This summer my Summer I session course is an exploration of utilizing digital storytelling as a combination of pedagogy, content, and technology in one of two modes - to convey a personal perspective through my own digital storytelling or to facilitate my students' knowledge construction through their experiences with digital storytelling. This post focuses on the former while developing skills and insights to later facilitate the latter.
The video below represents both my final project for the course and my fledgling attempt at digital storytelling, warts and all.
The project design for the above video is as follows:
Audience
My science students at Christian Brothers College High School, a private Lassalian boys college preparatory school. The students have ages range from 14 to 18 years, come from a mix of urban and suburban, include a wide range of socioeconomic backgrounds, generally take science classes as a requirement, and engage in cocurricular activities covering the waterfront but generally either centering on intellectual and/or athletic pursuits.
Story Topic and Personal Connection
My topic is one of my scientific heroes – Albert Einstein. As a chemical engineer and physicist by training, and science teacher by vocation, I am passionate about all things science. Einstein is my subject matter both because he generally known on some level to all my students and because he epitomizes scientific curiosity and collaboration, a life of dedication to pursuit of an idea, faced numerous personal and professional challenges, and a lived well rounded and full life. I also share many of his constructivist ideas about education and learning.
Purpose
My purpose is threefold: 1) to tell an interesting story about a familiar famous scientist from a perspective that reveals my view point of what it means to be a scientist in the larger context of being a typical striving human being, 2) to expose my students to the notion of the pursuit of science as being a noble quest with heroes, guides, companions, shadowy others, challenges, failures, victories, and holy grails to be obtained, 3) to illustrate to students that science is a never-ending great quest that, with curiosity and persistence, can be a questing field upon which to become a hero if they will but take up the challenge. (While some would say talent is also necessary, I would argue this is necessary in some degree, but curiosity and persistence far outweigh talent as essential requirements. Also, curiosity and persistence are unlikely to be present without at least a kernel of talent.)
The storyboard and script developed to facilitate creation of the the video may be accessed at
A rubric developed for utilizing digital storytelling with my students may accessed at
Upon reflection, I find digital storytelling to be an excellent medium for creatively sharing content knowledge form a personal point of view, when done well, in an interesting and engaging way. More importantly, digital storytelling has the potential to help students unlock their creativity while providing both their instructor and peers alike a unique insight into a student's perspective on constructed knowledge while practicing and evidencing a potentially wide range of what the
refers to as 21st Century Skills - Digital Literacy, Global Literacy, Visual Literacy, Technology Literacy, and Information Literacy.
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