Using Digital Storytelling to Advance Scientific Comprehension and Retention in a Middle School Science Course

Abstract

As computers, digital cameras, and video editing software tools become ubiquitous in schools across the United States, teachers expand their roles from educators to producers as they take on digital storytelling projects. Unfortunately, current teacher education and experience does little to prepare teachers for this new role. The job of a producer is not only to understand the subject matter of the video project, but to also know the technologies necessary to execute the vision and the pitfalls likely to be encountered along the way. In short, teachers are asked to teach not only their subject matter (e.g. science, math, history, and language arts), but to also help students navigate a technically complicated environment of digital movie making, as well as help them translate their story ideas into an audio-visual-temporal format. Inadequate preparation creates situations where some students who are able to get outside technical support create far superior movies then their classmates without such resources. And teachers and students often have unreasonable expectations as to the necessary time and effort these projects require, as well as the quality of the output. This paper explores the difficulties teachers face when they become producers of digital stories and why it’s still worth it.