Zoop in Space: A Calculus Project

I decided to tell my story in the context of a Grade 12 Calculus class in a school with students who are predominantly English language learners (ELLs). Trying to figure out how to use a narrative story in a calculus class was challenging but in the end I decided that I would use the story to initiate a problem-based learning project (PBL). As you can see from the story, it is built in Tapestry an online slideshow creator. After proceeding through the slideshow the students will be given a handout with the assignment’s instructions and a map. The map is the basis of the problem; each group will have to develop a path home for the main character of the story, Zoop, by using derivatives to calculate vectors such as velocity and acceleration. The map will provide multiple pathways for the students however each path will incur challenges such as asteroid belts and black holes. The students will also be required to complete the journey in approximately three days or seventy-two hours of travel time.

PBL is a constructivist strategy where students work in small groups and learn about a subject through solving a practical problem. The problem should be designed to stimulate learning and should also act as a vehicle for developing problem solving skills. It is a student-centered strategy wherein the teacher takes a back seat and guides the student through the problem solving process (Savery & Duffy, 1995). PBL has been shown to improve student effectiveness in science and math standardized tests, as well as reducing the achievement gap for African American students in the United States (Hmelo-Silver, Duncan, & Chinn, 2007).  Since PBL assignments are inherently social it is also hope that the ELL students will be provided with greater opportunities to practice the language, and develop stronger social skills. The digital narrative is not in itself strongly correlated to PBL pedagogy but is instead the inciting incident in the project.

There are many tools that I could have selected to tell my story however I decided on Tapestry mainly because of the affordances that it provides to ELLs. Tapestry allows students to progress through the slideshow at their own pace and to review previous slides. These affordances also allow for students to look up relevant words to increase their understanding of the content. (Ellis, 2005) Hopefully these aspects of Tapestry will increase the students’ chance of success on the assignment. Along these same lines Nikitina (2011) suggests that providing written instructions to ELLs is more effective than spoken instructions. For these reasons Tapestry seemed to me to be the most effective tool for constructing my digital story.

For the reasons stated above I decided that a slideshow was the best tool for creating my story. Alan Levine’s website “50 Web 2.0 Ways to Tell a Story” provides seven options for slideshow tools and each of them has their own affordances, however of these resources Tapestry has a greater focus on text than on pictures. In creating my story I wanted to strike a balance between the visual and the written components of the story. Tools like Photopeach and Picasa allow for text to be added to the slide show but the greater focus is on the pictures and as such did not met the needs of my story. I did seriously consider using Voicethread as it allows for the author to record a voiceover for the slideshow; however after serious consideration I decided that a text based approach was more effective for an English language-learning environment.

Loosely using the Bates and Poole (2003) SECTIONS framework I would outline my experience with Tapestry as follows:

Students – Tapestry is appropriate for my students and I think that it is appropriate for students of almost any age.

Ease of Use – Tapestry is very easy to use and I think that students would be able to begin using it with minimal instruction.

Costs – Tapestry is free to use as long as students have an Internet connection.

Teaching and Learning – Tapestry is a tool that depending on the assignment can enhance student engagement and also provide a more active learning process. I think that the results however are largely dependent more on the assignment than on the software.

Interactivity – Tapestry provides minimal interactivity compared to other online learning tools, but it has sufficient affordances to move the learner beyond traditional classroom procedures.

Organizational Issues – Since Tapestry is a web based application it does not require significant organizational structure.

Novelty – Tapestry provides the opportunity for students to produce assignments in a different way. If it is not overly used it should provide sufficient novelty to the students.

Speed – One of the strongest features of Tapestry is that it is very quick to implement and construct. Students should have no problems creating and publishing a slideshow with in minutes of creating an account.

Tapestry lacks many of the technological affordances that the other slideshow tools offered, however what it lacks in affordances it makes up for in ease of use. This was another reason that I chose it over the other tools offered. Text is added to each slide by simply typing into the textbox beside the slide and pictures can be added by dragging or dropping them into the slide. Due to the fact that it is so easy to use I believe that it would be an effective tool for students to use in the classroom.

For these reasons I think that Tapestry was an effective tool for what I was trying to accomplish with this assignment. It provides a useful medium for creating a story that would lead the student into the PBL assignment.

References 

Bates, A.W. & Poole, G. (2003). Chapter 4: A framework for selecting and using
technology. In Effective teaching with technology in higher education: Foundations for success pp. 77-105. San Francisco: Jossey Bass Publishers

Ellis, R. (2005). Principles of Instructed Language Learning. System, 33(2), 209-224.

Hmelo-Silver, C., Duncan, R., Chinn, C., (2007). “Scaffolding and Achievement in Problem-Based and Inquiry Learning: A Response to Kirschner, Sweller, and Clark (2006)”. Educational Psychologist 42(2): 99

Nikitina, Larisa (2011). Creating an Authentic Learning Environment in the Foreign Language Classroom. International Journal of Instruction 4(1) 33-46

Savery, J. R., Duffy, T. M. (1995). Problem Based Learning: An Instructional Model and Its Constructivist Framework. Educational Technology, 35 (5), p31-38.