as a great way to connect with the skill of document analysis.  Maybe even extending the sender / receiver to show the impact of industrialized areas on non- or less-industrialized areas, to show the impact of rising sea levels on the islands in the Pacific, etc. 

    I'm glad for Spring Break next week, so I can gather shoe boxes & items for this, then ask students to add to the collection of what belongs or could be added to the box. 

  • in reply to Bryan Dibble

      , did you wind up adding a video assignment to your final unit? I'm curious to know how your students reacted to it! Despite always making tiktoks, etc., my students were nervous about being on camera. I told them they could focus the camera on the box instead of themselves and they were a lot more comfortable. 

  • in reply to Gwen Duralek

    I had a lot of students use some creative items for the "boxes". It added an extra layer of detail and connection to the topics they chose!

  • in reply to Andrea Wong

    It's on my schedule for next week!  We just finished a series of mini invention "sales pitches" to warm them up.  I'll have video to post of the unboxing!  Coming up soon!!

  • The "unboxing" assignment was a hit.  The class got into it and it was a great way to end our year.  My class is world history- called Great Inventions.  So it's a fun theme for world history.  The assignment details are linked, and there are a few links to some of the videos the kids let me share with you.  

    The students (mostly 10th graders) had to "unbox" one of the great inventions of history.  Here is the criteria page with the instructions I gave them.  I'm a firm believer that as teachers we need to stay relevant and up-to-date with the current memes and trends.  The "unboxing video" crazy is going to stay around, but it's not as popular as some other trends, like the Shoebody Bop (if you don't know what this is, DON'T look it up, you'll regret it).  But we teachers can figure out how to make something stupid like the Shoebody Bop and make it a legit learning activity.  The key is knowing your meme, don't pretend to know it, and make the experience real for kids.  I had a few students with less than stellar grades really get into this project because making videos was right up their alley.  

    Unboxing Napalm 

    Great Invention - The Roomba

    "unboxing" video - the zipper

    In my class the kids have to earn "patents" by achieving high scores on invention investigation assignments, or buying them at auction in class.  We have combinations they have to collect for monetary bonuses, the whole class is an economy system with "catalyst" as commodities and my class fake money.  Everyone wants to get rich, so it's perfect way to win their hearts and minds.

    Class invention list and patent owners

    Bank account and scoreboard list

    Patent certificate template

  • in reply to Andrea Wong

     You rock.  This idea was a hit, we had fun, and I posted some samples.  Nice idea, BIG THANKS.

  •   - Just wondering how this went with your classes and if you have any student samples? I love the idea so much for world history