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Digital Storytelling: Opportunities for Increasing Critical Thinking Skills in a 21st Century Classroom
Timothy B. Hoisington
July 9, 2011
A Masters Research Paper Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree, Masters in Arts of Secondary Schools, at The Colorado College
Approved ____________________________Date _____________(Primary Advisor)
Approved ____________________________Date _____________(Secondary Advisor)
Digital Storytelling: Opportunities for Increasing Critical Thinking Skills in a 21st Century
Classroom
Timothy B. Hoisington
Colorado College MAT Candidate2010-2011
Lee DerrMR Supervisor
2
Table Of Contents
Introduction …………………………………………………........ 4
Literature Review ………………………………………………. 16
Methods ……………………………………………………….... 26
School Demographics – 26
Introduction – 27
Approach to Methods – 32
Digital Story Evaluation – 37
Results……………………………………………………………39
Introduction – 39
Quantitative Data – 40
Qualitative Data – 41
Student Examples – 43
Discussion………………………………………………...…….. 50
Conclusion………………………………………………...……. 55
References……………………………………………….…..….. 57
Appendices……………………………………………………… 60
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IntroductionToday’s generation of students are being referred to as the “Net Generation” – a
cohort of people that has grown up with access to many new digital technologies. The
“Net Generation” consists of learners that were born in the 1980’s and after when newer
technologies such as computers became available (Oblinger, 2005). The students that
have grown up during this new age of technology have had access to a variety of different
resources that former generations did not. The availability of TV, videos, computers,
video games and other forms of digital technologies has not only changed what kids do
outside of school, but also their performance in an academic setting. Today’s students are
much more visually literate than previous generations, and learn much more effectively
with visual images (Oblinger, 2005). Studies have shown that with this new generation
of students, “the understanding of pictures or icons develops at an earlier age than the
ability to read words” (Greenfield, 2009 p. 70). Today’s digital technologies facilitate the
development of visual literacy skills that are needed in the 21st century, and helps prepare
them to take advantage of the media-rich environments, and skills needed for the many
different professions (Greenfield, 2009).
The technological skills that kids develop growing up in the “Net Generation” are
skills that older generations simply don’t have. Growing up in a world that not only
encourages the use of technology, but surrounds them with the technology allows
students growing up in this new age to develop unique processing skills. For instance,
studies have found that kids growing up in the “Net Generation” are able to multitask
more effectively (Barnes, 2007; Greenfield, 2009), and they have increased visual
intelligence, which can be particularly beneficial to science and technology (Greenfield,
4
2009). However, due to the constant flashes of images that these kids see on television
and video games they require a much more engaging, interactive and fast paced
environment to learn (Oblinger, 2005).
Kids growing up in the “Net Generation” are often, “more comfortable in image-rich
environments than with text” (Oblinger, 2005 p. 2.7). They are constantly stimulated by
real time media such as radio, television, and film which causes them to have minimal
time to reflection on what they are seeing and hearing. Studies have shown that the ability
to reflect on the material that is learned is associated with inductive problem-solving
competence (Greenfield, 2009). Video games are so stimulating that they often punish the
viewer for stopping to reflect on the situation (Greenfield 2009). Reflection usually
requires reading, and reading has significantly declined with the “Net Generation.” One
study found that by the time someone growing up in the “Net Generation” was 21, they
will spend twice as much time playing video games (10,000 hours) as they spend reading
(5,000 hours) (Oblinger, 2005). They will spend an addition 200,000 hours on email,
20,000 hours watching TV and 10,000 hours on their cell phones (Barnes, 2007). The
newer technologies that have become available have undoubtedly come at a cost –
reading.
The challenge that educators face today is how to take advantage of the skills that the
digital media has given to today’s students, in order to develop 21st century skills.
“Students on average retain 10 percent of what they read but closer to 30 percent of what
they see” (Oblinger, 2005 p. 2.14). Studies have shown that video games can help
students learn the process of the scientific method (Salazar, 2011). When students play
video games they must become familiar with the landscape before solving a problem that
5
is presented in the game which is similar to formulating a hypothesis based on
background knowledge. The video games also help with the 21st century skills of,
“critical thinking, problem solving, iterative design, creativity, collaboration, digital
media literacy” (Salazar, 2011). AMD Changing the Game is an initiative of the AMD
Foundation which is currently working on teaching students science, technology,
engineering and math (STEM) skills by allowing them to design video games
(Gershenfeld, 2011). The advantage to teaching today’s students using video games is
that the students are interested in the technology, and learn important 21st century skills
while having fun doing it.
Through understanding the differences in which students learn, it is possible to take
advantage of technological resources in the school setting to develop the 21st century
skills of problem solving, information processing, and critical thinking through a science
curriculum. Today, 21st century programs are being developed around the United States,
which seek to integrate computers into the curriculum in order to motivate students to
learn and develop the necessary skills they need for entering the workforce when they
grow up. The world is constantly changing with new technologies, so it is important that
teachers constantly change the way they teach in order to give their students the
necessary tools upon graduation.
21st century programs are a relatively new, since the resources available to implement
a program that utilizes computers became available very recently. Throughout the 1980’s
schools that could afford to buy large numbers of computers often put them in a central
laboratory in which students used the computers once or twice a week (Penuel, 2006).
Teachers reported that when the computers are in labs they are not used very often
6
because of scheduling conflicts as well as the time it takes to transport the students to the
lab (Penuel, 2006). The labs were also found to be used solely to deliver information in a
way that does not require critical thought (Barrios, 2004). Computers are more beneficial
when they are incorporated into the learning environment. 1:1 laptop initiatives are when
each student is provided a computer in the classroom. These initiatives have become
more prevalent in the United States as the cost of computers decreased, because schools
are now able invest in more computers. Studies showed that when the computers are
more available to the students and teachers they become more of a supplemental tool
which can be entwined into the 21st century classroom (Penuel, 2006). The lighter weight
of laptops and availability wireless networks helped with their feasibility in the
classroom, and the, “the earliest initiatives in the U.S. began appearing in the mid-1990’s
(Penuel, 2006 p. 30). Every year 1:1 laptop programs are appearing in new schools
around the globe, and they continue to rise in popularity as the costs of buying laptops
goes down, and the world continues to become more reliant on technology.
1:1 computer initiatives have many advantages in the 21st century classroom. With
24 hour access to computers, students are given the resources to obtain information
whenever they want, which allows them take ownership over their learning. Students can
generate questions and get answers more quickly than searching through textbooks.
Giving each student a computer allows them to solidify many 21st century skills, and it
allows them to utilize the resources that are available in the technologically rich world
that we live in today. Using laptops as resources, students can collaborate with other
students and teachers to help them gather information in a more independent way. The
computers allow teachers to adopt a more hands off approach to teaching in which they
7
are able to guide the students to obtain the information instead of traditional methods of
providing them with the information.
A national organization that promotes the use of 21st century skills is the
Partnership for 21st Century Skills (www.p21.org). The organization stresses the
development of: critical thinking and problem solving, communication, collaboration,
and creativity and innovation. The Partnership for 21st Century Skills defines critical
thinking skills as the ability to: Use various types of reasoning, analyze how parts of a
whole interact with each other, make judgments and decisions, and be able to solve
problems (www.p21.org). Through building a framework which weaves essential 21st
century skills into the curriculum and standards, students will become more engaged in
what they are learning, and ultimately develop many important skills that are relevant to
the world they live in. In addition to the core subjects that schools teach in their
curriculum, the Partnership for 21st Century Skills proposes that teachers incorporate the
following 21st century interdisciplinary themes into the curriculum:
Global Awareness Financial, Economic, Business and Entrepreneurial Literacy Civic Literacy Health Literacy Environmental Literacy
(http://www.p21.org/documents/P21_Framework_Definitions.pdf)
With regards to outcomes, the 21st century classroom focuses on the integration of
technology in the development of workforce skills (Figure 1).
8
Figure 1: Modified from www.p21.org. Learning outcomes from a 21st century classroom
Although there have been many
proponents to the use of technology in
classrooms to promote 21st century
skills, some people are skeptical about
the effectiveness of implementing a 1:1
laptop program in a classroom. Critics
argue that the large investments in
computers should be redirected
elsewhere because the computers are
“oversold and underused” and they do
not have much of an effect on learning
(Penuel, 2006, p. 333). Sometimes teachers are not adequately trained to use computers,
so they may try to avoid using them. When computers are implemented into programs it
is important that teachers have, “technological pedagogical content knowledge” and they
understand, “how to use various technologies, and how those technologies can be used
well to teach and learn the content” (Zucker, 2008).
Critics of 1:1 laptop programs argue that, “the hyperlinked nature of the World
Wide Web promotes more or less aimless wandering, or browsing, which lacks utility
when seeking specific information (Gay, 2001, p. 259)” A survey conducted in 2002 with
responses from over 90,000 teachers, indicated that computers were usually used for low-
level learning when they were put in a teacher-centered environment (Lowther, 2008, p.
197). Others argue that especially with young learners, students lack the self-regulation
9
methods to use the computers effectively, which could hinder their learning (Salovaara,
2005). The challenge that teachers face is figuring out how to use computers as a
technological tool rather than allowing computers to take over the classroom. If laptops
can be used to supplement the classroom discussion about topics, they can have the
potential to enhance learning. However, if teachers fail to separate the subject matter
from the technology, computers can have a negative impact in the classroom (Beatham,
2009).
In 1996 Bill Clinton gave a speech in which he announced, “We know, purely and
simply, that every single child must have access to a computer, must understand it, must
have access to good software and good teachers and to the Internet, so that every person
will have the opportunity to make the most of his or her life” (Goldfarb, 2002, p. 8). Six
years later the No Child Left Behind Act was passed by George W. Bush, which put an
increased focus on student performance in the classroom. The bill is based on standard-
based education reform in which states set high academic standards for schools. Each
state performs a yearly statewide test. Schools then receive their Adequate Yearly
Progress reports that show how the school or district is performing according to the
standardized tests. The Enhancing Education Through Technology Program was created
along with the No Child Left Behind Act and provides funds to schools by looking at the
schools performance from year to year. The funds are used to help schools utilize
technology in order to improve teaching and learning. The Enhanced Education Through
Technology Program led to many different programs that utilized technology within the
schools.
10
The No Child Left Behind Act paved the way for further discussions about
teacher accountability. One idea that came up was a “Pay for performance” plan in which
teachers are paid according to their effectiveness in the classroom. Although discussions
about this idea have been going on since 1867, it is only recently that schools have started
to implement the concept into schools (Springer, 2010). The district in which the action
research was conducted began implementing a new program the year of this study called
the “Effectiveness and Results Pay-for-Performance Plan,” which seeks to pay teachers
according to their performance in the classroom. The system varied from other systems,
because the teachers’ salaries are based on annual evaluations as well as the academic
progress of the students. Within the Pay-for-Performance plan teachers needed to perform
better each year in order to receive raises in salary. Under the new system, teachers could
advance nine different levels from “novice” to “master” in which they could exceed the
traditional system’s highest paid position by over 20,000, and make 90,000 a year
(Mitchell, 2010). The superintendent of the district was quoted saying, “in almost any
district in Colorado, even if your evaluation is not satisfactory, unless you are removed
from the classroom, you will get a raise. That is the key question – if you’re not
proficient, why should you get the same exact advancement as a proficient teacher”
(Mitchell, 2010)? The district saw a turn around in the academic performance of the
students after the superintendent took the superintendent job. The success was accredited
to the open door policy in which principals were encouraged to observe teachers in their
classrooms 8-16 times a year (Mitchell, 2010).
The philosophy of holding teachers more accountable had worked so far in a
district that is made up of predominantly lower income students. There were fears
11
Figure 2: Modified from Day (2005). Computer use based on family income and ethnicity.
however that the new “E and R” Pay-for-Performance Plan could handcuff teachers in
what they were able to teach. The “E and R Plan” required the district to conduct
assessments of the students every three and a half weeks. While the teachers did not
know the questions that were on the tests, they were given curriculum maps, which
helped to guide the teachers in what material should be covered by the assessments. They
were also given item maps which outlined what each test question was going to be on.
The study was conducted in a
21st century science classroom. The
classes that were taught to the students
in the program were: Math, Science,
Economics and Globalization, Critical
Thinking, Information Processing and
Chinese. Within the program there were
two sixth grade classes, two seventh
grade classes and two eighth grade
classes, which were divided according
to math scores. Since language arts was
not part of the program, it was the
obligation of all of the teachers to teach students reading and writing in addition to their
own standards. The students within the district were from primarily Hispanic lower class
families. Studies have shown that Hispanic families and low socioeconomic families have
the least accessibility to computers in the United States (Figure 2). The 21st century
program provided computer access to many students who would otherwise not have
12
access to computers. Each student was provided with a computer and access to wireless
internet among other resources. Using the laptops to supplement instruction, the goal of
the program was to teach students important 21st century skills along with the content
within the curriculum.
The research was conducted with the two eighth grade classes. The classes
participated in a week long project in which they created a digital story about a concept
that is being covered in class. The goal of giving students a digital story project was to
teach students 21st century computer skills by helping them understand the content more
critically, as they organized it into a story. Students worked in groups, and had to
collaborate together to plan a digital story. The students had to create a 2-3 minute digital
story in which they used their own narrative elements to describe a given science
concept. The major difficulty in attempting this research was the amount of time I had to
conduct the project. Digital storytelling has been conducted successfully in many
classrooms; however these classrooms did not have assessments being conducted every
three and a half weeks. The “E and R plan” creates a classroom that does not give a lot of
flexibility within the curriculum, and the students had to be given strict deadlines to
complete the project. One possibility to solving this problem is “front loading,” the
curriculum and covering the material at a fast pace at the beginning of the unit. By front
loading the curriculum, I had a week for the students to complete the project before the
next assessment set and the next month’s curriculum.
There are many advocates for implementing digital storytelling into today’s
curriculums. A digital story is defined by the Center for Digital Storytelling as: A short,
first-person video-narrative created by combining recorded voice, still and moving
13
images, and music or other sounds (www.storycenter.org). Some proponents advocate for
an entire curriculum to be based on digital stories. Roger Schank (2002) proposed that
high schools clean out their entire senior year curriculums in favor of a Story Centered
Curriculum (SCC). SCC’s could potentially provide students with the skills needed to get
jobs after school, because they are goal-based projects (Schank, 2002). These curriculums
could enhance students 21st century skills by giving them the tools needed to succeed
after school. In a curriculum with so many assessments throughout the year, it would be
extremely difficult to teach students an entire unit using digital stories, however I believe
that digital stories could effectively teach students a segment of a specific unit. Digital
stories could effectively teach the students the material that is covered in class, while also
contributing to the development of important 21st century skills such as critical thinking.
Digital storytelling has the potential to influence students’ 21st century skills
because it gives students ownership over the material they are covering. Students are
motivated to produce digital stories because they are able to put it in their own language
which they can relate to. When students create a digital story, they must use critical
thinking to not only find the material needed for the digital story, but also to organize the
story into something that other students can understand (Anderson, 2010). Students must
use the 21st century skills of collaboration within their groups, to research and organize
the story. Students inevitably have to assign different roles to accomplish the goal of
finalizing the story. Within this classroom, the teacher and the computer become more of
a guide, while the students are the ones who have to actively put the information together
on their own.
14
In a world that is dominated by new technologies, it is important that teachers
begin to give students the necessary tools to succeed once they enter the workforce. In
this study, I used the ENGAGE model, (engage, explore, explain, elaborate, and evaluate)
to teach students a specific unit using digital stories. Sarah Davison (2009) was able to
use the ENGAGE model effectively to create a digital story project with her second
graders on a trip to the zoo. The same model can be used with eight graders, in which
they are given a topic that is in the science standards, and they elaborate on what they
learn using a digital story. The utilization of digital stories within the curriculum can help
students develop the important 21st century skills of information processing, collaboration
and critical thinking. Digital story projects not only teach students the science content
that they need to know, but also the skills that they need to be successful in today’s ever
changing world.
15
Literature Review
As the world continues to become more technologically advanced, schools have
begun to realize the importance of integrating 21st century skills into their curriculum.
The No Child Left Behind Act created an education system in which schools were held
more accountable for the success of the students. At the same time, the No Child Left
Behind act also started programs such as the Enhancing Education Through Technology
Program which was created to fund technology rich programs for schools that are
successfully increasing test scores of their students. Educators are realizing the
importance of teaching students the skills needed to succeed beyond their schooling even
in secondary education. In the four years of implementing the 21st century program at the
middle school in which the research was done, test scores of students in the program
showed positive results in their content knowledge relative to the rest of the school
(figures 6, 7, 8). In addition, the 21st century skills that the students were taught, helped
them with critical thinking, collaborative learning, and information processing. There is a
lot of evidence that supports digital storytelling as an effective method of teaching
students these skills, while also helping them obtain content knowledge.
Stories have the ability to connect people emotionally to a certain subject much
more than any other type of media. When someone tells a good story the listener becomes
entranced by the material and wants to learn more about it. The curiosity that is invoked
in a good story can be utilized to teach students different material in class. “A good
teacher is not one who explains things correctly, but one who couches explanations in a
memorable (ie, an interesting) format” (Schank, 1990, p. 15). Students are never going to
16
remember everything a teacher says, however if a teacher is able to invoke curiosity in
learning the material they have succeeded. Students will retain the information they learn
only if they find some interest in what they are learning.
“Storytelling is the most original form of teaching” (Sadik, 2008, p. 489). Stories
are human’s traditional ways of passing down information from generation to generation.
Before people had pencil and paper, it was one of the few ways to pass down information
in an effective way, because it captured the audience’s attention. A lot of people’s
conversations rely on the telling of stories, and in a way, “each of us ‘authors’ her own
story” (Davis, 2004 p. 1). With each experience, people create some sort of narrative,
which takes on the form of a story. “Experience is distilled into narrative, and the
narrative itself becomes a tool which shapes memory and mediates future experiences”
(Davis, 2004, p. 2). The narrative reflects the perception of different events. This
narrative is an unconscious emotional response to the different things that people
experience, which shapes how and what we learn. Storytelling is one of the first ways of
communication that a child learns growing up, “At an early stage speech accompanies the
child’s actions and reflects the vicissitudes of problem solving in a disrupted and chaotic
form. At a later stage speech moves more and more toward the starting point of the
process, so that it comes to precede action” (Davis, 2004, p. 1).
As kids grow up, they become better able to tell stories and respond to others’ stories
with their own related stories (Schank, 1990). People learn over time that telling stories
not only helps them relate to others but it also helps them prove a point. “Stories illustrate
points better than simply stating the points themselves because, if the story is good
enough, you usually don’t have to state your point at all; the hearer thinks about what you
17
have said and figures out the point independently” (Schank, 1990, p. 12). Learning about
new material involves building on previous material that one has learned in the past. The
process of compiling information involves relating stories from the past to new
information in the present. Thus, stories are the basis in which students learn material.
Creating a learning environment in which stories are incorporated into the curriculum can
help to engage the learner in the material, and allow them to become more connected to
what they are learning about.
Traditionally, stories have been made up completely of speech in which the audience
must listen intently to what the storyteller has to say. “In classrooms of the past, visual
encoding of material was ignored in favor of verbal presentation” (Clary, 2010, p. 34).
Now with new forms of media, the storyteller can create a visual narrative to complement
the oral narrative using a digital story. As discussed previously in the paper, today’s
students are much more visually oriented. Studies have shown that using visual aids with
students improved learning by up to 400% (Burmark, 2002, p. 10). With the creation of
new technologies and computers, storytelling has evolved into a multimodal process in
which the audience not only listens to what is being taught, but they also see what is
being taught. This forces students to use different parts of their brain which gives way to
long term memory. Advocates of digital stories believe that stories “can combine aural
and visual modes with text thereby deploying not merely the left hemisphere of the brain
which helps us decode language” (Jetnikoff, 2009, p. 58). Since the world is moving into
a more conceptual age, it is becoming more important that students are able to use the
right sides of their brains in order to understand the big picture of what they are learning
(Jetnikoff, 2009). Studies have shown that the, “verbal language offers the possibility to
18
better communicate the temporal and sequential characteristics of phenomena whereas
visual language facilitates the communication of spatial and simultaneous characteristics
of the experiential world” (Marquez, 2006, p. 223). The use of digital storytelling allows
students to be creative and use different forms of communication which utilizes different
parts of the brain. The different types of language they are forced to use helps them
develop 21st century skills, and a more complete understanding of different concepts that
they learn in the classroom.
The digital storytelling movement was started in the late 1980’s by the two
cofounders of the Center for Digital Storytelling, Joe Lambert and Dana Atchley (Robin,
2008). These two individuals started the organization in Berkley, CA and now provide
services to assist individuals, organizations, and institutions to create their own digital
stories (www.storycenter.org). Since the creation of digital storytelling in the 1980’s, it
has evolved into a variety of different forms. Robin (2008) describes three different ways
in which digital storytelling is used: personal narratives, stories that inform or instruct,
and stories that examine historical events. While some stories tell about personal
experiences, others may convey instructional material or recount history. Similar to
movies, digital stories can try to invoke an emotional response or they can be informative
or entertaining. Digital storytelling shows many similarities to other forms of media such
as video games and television, because it uses visual cues to tell a story. However, digital
storytelling is different, because the images are controlled by the narrator of the story.
“Digital storytelling lacks the immediacy of computer games, with their ready-made
realistic backgrounds and possibilities for action, but digital storytelling allows
substantially greater freedom of authorship. By controlling both the images and sounds in
19
their narrative portrayals, youth can use digital storytelling to control what previously has
been a cool medium to portray their own experience” (Davis, 2004, p. 3).
Perhaps the biggest impact that digital storytelling can have on learners is the
development of 21st century skills. Studies have shown that digital storytelling can have a
major impact on critical thinking as well as technology skills (Gregory, 2009; Ohier,
2006; Sadik, 2008). Media literacy is a major technological skill that can be developed in
digital storytelling (Ohier, 2006; Sadik, 2008; Robin 2008; Zukowski, 2008). Media
literacy can be defined as a person’s ability to critically analyze what they watch, hear,
and read. Media literacy takes on a broad range of skills and Robin (2008) discusses how
digital storytelling can help develop: digital literacy, global literacy, technological
literacy, visual literacy and information literacy. Digital storytelling has the ability to let
students think for themselves and create their own interpretations of different events. In a
world that surrounds students with different forms of media, it is important for students to
learn the ability to think for themselves. Ohier (2006) states that digital stories help the
students see the, “persuasive nature of the electronic culture in which they live” (p. 47).
One of the major problems that today’s generation faces, is the ability to reflect on
what is learned. As kids in the “Net Generation” are immersed in an age where visual
images are constantly thrown at them, they have very little time to reflect on what they
are seeing and learning. Reflection has been found to be linked with inductive problem
solving competence, an important skill of the 21st century (Greenfield, 2009). Similar to
reading, digital storytelling allows students the time to reflect on what they learn, and
gives them time to problem solve what exactly they want to portray to the audience. One
study found that, “students did not just report facts and concepts connected to the subject,
20
but reflected on their own thoughts and engagement with the subject, visually and
aurally. Students learned to think and write about people, places, events, and problems
that characterized their individual life experiences or others’ experiences (Sadik, 2008, p.
502). A major 21st century skill that digital storytelling helps is the process of thinking
critically and problem solving in order to create unique insights about what they learn
about the material, or even themselves.
Reading is an important skill that is under developed with many kids; however
reading alone does not provide students with the range of skills necessary for the 21st
century. Students must also learn to collaborate and communicate their ideas to people,
and reading lacks the medium to express ideas orally. While reading a textbook helps to
relay facts to students, and allows students to reference and clarify information, textbooks
can be hard for kids to conceptualize. “New digital tools have the potential to minimize
conceptual errors caused by the two dimensional limitations of textbooks” (Howell, 2003,
p. 40). Reading provides a form of communication in which students gain information
without having to express what they learned. 21st century skills require students to
actively generate and communicate information, but a lot of today’s media simply
provides the information without requiring a response. “People today are used to being
entertained by good storytellers. The most common media of these storytellers are
movies and television. But these are passive forms of storytelling. We are used to such
passive story listening. Books are passive too, after all. We have been content to lie back
and be entertained for centuries” (Schank, 1990, p. 242). The act of telling a story and
communicating with someone or a group is an active process in which the storyteller
must be constantly engaged in the topic that is being discussed. In a world in which
21
getting jobs depends on one’s ability to interview with people, and relate relevant
experiences to an occupation, it is important that kids are able to tell stories, and
communicate their knowledge to others. “Conversation is no more than responsive
storytelling” (Schank, 1990, p. 24). Success in the 21st century depends on one’s ability to
converse with people and tell stories.
In 2007 the US Department of Education reported, “‘no significant differences in
student achievement between the classrooms that used the technology products and
classrooms that did not” (Robin, 2008, p. 225). While digital storytelling has the potential
to have many positive impacts on student learning, there are educators that are concerned
with its feasibility of implementation. The biggest fear is that the students are going to
know more than the teachers. Technologies such as computers are a relatively new
phenomena, so many of the older teachers that did not grow up with these technologies
are not familiar with them. The fear of using technology, a term coined “technophobia,”
is very prevalent in today’s schooling since computers are such a new technology that
many students in the “Net Generation” have grown up with (Jetnikoff, 2009). Teachers
worry about implementing computers into a curriculum, because many of today’s
teachers lack the technology skills of the younger generations.
There are many concerns with the application of digital storytelling into a curriculum.
Many teachers fear that the students will not connect the objectives of the stories to the
subject matter and that the information that they present will be off topic. These teachers
believe that the students will not use many different types of information from the
internet, and the stories will not effectively teach the students the material (Sadik, 2008).
Once the material is put into the story, studies have also found that students have
22
Figure 3: Modified from Robin (2008)
difficulties with the timing and integration between audio and image tracks (Sadik, 2008).
The creation of a digital story is undoubtedly a difficult task to get students to do,
especially in class that requires students to complete the project within a certain window
of time. Students must not only learn the material that they will put into their digital
story, but they must also learn how to use the technology at the same time, which can be
time consuming. With so many different factors to consider in the classroom the process
of educating students through digital storytelling is undoubtedly a daunting task. Figure
3, modified from Robin (2008) shows many of the different tools and skills students must
integrate when they create a digital story
Although teachers
voice many concerns
about the implementation
of digital storytelling in
the classroom, many
studies have shown that
using stories to teach
content can be an
effective way to get
students to learn and
reflect on the material. Although teachers may not be as technologically literate as the
students, there are other skills that teachers have that can help guide students through the
digital story process. These tools that teachers have are techniques that can be applied to
both printed and digital stories. They include, “semiotics, narrative structure, visual
23
grammars, command of story devices and techniques” (Jetnikoff, 2009, p. 57). While it is
helpful if teachers are more technologically literate then their students, the computer
programs that are used to create digital stories are often straight forward, and students can
often learn the technology as they create the story (Jetnikoff, 2009). The use of
storyboards can also provide structure to a classroom and help them organize their story
in an effective way. Storyboards are a way of helping students graphically organize what
they are going to put into their story before they start creating it. Some researchers
suggest that students create a story map in which they outline the important aspects of the
story that they are going to implement before they add the digital medium (Zukowski,
2008). This allows teachers to analyze whether or not the project will be successful, and
helps them guide the story in the right direction. If a curriculum based on digital
storytelling is well thought out, in which students are given clear objectives and
expectations it is possible to generate an effective digital story.
There have been many studies that have shown positive effects on implementing
digital stories into math (Sadik, 2008), history (Sadik, 2008), English (Jetnikoff, 2009),
science (Davison, 2009), and even religion (Zukowski, 2008) curriculums. History has
been seen as the easiest of the subject to implement digital stories into a curriculum,
because the subject matter is almost entirely based on storytelling. Since subjects such as
science and history require students to search for lots of different types of information to
put into their digital stories, these two subjects, “are likely to have a convincing effect on
student activity and engagement in developing their stories” (Sadik, 2008, p. 501). The
digital stories are able to get students to become much more media literate, and
challenges them to think about what they are analyzing. Storytelling holds a lot of
24
promise for subjects such as math and science, because these subjects have many
obstacles that prevent reflection (Sadik, 2008, p. 501). Traditional methods of teaching
math and science often focused on providing students with facts and having students
memorize information using drill and kill techniques. Incorporating digital storytelling
into a science curriculum is very promising, because it forces students to reflect on the
material they learn, and it allows them to think more critically about the information that
they gather.
Computers have created new ways of educating students in today’s society. They
provide new tools that can allow for new ways of teaching the material. “As we have
become a part of a larger and larger society, some of the individuality of the storytelling
and receiving process has been lost. We all get fed the same stories (on television), we
must learn the same stories (in school), and wind up believing the same stories.
Computers, oddly enough, offer the prospect of increased individuality” (Schank, 1990,
p. 243). Using digital storytelling in a technologically equipped classroom can have
tremendous effects on student learning if teachers are able to create well planned ways of
integrating it into the curriculum. The important part of implementing digital storytelling
is for teachers to act as facilitators and guides in the classroom in order to allow students
the freedom to generate their own ideas. As society moves into a new age, it becomes
more important for students to learn 21st century skills of critical thinking and
information processing in order to succeed in today’s workforce. Digital storytelling can
successfully help to develop these skills, which will help students become successful
adults in a society that is constantly changing and adapting.
25
Methods
School DemographicsThe study was focused on the effect of digital storytelling on students’ ability to
think critically about science material. The sample size of the study was two 8th grade
science classes at a middle school in Colorado. Students at the middle school consisted of
primarily low socioeconomic backgrounds. In the fall of 2009, 84.6% of the students had
reduced lunch plans at the school (www.cde.org). The percentage of free and reduced
lunch students for the 21st century program is secure and cannot be viewed, however the
principle, estimates that it is slightly lower in the mid 70’s. Many of the students were
from diverse backgrounds and in 2009, 89 (20%) of the students at the middle school
were listed as ISL students. There were 25 gifted and talented students in the school, and
19 of them were in the 21st century program. In the fall of 2009, there were 440 students
in the school – 8 were Native American, 22 were Asian, 96 were African American, 224
were Hispanic, and 95 were Caucasian students (www.cde.org). The students in the 21st
century program consisted of 2 Native American students, 7 Asian students, 29 African
American students, 40 Hispanic students, and 34 Caucasian students (Figure 4). The
gender ratio at the middle school is almost 50% and 224 were males, and 216 were
females. In the 21st century program, 54 of the students were male and 59 of the students
were female. Out of the 173 students that were on ILP’s at the middle school, 22 of them
were in the 21st century program. In 2009, there were 26 students with IEP’s and only one
of the students was in the 21st century program. The 21st century program was not a gifted
program; however it did require students to be at least partially proficient in reading when
entering into the program. The students had to take the initiative to fill out an application
26
to get into the program, so the students in the 21st century program had a tendency to be
more motivated than the students in the regular education programs.
2 8
30
40
32
Team 21 Demographic Information
1 - American Indian/Alaskan Na-tive2 - Asian3 - Black/African American4 - Hispanic5 - White
Introduction
21st century class periods were 49 minutes long except for Mondays in which they
were 42 minutes long. The science classroom could hold up to 26 students. The
classroom was fairly small, which made it difficult to run labs effectively. There were no
windows in the classroom. The room was equipped with a Smartboard, two whiteboards,
and a projector. There was a sink located in the back of the room, which could be used
for labs. The students sat at tables with two students per table. The tables were often
connected in clusters throughout the room so that 4-6 students sat together. There was not
enough space in the room to fit an additional table for students to sit, so there could not
be more than 26 students. One of the 8th grade classes had 20 students, and the other class
had 26 students. These classes were tiered depending on student math scores for tracking
Figure 4: Demographic information for the 21st Century Program
27
purposes. The students that were placed in the lower math classes tended to struggle with
science in addition to math. The students spent the entire day with each other except
during “exploratories” in which they went to different elective classes. The students in
the lower math class tended to be more disruptive, and required a more structured
environment.
The study group consisted of two 8th grade classes in a 21st Century Program. The
program was first implemented four years before. Each student was supplied with a Dell
laptop with a restricted take home policy. The only day students were allowed to take the
computers home was Wednesdays. The students were able to connect wirelessly to the
schools wireless internet. The students did not have restrictions on the websites that they
could access, however if a teacher caught them off task on the computer they took the
computer away from the student. Within the program there were two 6th grade classes,
two 7th grade classes and two 8th grade classes, which were divided according to their
math CSAP scores. Many of the 8th grade students had been in the program since 6th and
7th grade. Out of the 46 students in the 8th grade, 35 of them were in the program the year
before. The 21st century program was not a “gifted” program and did not accept students
based on skill level. The only requirement to get into the program was that the students
score the equivalent of high partially proficient on the reading section of the Colorado
Student Assessment Program (CSAP).
There were 112 students enrolled in the program. The students in the 21st Century
program were primarily Hispanic students (35%), while Caucasian students (28%) and
African American students (26%) made up the other large populations of students. There
were only two Native American students and seven Asian students in the program. The
28
Figure 5: Student reported computer use
study was conducted on the two 8th grade classes. There were 15 boys and 21 girls in the
class. Demographic information for the 8th grade is displayed in table 1:
Some of the
students had never used
a computer before
coming to the school
(7.5%) (Figure 5). At the
end of the unit students
were given a survey in
which they answered questions regarding how long they had used computers and how
often they used computers after school (Figure 5). The majority (37.5%) of the students
had been using computers for seven or more years, but many of the students began using
computers upon entering the program.
Many of
the students were
familiar with the
process of digital
storytelling,
because they had
created a digital
story the previous
year on mitosis.
0 --> 1 1 --> 2 3 --> 4 5 --> 6 7 or more05
10152025303540
7.55
25 25
37.5
Student Computer Use
Years using a computer
Precent
29
8th grade Number of students
American Indian/Alaskan Native 1
Asian 2
Black/African American 10
Hispanic 13
White 20
Table 1: 21st Century demographic information for 8th grade
However, some of the students were new to the program, and were relatively new to
using computers. There was a wide range of students within the 8th grade classes. Many
of the students were high achievers and there were six gifted students in the 8th grade.
Many of the students who were not motivated were in the lower math class. The reading,
writing and math scores of the 8th grades previous year’s CSAP scores showed that the
students were fairly representative of the levels of achievement in the state of Colorado.
In the graphs, the 21st century program is represented by the green columns (figures 6, 7,
8). Due to personal property rights the name of the school and the district that the
research was done has been blacked out.
The eighth graders were chosen for the project because they were the most mature
class, and were most suitable for a technology driven classroom. Many eighth grade
students have a tendency to lose focus as they look towards high school, so digital
storytelling provided them with an exciting project in which they could express
themselves and be motivated to learn the material. The eighth grade classes were the last
two periods of the day, which allowed for reflection on the classes after school.
Reflecting on the classes helped with observations made during the class which was
important information for the qualitative data in the study. Since both classes were
required to learn the same material, digital storytelling was implemented in both
classrooms.
30
Figure 7: 8th grade CSAP writing scores from the previous year. “U” means unsatisfactory, “PP” means partially proficient, “P” means proficient, “A” means advanced and “NS” means not scored
Figure 6: 8th grade CSAP reading scores from the previous year. “U” means unsatisfactory, “PP” means partially proficient, “P” means proficient, “A” means advanced and “NS” means not scored
Figure 8: 8th grade CSAP math scores from the previous year. “U” means unsatisfactory, “PP” means partially proficient, “P” means proficient, “A” means advanced and “NS” means not scored
Approach to MethodsThe digital story project was conducted in student pairs that were decided by the
teacher. Depending on the class there were ten or thirteen topic questions assigned
throughout the class (appendix C). The topics were based around the district standard in
31
which students must “identify tools and technologies that are needed to explore space.”
Topic questions were based around astronomy issues in which space technologies were
needed to find out more about it. The groups were given a week to create a digital story
relating to an astronomy topic. Before students were allowed to start researching, the
teacher gave the students a brief explanation of what a digital story is. It was also
explained that they would be creating a documentary of their topic so that they knew how
the story should be narrated. Using www.youtube.com the teacher showed students video
clips that helped students distinguish between a documentary and an advertisement.
Students commenced by researching their topic; primarily using websites
provided by the teacher. Next, they were provided instruction in developing a script to be
organized into their documentary. The script was organized into a story storyboard,
which outlined how their documentary was going to be structured. A storyboard as
defined by Ohier (2006) is “is an ordered presentation of drawings or photos that each
summarize a major story event.” The storyboard summarized each of drawings and
content that they were going to discuss in the digital story. The storyboard helped them
organize their information so that it connected the different pieces of information that
they had researched.
The students used Dell laptop computers to create their digital story. They used a
program that worked with Windows called Microsoft MovieMaker to create their digital
stories. Students were familiar with MovieMaker since many of them had done projects
the year before. However, as the students proceeded, many of them faced problems with
the MovieMaker software, and some groups were permitted to switch to an interactive
PowerPoint. As students demonstrated that they had sufficiently researched their topics,
32
and provided and developed an organized storyboard, they were allowed to begin putting
everything together with their computers.
Shortly after giving the students the project it became apparent that students were
struggling with how to organize their digital stories. Students were simply told to create a
2-3 minute documentary based around their topic and the rubric, and it became clear that
they needed more structure in order to outline their story map. On the second day of the
project students were given an outline of how the story should be organized (Table 5).
The structure of the documentary was explained as a series of steps which were similar to
writing a short constructed response (paragraph) in the form of a video. Structuring the
documentary in this way helped students understand how the documentary was supposed
to be put together, and gave them clearer expectations of the project.
Documentary Section Time
Introduction 5-10 secondsEssential Question 1: What is the topic and what is its importance to the field of astronomy?
45 seconds
Notes, DiagramsEssential Question 2: How is the technology used to analyze your topic (How do we know about your topic)?
45 seconds
Notes, DiagramsEssential Question 3: What are some implications for further research into your topic?
45 seconds
Notes, DiagramsConclusion 5-10 secondsTable 5: Research outline for the students. Presentations were required to be 2-3 minutes in length
In order to integrate different types of narrative techniques, students were given
access to a digital cameras, camcorders, and microphones which they could share among
the class. They were also allowed to import music tracks into their digital stories as long
33
Figure 9: Modified from Robin (2005)
as it did not impede the narration of the story. The order in which students conducted
their storytelling methods was based around Robin (2005)’s four step approach to
integrating digital stories into learning (Figure 9). The teacher followed these steps when
establishing expectations for what needed to be accomplished for each day of the project.
Students were shown different sites on which they could access information for
their projects. The sites were posted in a word document to googleapps© so that the
students could always have access to them. Each topic that was assigned to the student
groups was posed as a question, which students sought to answer (see appendix A). For
each topic they had three essential questions which they were required to answer (see
rubric appendix B). Additionally, before conducting the research, students were
familiarized with the rubric that provided a framework of expectations for their digital
34
story. The rubric was also posted as a word document to googleapps© so that students
could become familiar with it. The rubrics were modified from Sadik’s (2008) twelve
attribute scoring rubric for digital stories (Figure 10).
Students were given the entire week to complete the storytelling project and were
allowed to do extra work at home if they needed to. Because of the middle school
assessments every three and a half weeks, it was important that students completed the
documentaries in a timely manner. In order to complete the stories, deadlines were
created for finishing different parts of the assignment. Students were given two days to
conduct research, and at the end they were graded according to how much they had
completed. The research grade was worth 20 points and those who received less than 15
points were told to call home at the end of class to notify their parents that they were
falling behind on the assignment (Table 3). They were given a day to add the narration to
the story and two days to put everything into a movie.
Research Grading Rubric0 points Has not researched the topic5 points Minimal work and/or has copied and pasted
information10 points Notes were in own words BUT they did not
answer all 3 essential questions15 points Essential questions were answered however need
to include more detail and/or diagrams and picture20 points Sufficiently answered essential questions with
diagrams and picturesTable 3: Research grades given to the students to make sure they were using their time effectively. Anyone receiving below at 15 had to call home to notify their parents that they were falling behind
The attributes from Sadik’s (2008) rubric were integrated into a technology and a
content rubric (appendix B and C). The rubrics were used to produce a grade at the end of
35
Figure 10: Modified from Sadik (2008) grading rubric for digital stories
the week for the projects. In addition, students were assessed on the effects of digital
storytelling on their 21st century skills – specifically their ability to collaborate, reflect on
the material, and problem solve.
In order to track gains in knowledge related to the astronomy topics the students
were given clicker tests to test their knowledge at the beginning and the end of the digital
storytelling process. There was a clicker question for each topic, and the clicker tests
were administered the day before students researched the topics, and the day after
students finished presented their stories. The questions on the clicker tests were multiple
choice questions that challenged students’ ability to comprehend the material in a more
critical way (Appendix D).
At the end of the year students were given a survey using
www.surveymonkey.com (appendix E) to test how much content they learned.
Additionally, the survey sought to compare how much students learned from a
traditionally taught astronomy unit compared to the digital story unit. The survey
36
included post test questions from the astronomy unit taught using the digital stories as
well as a physics unit which was taught without the use from the digital story. At the end
of the survey, qualitative data was collected when students were asked questions about
their digital stories to give insights into how successful they thought the digital
storytelling project went. In order to triangulate the data, observations were conducted
throughout the week that focused specifically on students’ ability to collaborate with
material, reflect, and problem solve.
Digital Story EvaluationOnce students had completed their projects, there was a signup sheet in which
students signed up for different days to present their documentaries. Students who scored
the highest on their research grades were the first to choose what day they wanted to
present on. The students were graded according to the rubrics, and the documentaries
made up approximately 25% of their total grade for the class. It was important to allow
students to assess other students work during the presentations, because it ensured that
they would pay attention as their classmates presented their research. Students were given
feedback sheets to assess their peers using the rubrics which were passed out at the
beginning of each class. After groups presented their digital stories the presenters
answered 1 to 2 questions before their classmates assessed them using the rubrics. The
feedback sheets included a grade based on the rubrics as well as one thing they liked and
one thing they thought needed to be improved. The feedback sheets were then handed to
the presenters which helped the groups understand what they did well and what they
could improve on.
37
Students presented their digital stories in front of the entire class by plugging their
computer into the projector. During the presentations the other students filled out the
evaluation sheets. The teacher sat in the back of the room and graded students according
to the content and technology rubrics. Three groups presented each day and presentations
lasted for four days. The maximum amount of time allotted to each presentation was
three minutes long. The timer began once students hit play on their digital stories. After
all groups had presented, the time remaining at the end of each class was used to
transition students into the physics unit which followed the astronomy unit. The students
who were not prepared to present during their time slot were deducted points for turning
their assignments in late, but were allowed to email the teacher their digital story up to
the end of the quarter.
38
Results
Introduction
Data was collected using various qualitative and quantitative methods. Student
presentations were scored according to a rubric. Clicker tests provided quantitative data
to assess if students not only learned their topics but also the other students topics.
Throughout the projects observations were made on student performance. At the end of
the unit students were given a survey from www.surveymonkey.com, and they were also
given district standardized tests. The results that were gathered show that digital
storytelling did help students understand the material that they were learning in a more
critical way.
In order to triangulate the data, pre and post test scores from the astronomy unit
were compared to pre and post test scores of a physics unit, which was taught without a
digital story. The physics unit was taught directly after the astronomy unit. The pre tests
were administered at the beginning of the units and the post tests were given in the survey
at the end of the unit. District assessment scores were also analyzed at the end of the unit.
Since the first half of the astronomy unit was taught without a digital story, district
assessment questions were organized according to what students learned during the
digital story and what students learned in a traditional classroom setting (Appendix F).
Two classes participated in the digital storytelling project. The classes were tiered
based on math CSAP scores. The lower math group scored 8% lower on the clicker pre
test and 14% lower on the clicker post test than the higher math group. Students in the
higher math group received an average grade of an 85% on their digital stories while the
39
lower group received a 77% on their digital stories. Additionally, when looking at their
assessments the higher math group scored 61% on astronomy related questions while the
lower math group scored 43% on astronomy related questions. For the purpose of the
study, data from both classes were combined into one data set.
Quantitative Data Analysis
The trends from the overall data were convincing and were supported by the
quantitative data that was gathered throughout the study. At the beginning of the project,
students scored an average of 38% on the astronomy clicker test. By the end of the study,
they scored 57% on the clicker test. Compared to the regular physics unit that was taught
afterwards, these gains were 14% higher (Figure 11). What was even more encouraging
was the fact that 53% of the students who initially got their topic question wrong during
the pre test got their questions correct during the post test (Figure 12). Although students
scored only 57% on the entire post test, 80% of them got their topic questions correct on
the post test.
Comparing the astronomy unit taught traditionally to the unit that was taught
using the digital story the data also showed that students gained more knowledge from
the digital story unit. The questions that covered standards which asked students to use
higher level thinking such as “describe, design, research, or develop” were categorized as
topics learned in the digital story unit while other questions which required students to,
“construct a model, use models, or recognize” were categorized as questions addressed in
the traditionally taught astronomy unit (see appendix F). When comparing student scores
on the two types of questions students scored higher on the questions that were covered
40
in the digital story part of the unit (55%) compared to the unit taught without a digital
story (50%) (Figure 13).
In order to analyze if the digital stories were helping students understand the
material, it was important to correlate the grades that they received from the teacher, to
how well they performed on their astronomy tests. The class average for the digital
stories was 81%. Students were then separated into those who received above and 81%
and those who received below an 81%. Both populations of students averaged 38-39% on
the astronomy pre test, however when analyzing post test scores, the students who
received above average grades on their digital story scored 9 points higher (Figure 14).
Additionally, district assessment scores were correlated to the students scoring above and
below 81% on their digital stories (Figure 15) and on average those scoring above 81%
scored an entire 13 points higher astronomy related questions in the district assessment.
Qualitative Data Analysis The qualitative data that was collected throughout the project supported the
quantitative results in the study. The qualitative data was collected through survey
responses as well as observations in the classroom. A lot of the observations will be
discussed in the next chapter. From observing the students throughout the week, it
became clear that students were thinking more critically about the information that they
were studying. Student questioning was a big indicator of higher level thinking and
student questions transformed from “what is this?” to “how does this work?” Students
were more engaged in the content they were learning compared to the regular astronomy
unit, and many of them created some impressive digital stories.
41
The survey responses showed that the students enjoy doing their own research in
a self guided way. Of the 40 students that participated in the survey 27 of them enjoyed
the freedom they had to do their own research (Figure 16). One of the students elaborated
on their answer saying, “I learn a lot more through serious individual research, the
productivity also depends on how much I already know about the topic and how
interesting it is.” Another student added, “Really like how the project was formed,
could've of used a little more organization though.” The negative opinions about the
documentary were usually because they did not like their topic or their partner, and they
felt like they had to do most of the work.
Students were also asked questions regarding what they learned from creating the
documentary and the majority (82.5%) agreed that they learned about their topic (Figure
17). Most of the students did not agree that they learned from other groups topics (55%).
At the end of the survey when students were asked about what they liked and what they
thought could have been improved, one student said, “I liked having the ability to create
such a unique project but I didn't really get much information out of other's videos.”
Another student added, “I would have given us more time to research ALL topics,
because I didn't learn much from the others' presentations.”
Students were also asked to compare the astronomy unit taught without the digital
story to the unit taught traditionally. Students clearly liked using the computers to learn
the material on their own. When asked to compare the two units one student said, “I got
to learn new things the teacher never taught us so that help me get a better perspective.”
Another student said, “I learned a lot more then because I got to learn things by going and
42
researching by myself.” Although many of the students preferred the astronomy unit over
the traditionally taught unit, the majority (65%) responded that the traditionally taught
unit prepared them better for the district assessments (Figure 18).
Of the 40 students who participated in the survey, 15 of the students spent time to
give feedback at the end of the survey on what they liked and disliked about creating the
documentary. The 15 responses were categorized into 7 different themes which can be
observed in table 4. Four of the students suggested using a different movie program, due
to the fact that MovieMaker did not work on some of the computers. One student liked
the fact that they didn’t have to personally speak when they presented what they found,
and that it made it easier for them to present on the material. The results indicate that the
students enjoy a student centered classroom in which they find the information on their
own. One student said, “I liked that it helped us learn without listening to a teacher talk
all day but it needed more organization.”
Student Examples
Many of the student presentations were well thought out and they used a variety
of different narration techniques. Some students used voice narration, some used text,
some used spliced video clips from the news and many combined several techniques
throughout the story. Many of the images used in their presentations did a great job of
complimenting what they were discussing in the documentary. Some examples of
students work are shown below:
43
Essential Question: What is dark matter and why do scientists think it exists?
Essential Question: Does water exist on other planets/moons?
Essential Question: What is the threat of an asteroid hitting the earth and what scientists doing to predict it?
44
Physics Pre Test
Physics Post Test
Astronomy Pre Test
Astronomy Post T
est0
10
20
30
40
50
6051
56
38
57
Astronomy and Physics Pre and Post Tests
Perc
ent A
nsw
ered
Cor
rect
Figure 11: Comparison between the pre and post tests of the astronomy unit taught using a digital story and the physics unit taught without using a digital story
Pre Test CorrectPost Test Incorrect
Pre Test Incor-rect
Post Test In-correct
Pre Test Correct Post Test Cor-
rect
Pre Test In-correct
Post Test Cor-rect
% of Students Answering Topic Ques-tion Correct
4.44
15.56
26.67
53.33
Figure 12: Percent of the students who answered their topic questions correct pre and post. The green and purple represent the students who go their topic questions correct during the post test (80%)
45
Que
stion
s 14,
15,
29,
30
Que
stion
s 35
Que
stion
s 4, 6
, 18
Que
stion
33
Que
stion
31
Que
stion
38
Que
stion
s 21,
24,
25
Que
stion
20
0
20
40
60
80
100
45.556 55.5
84.468.9
48.9 43.760
Astronomy District Assessment Scores Categorized
Digital Storytelling Unit
Regular Unit
Questions on the District Assessment
Percent Correct
Figure 13: Percent of students answering the district assessment questions correct related to the regular astronomy unit (traditionally taught) and the digital storytelling part of the astronomy unit. Class average for the digital storytelling questions was 56% and 50% for the questions related to the traditionally taught astronomy unit
Figure 14: Pre and post test scores of the students who scored above and below 81% on their digital storytelling projects
46
Above 81% Below 81%0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70 66.6
48.4
56.9
48.6
Average District Assessment Scores for students receiving above and below an
81%
Digital Storytelling QuestionsRegular Astronomy Unit Ques-tions
Perc
ent C
orre
ct
Figure 15: Scores on the district assessment tests for students scoring below and above 81% on their digital story. Assessment scores are divided based on regular astronomy unit questions and digital storytelling unit questions. Students who scored above 81% on the digital story scored an average of 61% on astronomy related questions; students scoring below 81% scored an average of 48% on astronomy related questions
I learn
ed m
ore fro
m documen
tary
I was
more inter
ested
in th
e conten
t
I learn
ed m
ore rea
l world
applica
tion
I enjoye
d the f
reedom to
do my o
wn resea
rch0
5
10
15
20
25
Compared to the rest of the astronomy unit:
Strongly AgreeAgreeNeither disagree or agreeDisagreeStrongly Disagree
Num
ber o
f res
pons
es
Figure 16: Student survey responses comparing what they learned during the digital story astronomy unit compared to the regular astronomy unit
05
1015202530
From the documentary:
Strongly AgreeAgreeNeither agree or disagreeDisagreeStrongly Disagree
Num
ber
of r
espo
nses
47
Documentary
The rest of the astronomy unit
Haven't taken assessment0
5
10
15
20
25
30
10
26
4
What prepared you best for the district assessment tests?
Num
ber o
f res
pons
es
Feedback Number of ResponsesEnjoyed Research 7
Figure 17: Student responses regarding the digital storytelling astronomy unit
Figure 18: Student responses discussing what prepared them better for the district standardized tests
48
More Time 5Different Partners 5Different Movie Program 4More Structure 3Liked Topics 3Didn’t Learn From Other Presentations 2
Table 4: Free response feedback organized: “What did you like, what could be improved?”
Discussion
49
This paper offers a new way in which teachers can utilize technology to create a
student centered classroom that encourages students to understand information in a more
critical way. Digital storytelling offers a solution to the problems that many teachers face
in many 1:1 laptop initiatives in which the computers are used as the technological task,
rather than a tool help students access the information (Beatham, 2009). The results from
this paper show that students grew academically throughout the digital storytelling
process; however there are some improvements that could be made for in the future.
One of the biggest problems encountered during the digital storytelling process
was the software chosen for the digital story. MovieMaker is a great program that is
simple and easy to use; however many of the students that had received new computers
during that school year had a different “image” than the older computers. The new image
restricted the students’ ability to use several programs including MovieMaker. Many of
the students were unable to use the program and had difficulty finding free programs that
would allow them to accomplish a similar task. Several of the students resorted to
creating an interactive PowerPoint which served a similar purpose, but it lacked some of
the special effects that were available with MovieMaker.
Students also had a difficult time completing the digital story with the time
constraints of the project. The district had very strict standards on what needed to be
covered during each month, so students were on a tight schedule to finish their stories.
Some of the students processed information slower than other students, and although they
used their time effectively every day, it took them longer to put everything together. Of
the 15 students who gave feedback at the end of the survey, 5 of them wished they had
more time to create their stories (Table 4). Giving students more time to work on the
50
digital stories would greatly enhance the work that the students produce, and it would
allow them to get deeper into the content that they research.
Although only two students gave feedback that they didn’t learn from others
presentations (Table 4), that was probably the weakest part of the project. During
presentations there was a lot of time wasted, which could have been put towards
producing their stories. The presentation format was not structured very well and it took
too long for all of the groups to present. When students were presenting their stories, the
rest of the class was evaluating the stories; however the format was not very engaging
allowing students to not pay attention. The advantage of a digital story is that students do
not need to be in front of the class to present what they learned. The stories can be
converted to windows media files, creating accessible video content to be shared at
stations around the room. The presentation format would have been much more effective
if all of the groups presented on the same day. Digital storytelling groups could open their
presentations on their computers and spread throughout the room. Since they do not need
to stand in front of their computer, they could evaluate other presentations while people
are evaluating theirs. If the presentations were structured this way, more time could have
been devoted to creating the stories, and it could make students more engaged in the
presentations, since they would be in control of starting and stopping the presentation.
In student centered projects such as a digital story it is very important to set clear
expectations of what the final product should look like. Several of the students who gave
feedback (3) believed that the project could have been organized more clearly (Table 4).
A day after giving the students their assignment, it became very clear that many of the
students had no idea how to structure a documentary. The next day an outline of how
51
long each section should be (Table 5) was given to the students, which helped the
students understand what they needed to accomplish, however even that was not enough
structure for many of the students. Students would have had a better understanding of
what the final product should look like if they were given several examples of
documentaries before letting them go. If the teacher had created their own documentary,
and shown it to them they would have had a better understanding of the expectations, and
how the documentary should be organized. Providing them with more background
information and guided websites before starting the project, would have also helped them
access and synthesize the information more quickly.
The way in which students were assessed could have been improved. While the
clicker tests provided good quantitative data, the questions were multiple choice which
restricted student answers. It would have been interesting to get free response answers to
different topic questions to get a broader understanding of how well they understood the
topics. It became difficult to assess whether the students understood different topics,
because some groups did not answer the clicker question in their digital stories. Clicker
questions sought to ask students important aspects of the different topics; however some
groups covered their topic thoroughly without addressing the clicker question. A solution
would be to let students create their own test questions surrounding their topic. The
drawback to this solution is there would be no pre test.
Throughout the project observations were made which allowed for a greater
understanding of the many different possibilities for future research for the project. The
most interesting observations I made during the project were of the gifted students in the
class. I gave those students the most difficult topic questions and it was fascinating
52
watching them construct their stories. While a lot of the other students needed structure
for their presentations, these students thrived without the structure, because it gave them
a lot of freedom to construct the story in their own unique way. The gifted students liked
the challenge of researching difficult topic questions and it was interesting watching them
construct their digital stories. While the other students in the class wanted to research
their projects in several steps, the gifted students didn’t write many things down the first
day, and simply familiarized themselves with the topic. Once they had gotten a grasp of
what they were going to talk about, they did lots of research about the entire topic and
broke it down into sections at the end. Future studies which look at how gifted students
tackle projects such as a digital story could be interesting.
Another interesting group of students were those who enjoy learning in more
traditional ways and thrive in very structured environment. One of the students in
particular was very goal driven and enjoyed structure in the classroom. When comparing
the traditionally taught part of the astronomy unit, to the digital story part of the
astronomy unit he wrote, “I typically learn more by teacher lectures than individual
projects.” Later on when asked what he liked and what could have been improved he
wrote, “It was not planned out as perfectly as it should have been.” These types of
students struggled in this type of environment. He had a lot of difficulty collaborating
with his partner throughout the project and coming up with a plan. Although he is one of
the top students in his class and usually turns in work on time, he turned the project in
three weeks late. It would be interesting to compare students who thrive in traditional
classroom settings, and get a better understanding of what makes this type of project so
difficult for them.
53
As I expected, many of the students thought that the astronomy unit that was
taught traditionally prepared them better for the district assessment (65%) (Figure 18).
The digital story project helped students develop a lot of high level thinking skills;
however the district assessments were testing students on how well they could recite the
astronomy content. Throughout their research, I witnessed students using high level
critical thinking skills to research and understand the concepts that were surrounding the
topic. The digital story project challenged students to create the meaning on their own,
which involved reading through different materials and finding the information that made
sense to them. Similar to the problem with the clicker tests, the district assessments asked
students questions that were very focused and did not allow students to expand on what
they knew about different topics. While the assessments successfully tested their
knowledge of what the district thought was important to know, it did not necessarily test
the full range of knowledge that they had gained from the astronomy unit.
Conclusion
54
Overall the digital storytelling project went well. The data supports the idea that
students grew throughout the project and learned the material as they completed their
digital stories. The topic questions were well thought out, and the majority of the students
enjoyed their topics. The rubric and topics questions were effective, because they were
formulated as essential questions which helped to guide students to the information that
they needed to find. While the project was successful, it is clear that there are many
things that could be improved in the future. In order to get more conclusive results, it
would be beneficial to test student knowledge in a traditional classroom compared to one
centered around a digital story. The major challenge is finding an assessment method that
allows students to expand on what they know. It becomes difficult to assess the extent of
student knowledge when students are asked specific multiple choice questions. Digital
storytelling helps students not only learn content, but it helps them develop 21st century
skills which are extremely difficult to measure. The skills that are developed such as
problem solving, teamwork, and researching material, can be nonexistent in a traditional
classroom. As classrooms become more complex, it becomes more difficult to evaluate,
and put a value on the learning that is happening in the classroom.
The data provided in this paper does not address all of the possible variables,
however it does provide some encouraging results that show that students can learn
content in a student guided classroom centered around digital stories. Computers are a
relatively new technology in today’s world, and teachers continue to find new ways of
teaching their students. Digital storytelling has tremendous possibilities in the classroom
today because the computer is used as tool to help students access the material (Beatham,
2009). The story helps students investigate the material on the computer and synthesize
55
the information into something that makes sense to them. In a world in which technology
has become prevalent in students lives, reading has taken a backseat to other forms of
media which do not allow students to reflect on what they are learning. Digital
storytelling gives students access to the technology that the students enjoy using, while it
also pushes them to reflect on the material, which is important in developing long term
memory. Digital stories allow today’s tech savvy students to utilize their technological
skills to construct a story that makes sense to them, and is fun for them. Education has
reached an interesting crossroads, because with the boom in technology in the last twenty
years, today’s students construct meaning in such different ways than the majority of the
people who are teaching them. The challenge that teachers face is how to teach students
the material in a way that engages the students in what they are learning, and makes sense
to them. One possibility is utilizing digital storytelling in the classroom.
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AppendicesAstronomy
Content Rubric Mastery (4) Proficient (3) Emerging (2) Novice (1)
59
EQ 1: What is the topic and
what is its importance to the
field of astronomy?
--Demonstrates a clear understanding of the topic--Connects the topic to the
scope of astronomy and how it is important
historically--Information is gathered and organized in a logical
progression--Provides reliable information from numerous sources
--Meets time requirement
--Demonstrates an understanding of topic
--Connects the topic to the scope of astronomy
--Information is gathered and organized in a
understandable progression--Provides reliable
information from several sources
--Meets time requirement
--Demonstrates a general understanding of the topic
--Connects the topic to related astronomy topics--Information is gathered and understandable but is
disconnected--Provides information
from sources but may not be reliable
--Does not meet the time requirement
--Demonstrates a lack of understanding of the
topic--Disconnected facts about the topic are
provided--Information is gathered, however it is difficult to
understand what the topic is
--Provides disconnected information from unreliable sources
--Significantly misses the time requirement
EQ 2: How is the technology used to analyze your topic (How do we know about
your topic)?
--Describes multiple technological evidence of the topic (space missions,
space stations…)--Explains how the
technology helps scientists understand the topic
--Provides many visuals to explain the technological
devices used--Makes it clear that
without the technology available the topic would
be nonexistent
--Describes technological evidence of the topic
(space missions, space stations…)
--Explains how technology helps us understand the
topic--Provides several visuals
to explain the technological devices used
--Makes it clear that the technology that is used
furthers our understanding of the topic
--Describes technology but the evidence is unrelated to
the topic--Explains how technology
is used in astronomy--Provides few visuals to
explain the technology that is used
--It is unclear what technologies further our
understanding of the topic
--Technological evidence is limited and unrelated to
the topic--Explains how
technology is used but it does not connect to the
topic--Provides no visuals to explain the technology
that is used--Provides no evidence
that the technology furthers our
understanding of the topic
EQ3: What are some
implications of further research into your topic?
--Describes several technologies scientists plan
to use in the future to increase knowledge of the
topic--Provides a timeline of
when the new technologies will be completed/used
(dates…)--Creativity makes
predictions on the impact of the topic on future
research--Discusses the feasibility of accomplishing future
technological advancements of the topic and its potential impact on
society
--Describes a technology scientists plan to use in the
future to increase knowledge of the topic
--Provides a general idea of when these technologies
will be completed/used--Creatively discusses
implications of the topic on today’s research
--Discusses the feasibility of accomplishing future
technological advancements with the
topic
--Describes technologies that scientists plan to use in the future in the field of
astronomy--Provides a vague idea of when these technologies will be completed/used
--Discusses implications of future research but it is off
topic--Discusses feasibility of
accomplishing future technological
advancements but it is off topic
--Describes technologies that will be used in the future but there is no
connection to the topic--Provides no reference to when these technologies will be completed/used
--Discusses no implications of future
research--There is no mention of
the feasibility if accomplishing future
technological advancements
Appendix A: Rubric used to grade the content the digital stories. Students were given 3 essential questions which they needed to answer in their stories.
60
61Technology
RubricMastery Proficient Emerging Novice
Hardware(digital
cameras, camcorders,
webcams, flip videos, etc…)
□Demonstrates use of equipment
properly.□Uses most
functions and keys of equipment
properly.□Operates and
positions equipment.
□Downloads footage or images in a timely manner.
□Incorporates many visual elements (point of views,
similarity, monochromatic).□Uses many or the
simple rules of composition (background, proximity).
□Mostly demonstrates use
of equipment properly.□Uses most
functions and keys of equipment
properly.□Operates and
positions equipment with some assistance□Downloads
footage or images in a somewhat timely manner.
□Incorporates some visual elements (point of views,
similarity, monochromatic).□Uses some of the
simple rules of composition (background, proximity).
□Somewhat demonstrates use
of equipment properly.
□Uses some functions and keys
of equipment properly.
□Operates and positions
equipment with lots of assistance.□Downloads
footage or images, but not in a timely
manner.□Incorporates few visual elements (point of views,
similarity, monochromatic).□Uses few of the simple rules of composition (background, proximity).
□Minimal understanding of
how to use equipment properly.□Lacks
understanding of the functions and
keys of equipment.□Minimal
awareness of how to operate and
position equipment.□Minimal
awareness of how to download
footage or images.□Lacks
understanding of how to incorporate
visual elements (point of views,
similarity, monochromatic).□ Lacks knowledge of how to use the
simple rules of composition (background, proximity).
Software(Power Point, MovieMaker,
Video editing)
□Demonstrates use of programs
properly.□Easily navigates programs using many features□Teaches
himself/herself and others many new elements of the
program.□Demonstrates a
clear understanding of the program
during presentations.□Uses many appropriate elements□Saves and
retrieves documents in an orderly, timely
fashion.□Uses creativity
□Effectively applies technology to demonstrate
learning.□Troubleshoots
without assistance.
□Demonstrates use of programs
properly, but may need help at times.□Navigates the program using some features□Teaches
himself/herself and others some new elements of the
program.□Demonstrates an understanding of
the program during presentations.□Uses some appropriate elements□Saves and
retrieves documents in a
somewhat orderly and timely fashion.
□Uses some creativity
□Applies some technology to demonstrate
learning.□Troubleshoots
with some assistance.
□Demonstrates use of programs
properly, but needs much assistance.□Navigates the
program using few features□Teaches
himself/herself and others few
elements of the program.
□Demonstrates somewhat of an understanding of
the program during presentations.□Uses few
appropriate elements□Saves and
retrieves documents in a
disorderly, untimely fashion.
□Uses little creativity
□Applies little technology to demonstrate
learning.□Troubleshoots
with a lot of assistance.
□Lacks understanding of
how to use programs properly.
□Minimal awareness of how
to navigate programs.□Lacks
understanding to teach
himself/herself and others any new elements of the
program.□Minimal
understanding of programs during presentations.□Uses minimal
appropriate elements□Lacks
understanding of how to save and
retrieve work in an timely fashion.□Lacks creative
awareness□Technology
awareness is not reflected in
learning□Lacks
understanding to troubleshoots
Appendix B: Rubric used to grade the technology use in the digital stories
Essential Questions:1. What is dark matter and why do scientists think it exists? 2. What is dark energy and why do scientists think it exists? 3. What is the evidence that black holes exist and how do they from? 4. What is the potential for space tourism in the future and what are some concerns? 5. How do solar flares affect the human population and what are ways that we can predict when
they are going to happen?6. What are some ways in which humans are trying to connect with distant civilizations and what
are the challenges of doing this? 7. Does water exist on other planets/moons? 8. One earth there are many environments in which we are finding living things where we didn’t
think life could exists – could life potentially live outside of “habitable zones” – where and how could life exist?
9. There is evidence that asteroids have hit the earth and had severe impacts on our climate. What is the threat of an asteroid hitting earth and what are scientists doing to predict it?
10. What are some ways in which scientists have learned about comets? Knowing what comets are made of how could humans utilize them?
11. What are some difficulties that we face when we try to land on other planets? How is technology used to gather data once landing on a planet and what precautions need to take place before sending a spaceship to another planet?
12. What are some ways in which space technologies impact our everyday lives? 13. Venus has a very thick atmosphere, how do we know its surface looks like, what are some
difficulties of landing on Venus and what are some ways in which scientists are going to find out more about Venus?
Appendix C: Essential questions for the astronomy research project
62
1) Dark matter is material that: a) doesn’t emit lightb) appears only in the shadow of the sunc) can only be seen from spaced) all of the above
2) How does dark energy affect how scientists see distant supernovae?a) appear darkerb) appear brighterc) appear smallerd) doesn’t affect
3) How do black holes form? a) a red dwarf explodesb) a medium mass star implodesc) a white dwarf explodesd) a supergiant star implodes
4) What are some ideas people have to help create space tourism?a) space stationsb) space elevatorsc) space hotelsd) all of the above
5) How can solar flares affect the human population?a) cause global warmingb) cause widespread firesc) disrupt radio communicationsd) destroy telescopes
6) How are humans trying to connect with distant civilizations? a) Televisionsb) broadcasting radio signalsc) sending flashes of lightd) sending astronauts to distant galaxies
7) What is the biggest factor that inhibits water from occurring on the surface of different planets?a) the soil/substrateb) atmospheric pressurec) geologic activityd) lack of hydrogen and oxygen
8) According to NASA what is/are the potential source(s) of colonization of living things outside of earth? a) Marsb) Europa (Jupiters moon)c) Titan (Saturns moon)d) all of the above
9) Asteroids have the potential to hit earth and cause significant changes to the earths climate. Of the 100,000 asteroids that scientists are currently tracking approximately how many orbit the inner solar system?
a) 50b) 200c) 20,000d) 50,000
10) Why do tails of comets always point away from the sun? a) the solar wind pushes the gas and dust awayb) the orbits are always away from the sunc) its gravity pushes the dust away from the sund) because the ice melts on only one side.
11) Which is NOT a difficulty to landing on other planets? a) descending toward the planetb) landing on the surfacec) obstacles on the surfaced) solar flares damaging electronics
12) Which of the following is not a space technology that impacts our everyday lives?a) weather forecastsb) cell phonec) hand held transceiver (walkie talkie)d) gps units
13) Venus is covered by a dense layer of clouds about 40 miles thick so how do we know what its surface looks like? a) only when the clouds clearb) radar mappingc) sent down rovers to explore the terraind) telescopes
Clicker Quiz
Appendix D: Clicker quiz – bolded questions are the answers
64
Student Survey1. Your name
2. I am A boy A girl3. I am in 8A 8B4. I would rate my technology skills
Novice Emerging Proficient Mastery
5. How many years have you used a computer
0-1 1-2 3-4 5-6 7 or more
6. Rate your knowledge of
Novice Emerging Proficient Mastery
Hardware Software
7. Outside of school I use the computer
0-1 hours per day
1-2 hours per day
2-3 hours per day
3-4 hours per day
4 or more hours per day
8. When I use a computer at home I most often
Play games
Do research
Do homework
Read the news
Chat online
Use social networks
9. From the astronomy documentary I:
Strongly disagree
Disagree Neither Agree Strongly Agree
Learned a lot about my topic
Learned a lot about the astronomy topics presented by other students
Learned a lot about astronomy
10. Compared to the rest of the astronomy unit that was taught without a digital story
Strongly disagree
Disagree Neither Agree Strongly Agree
I learned more from creating the astronomy documentary
I learned more applications of the material (how it related to the real world
I enjoyed the freedom to do my own research
11. What prepared you better for the science assessment sets?
The astronomy documentary The astronomy unit without the digital story
Appendix E: Questions that students answered through www.surveymonkey.com
65
District Standards Covered During the Astronomy UnitDigital Story
E.3: Evidence Outcome b - Describe methods and equipment used to explore the solar system and beyond Multiple Choice: 33
E.3: Evidence Outcome c - Design an investigation that involves direct observation of objects in the sky, and analyze and explain results Multiple Choice: 31
E.3: Evidence Outcome d - Research, critique, and communicate scientific theories that explain how the solar system was formed Multiple Choice: 38
E.4: Evidence Outcome a - Develop, communicate, and justify an evidence-based explanation using relative positions of Earth, Moon, and Sun to explain the following natural phenomenon: Multiple Choice: 21, 24, 25
E.4: Evidence Outcome b - Analyze and interpret data to explain why we have seasons Multiple Choice: 20
Regular Unit E.3: Evidence Outcome a - Construct a scale model of the solar system, and use it to
explain the motion of objects in the system such a planets, Sun, Moons, asteroids, comets, and dwarf planets Multiple Choice: 14, 15, 29, 30
E.4: Evidence Outcome c - Use models to explain the relative motions of Earth, Moon, and Sun over time Multiple Choice: 4, 6, 18
E.3: Evidence Outcome f - Recognize that mathematical models are used to predict orbital paths and events Multiple Choice: 35
Appendix F: District standards covered in the regular astronomy unit and the unit taught with the digital story
66