Literature Review
Posted on June 7, 2009
Filed under 822
In order to answer the question of the effects of digital stories on student’s understanding of history, several related questions must also be considered. First, is using narrative an effective way for students to conceptualize new content? The premise of the proposed research is that allowing students to create their own narrative (through digital storytelling) will give them deeper understandings of history content. My question goes further in suggesting not just that narrative is helpful in learning social studies content, but more specifically that using narrative combined with the multimedia possibilities of digital storytelling will bring about a deeper understanding of content. That requires looking first at how digital stories fit into the classroom generally, and how they impact learning. This literature review will look at what has been published regarding narrative and learning, and how digital stories fit into that framework. It will analyze both the practical aspects of implementing a relatively complex technology project, as well as the learning outcomes that come from such a project.
Narrative
History concepts are often difficult for students, seen as a series of facts and dates. If students can see history as a story of people and places of the past, it will help them relate and understand history more fully. Jerome Bruner has investigated the impact of narrative on understanding in his article entitled “The Narrative Construction of Reality”. This is a philosophical article looking at cultures and the ways humans understand reality, that has implications for education but was not written from an education standpoint. His other writings further probe the idea. He says “We organize our experience and our memory of human happenings mainly in the form of narrative-stories, excuses, myths, reasons for doing and not doing, and so on.” (1991). Because using narrative structures is a natural process to help us understand the world, it makes sense that using narrative to help students understand content in school could greatly benefit students.
In Alleman and Brophy’s (2007) text, Powerful Social Studies for Elementary Students, they confirm the importance of narrative in the social studies classroom. This textbook is meant to help teachers provide social studies instruction in more memorable and meaningful ways. They suggest using narrative structures as one way to do that. “The narrative format is a powerful vehicle for teachers to use in helping students bridge from the familiar to the less familiar. Information about the past is more easily understood by children when it is “represented as stories about people…” It is important for students to learn history through teacher provided narrative, and also to learn to take facts and figures of the past and form their own narratives.
Digital Stories in the Classroom
Creating digital stories requires a lot of time, and can be a complex process. While some might argue that the time and technology it takes to complete the process are not worth the educational value, many educators have found the process both possible and rewarding. Albaugh and Kadjer (2005) have used digital storytelling in various forms and educational settings and suggest that even though teachers may not have access to all of the desirable equipment, and have limited time (especially with computers), it is still possible and beneficial with careful planning. Their article “Constructing Digital Stories” describes the nuts and bolts of using this technology. They suggest planning the projects around 7 essential steps.
1. Write an Initial Script
2. Plan an Accompanying Storyboard
3. Discuss and Revise the Script
4. Sequence the Images in the Video Editor
5. Add the Narrative Track
6. Add Special Effects and Transitions
7. Add a Musical Soundtrack if Time Permits.
My limited experience with similar projects indicates that they have left out an essential 8th step, and that planning and allowing time for publishing is also crucially important.
Digital Stories and Learning Outcomes
Educators are beginning to look more closely at the ways digital stories can impact student learning. Kadjer and Bull (2004) discuss using digital stories in the language arts classroom and focusing on the storytelling aspect. They have found success in teaching students elements of narrative through digital storytelling, including point of view. They also suggest that it is a powerful way to engage struggling readers and writers but fail to substantiate that claim. Stories in social students should still be compelling and there are real opportunities for curricular integration when using digital stories.
Belmonte and Verdugo (2007) conducted a quasi-experiment research study with a pre-post test design in Spain. They looked at the effect of using teacher created digital stories to teach English to Spanish students. They found that generally students who were exposed to the technology had higher comprehension scores. This illustrates that digital stories are finding their place in the classroom with positive results.
Contrary Research
Allowing students the time it takes to form a deep and connected understanding of history content would be contested by some educational researchers. For example, E.D. Hirsh would suggest that the time it takes and the focus on not just content, but deep understanding, creativity, and critical thinking skills is not the best use of classroom time and resources. His article “Not so Grand a Strategy” (2003) and other works suggest students benefit from a core set of content knowledge that should be the same for every student in the country. He sees time spent on creativity and higher order thinking skills is time wasted, that should be spent on providing students with a set of facts (rather than a connected network of ideas, and not using narrative structures). While content is important in an important piece of this research proposal, other benefits for students are considered including their ability to synthesize content and create something new.
While there is little research done specifically on the effects of digital stories and student achievement or understanding, many studies have investigated the effects of technology generally on student achievement, with mixed results. John Schacter (1999) looked at results of five major studies to summarize the current research, and there are few definitive conclusions. Some positive results included improved attitudes, slightly higher test scores, and improved problem solving. There were also negative or inconclusive reports, such as no change (or decreases) in test scores, and too much variation among students and situations to draw conclusions. While these studies do not give conclusive evidence that students learning is improved by the use of classroom technologies, the variation in teacher professional development, software and hardware used, and methods of measurement make this research hard to apply to all educational settings.
Each of the above listed resources will contribute in meaningful ways to understanding the effects of digital stories on student understandings of history content. When considering how to implement the process in the most effective and efficient way, Kadjer and Albaugh’s article will be helpful. Additionally, Bruner and Brophy and Alleman’s consideration of narrative and its impacts on understanding help support the hypothesis that using narrative will help students understand history content more deeply. The research on digital stories in other content areas (reading comprehension and language arts) supports the use of the technology more
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