Information summarized from CEP822 and Brian Carpenter’s podcast.

What is the effect of student creation of digital stories on their understanding of history concepts in an elementary setting?

Sample:

The sample studied will include two fourth grade classes (I will refer to them as Class A and Class B), 50 total students. The students are 9 and 10 years old. They are a racially and academically diverse group, and there are 25 male students and 25 female students. The classes are located in Okemos, Michigan, a suburban and relatively affluent community. More details will follow, but each group will be taught social studies by the same teacher for two consecutive units.

This sample is useful for this study for several reasons. First is the possibility for the same teacher to instruct both classes so there is not a question about difference in instruction in the results. Also, the diversity found in the classrooms both in ethnicity and academic ability creates an interesting cross section. Although generally the community has high socio economic status, there is also a range of family income levels. The age level is appropriate both for the use of the technology, and when considering using narrative for teaching social studies.

Study Design

For the first unit, The Revolutionary War, Class A will participate in digital stories, and Class B will not. For the second unit, The Civil War, Class B will participate in digital stories and Class A will not. (The unit with the digital stories for each unit will be labeled with an asterisk from this point on.) These units are not consecutive but were chosen because of the similarities in the nature of the content.

Each unit will be taught in a similar fashion with lecture, readings, videos, etc. and a focus on narrative. The difference will be that for one unit each class will be asked to create a digital story based on the content of the unit. Each student will create his or her own story focused on one aspect of the unit. The two classes will be compared against each other for the two separate unit to discern the effects that creating a digital story has on the students’ understanding of the social studies content. This will allow for both classes to experience creating digital stories and give two separate opportunities to observe and analyze differences.

Data Sources

The data for this research study will come from four separate sources, two assessments, and two interviews. The interviews will take place before and after each class’ digital story unit, and the results of each set of interviews will be compared. (Class A: One pre and one post interview for Unit 1. Class B: One pre and one post interview for Unit 2). The assessments will take place at the end of each of the two units for each class. Class A: Test for Unit 1*, Test for Unit 2. Class B: Test for Unit 1. Test for Unit
2*).

Pre-Interview
Before each class begins the unit with digital stories, they will be interviewed to gauge their understanding of the content and their feelings about the previous unit. This pre-interview will include a variety of questions to see where students are before the unit begins.

There will be content specific questions:

What do you know about the Civil War?
Why was the Civil War Important to American History?
What important historical figures can you name from the Civil War?

Also, there will be questions about attitude.

How do you feel about Social Studies?
What is easy about social studies?
What is difficult about social studies?

Assessment
Each class will take a test at the end of each unit. These tests will be the typical tests given at the end of each social studies unit. The tests include multiple choice, matching, and essay questions. The multiple choice and matching questions will cover vocabulary words and other details of the units. The essay questions will be considered more for the purpose of the study and will necessitate more substantial answers.

Essay questions will include:
Describe some of the factors that led to the Civil War?
Describe some of the factors that led to the Revolutionary War?

Post-Interview
After each group has participated and been tested, they will each be re-interviewed. This interview will allow me to see how their understandings and attitudes have changed over the course of the unit. An interview allows for a conversation and students to express more easily (in narrative if needed) what they are thinking, and will generate more complete answers than a survey. The questions will be the same as those listed for the pre-interview, with a few additional questions.

Describe your experience with the test, was it harder or easier than usual? Why?
What is the most important thing you have learned from this unit?
What did you learn from creating a digital story?

Procedure

Class A

Interview students individually before the unit begins.
Begin Unit 1*: The Revolutionary War
Teach Unit
Students work on digital story assignment
Give Assessment for Unit 1*
Interview students after unit individually.
Teach Unit 2: The Civil War
Give Unit 2 Assessment

Class B

Teach Unit 1: The Revolutionary Way
Give Unit 1 Assessment
Interview students before the unit begins
Begin Unit 2*: The Civil War
Teach Unit
Students work on digital story assignment.
Give Students Unit 2 Assessment.
Interview students after unit

This procedure allows for both classes to learn one unit with using the digital stories. It also allows for a variety of information to be collected.

Data Analysis

In order to gauge the effect of the digital stories on student understanding of history content, the following four data comparisons will be made:

1.    Class A, Unit 1* Test to Class A, Unit 2 Test
2.    Class B, Unit 1 Test to Class B, Unit 2* Text
3.    Class A, Unit 1* Pre and Post Interviews
4.    Class B, Unit 2* Pre and Post Interviews

Interviews
Notes from interviews will be compared to see how students understanding of content and attitudes changed. Specifically, I will look for students feelings towards social studies and what is difficult and easy, and see if the use of digital narrative changed student opinions.

Post-Assessment
As mentioned above, students will take the standard exam given at the end of each unit, which includes multiple choice, matching, and essay questions. I am interested in the grades on the multiple choice and essay questions and will compare those scores for each group. More careful attention will be paid to student’s answers to the essay questions, which give students a chance to express what they have learned. Using essay rubrics I will evaluate students answers for the details they include and the connections they make between content.

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

This is a brief article summarizing the process of actually creating a digital story in a classroom setting. The authors 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. They provide seven 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.” It includes a more limited definition of digital stories, leaving out video clips entirely, and I would suggest an eighth step that is critically left out, publishing.

Belmonte, I. A., & Verdugo, D. R. (2007) Using digital stories to improve listening
comprehension with Spanish young learners of English, Language Learning & Technology, 11 (1).

This article explores the impact of digital stories on 6 year old English language learners in Spain. They conducted a quasi-experiment research study with a pre-post test design and found that generally students who were exposed to the technology had higher comprehension scores. They suggest that the use of narrative help students contextualize new language “making it meaningful and memorable.”

Bull, G., & Kadjer, S. (2004) Digital stories in the language arts classroom.
Learning and Leading with Technology, 32 (4).

This article gives a closer look at the story part of a digital story. It suggests “Seven Elements of Effective Digital Stories.” 1. Point of view 2. A dramatic question 3. Emotional content 4. Economy 5. Pacing 6. The gift of your voice 7. An accompanying soundtrack. This article focuses on digital stories in the context of learning reading, writing, and other language arts content.

Bruner, J. (1991) The narrative construction of reality, Critical Inquiry, 18 (1), 1-21.

Bruner says that people understand and construct reality through narrative, and that it is a part of a “cultural toolkit”. “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.” He describes 10 features of narrative  which reveal what narrative is and why is it s natural process for understanding reality.

Levin, H. (2003) Making history come alive: students interview holocaust survivors on
camera and publish their stories on the web, Learning and Leading with    Technology, 31 (3), 22-27.

The author describes his work with 10-12th graders at The Urban School in San Francisco. The students enrolled in an elective history course called “Telling Their Stories: Oral History of the Holocaust.” Levin provided the technology support while another teacher was responsible for the social studiers curriculum. The students prepared, interviewed, video taped, transcribed, edited, and published their work. The authors plan to expand the project to include other oral histories. The power of the work is that students are learning both technology and history while creating an authentic product that others can use to deepen their understanding of the holocaust

Alleman, J., & Brophy, J. (2007) How can I structure classroom discourse to help
students develop social studies understanding? In Powerful Social Studies for
Elementary Students (171-187). Thomson.
keller_822_anotbibkeller_822_anotbib
In this text about teaching social studies to elementary students includes a chapter hot to structure classroom discourse. One suggested strategy is the use of narrative structures. Citing Bruner (19900, Egan (1988, 1990), Downey and Levstick (1991), the authors relate their research more specifically to the teaching of social studies. “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 stores about people…”

According to Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling, digital storytelling is “…combining the longstanding art of telling stories with any of a variety of available multimedia tools, including graphics, audio, video animation, and Web publishing.” In other words, students can pull together a variety of media (most often digital video or digital photographs combined with text or voiceovers) to create a movie that tells a story. The Center for Digital Storytelling emphasizes first person narrative in the kind of stories that are told, and probably this is the most common use in schools. Children can tell their own stories through multimedia. Clearly, this tool can be implemented across subject matters from a new kind of book report, to a story about results to a science experiment, to a retelling of time in history. I am especially interested in the implications of using digital stories is social studies education. This research proposal focuses on finding answers to the following question:
What is the effect of student creation of digital stories on their understanding of history concepts in an elementary setting?
Teaching social studies in a way that provides students with a deep and connected understanding of historical events is constant goal in my teaching. Social studies can seem to young students like a collection of facts and dates that do not relate to their lives. One way of helping students gain a more connected sense of history is to use narrative. Students naturally understand narrative, they have been hearing stories all their lives. I have found when I read children’s literature about a history topic, or lecture in a more narrative form, my students are more engaged and better able to discuss historical events. I would like to use these observations to take using narrative to teach social studies to the next level by allowing students to retell the stories of the past through digital storytelling. We all know the idea that people learn best when given the opportunity to teach. Creating a digital story or short movie about a topic requires a student to think about the best way to communicate or teach it, and I predict that telling the story will help the student learn the information in a very meaningful and memorable way.
My interests in educational technology focus on putting technology into the hands of students. Technology is a powerful way to improve what teachers do, how they teach, what they can show students, but where technology can really change the way students learn is when they can use it to create. Technology allows for simple and relatively inexpensive means of self-expression, creativity, and authenticity in education. Digital storytelling is especially interesting to me because it allows students to bring together so many important skills to convey information in a creative and entertaining way. It allows children to be artists and in this case historians.

In addition to the effects on student understanding of historical concepts, I am interested in the other benefits of student created digital stories. At a time when creativity is becoming a more and more important skill in career success, it is often being ignored in schools (likely due to the pressures of testing and NCLB). I am passionate about finding ways to develop creativity and emphasize its importance and giving students the power to create their own story seems like a step in the right direction. Students will also gain valuable technological and problem solving skills as well as experiencing the importance of collaboration and developing the social skills necessary to work as a part of a team.

Why “Ten Things to Think”?

Sometimes it is difficult for
teachers interested in using technology in the classroom to know where to start. There are endless tools, software, hardware, and people who will insist they have the solution, the right thing for your students, the technology everyone needs to know how to use. While I have my favorite tools and software I could tell you all about, I think it is more important to start out with ways of thinking. Learning the ins and outs of tools and hardware will be daunting and meaningless without first establishing how you think about using technology. You need to find what is right for you, and these general things to think will give you a framework and a starting point. Then, the possibilities are endless to have a great experience with technology in your classroom. I hope they are helpful to you in your technology adventures.

There is a main document which can be downloaded here. Also if you visit http://msu.edu/~kelleral/T4.html there is more information and supporting documents including a poster and a lesson checklist available. All of these things are in an early draft, I have planned edits that will be up this summer. If you have any suggestions or comments, please leave them here or email me (kelleral@msu.edu).

As I finish up my final year in the teacher preparation program at Michigan State University, and move towards graduation, my teaching internship, and my life as a teacher, it is important for me to think about the bodies of knowledge I will need to be successful. I have learned a lot in my undergraduate career and even more working on my masters in educational technology, but there is more I will need to know to truly be an expert teacher. While this list is not all-inclusive or faultless, it is a look at the type of things I will need to know, and some places I can go to find information and inspiration. Some of the sources I currently use or have previously read, and others I plan to experience in the future. There are twelve sections which suggest the types of things I will need to know to be an exceptional teacher, each including several books, website, movies, or blogs, that can help me to learn.

1. Thought about what a poem is
2. Listened to 5 varying poems about weather
3. Wrote his/her own poem about weather
4. Recoded the poem they wrote
Why I decided on this technology and lesson:
I wanted students to see technology as a way to publish work. I wanted them to think it was exciting to be able to talk into a recorder and then hear their own voice. I wanted it to help them see their poetry as important. Eventually, I hope to put it on the web so they can share it with their families, but in the mean time I am sending a cd home with several students at a time. They were for the most part very proud and happy to know that others could hear their voices. Technology is used a a mode of sharing the students work and also making them feel like the work is important because it is out there for people to hear. Additionally, I hoped it would make them feel pride and confidence in their ability as young poets. Using the recorder was a good way to help them learn about poetry because it let them express themselves without worrying about spelling or handwriting, two things which hold them back when they are writing. They did write down their poems initially, but being able to read their own writing meant they did not have to check spelling of every word when they were publishing.

Goals for the lesson:
The technology did not really help them to understand content except to illustrate that recording their voice is a way to share a poem with other people.
A poetry unit is in the pacing guides for Lansing later in the year. I think poetry is not something that should be taught for one month, but in order to get students to be more successful it is something they should have many experiences with. This lesson was a preview of what is to come and also a way to get them some preliminary experience with writing poetry. It was their very first try at writing a poem for the year.

Learning:
Learning takes place through experimenting and experiencing. Because this was the students first time writing poetry they listened to several poems and then just tried writing something. They also worked together in some cases, with follows social constuctivist theories. The students also work together to make a working definition for poetry.
Because of the nature of poetry and that the assignment was totally open, that made it possible for any child to be successful. They just had to write about something in the way they thought a poem should be written. When reading poetry aloud, students could listen and read along, each poem had a picture by it.

The Technology:
The students were all very excited for their turn to record their poem. Many of them asked, after they heard their voice, “is that really what I sound like?” They asked what the device was, I explained that it was a recorder that recorded whatever they were saying. I told them I could take the recording and put it on a CD or on the internet.
Most basically, teachers need to know how to work a digital voice recorder. Beyond that, they should know how to somehow publish the audio files. Students need to have enough experience with poetry to be able to try and write a poem. It would have also been valuable to talk about speaking skills to help the recordings be more effective. I think that doing this same type of assignment multiple times would yield a better product down the line. Ideally, this should be done with older students who could handle the recording on their own. I had to take a couple minutes with each student individually and that would be hard to manage without other teachers in the room.

Assessing Students:
During the early discussion, I asked students what they thought poetry is. To assess the students here, I just wanted to make sure they were participating in the discussion. I wanted to know that about 80% of the class had hands raised at any given time, and they were. Then when the students wrote their own poems, I wanted each student to make an attempt at writing poetry. This was their first try and there were few rules or guidelines. Every single student wrote a poem at least three lines long, and most much longer. They were so proud and worked very hard.

I think teachers can also create podcasts, and use podcasts that others have created to enhance a lesson. Being able to hear the words of someone who actually fought in Vietnam, could be very meaningful. As could hearing a teachers voice giving a test review, on an iPod, while driving somewhere with mom and dad.

See this post for more information, and for a podcast I created.