The digital story assignment required us to use web 2.0 tools to create a story. Why a story? What is a story? And what does a story have to do with education?
Storytelling and Education
A story seems natural in English or History class – after all, these are in the business of stories – but what do stories have to do with the subjects I teach, Math and Physics?
Allan Levine’s Dominoe follows the classic story pattern: exposition (adopting Dominoe), rising action (lost in the woods), climax (finding Dominoe), falling action (travelling companions) and resolution (the narrator realizes he was transformed by his relationship with Dominoe). This is a satisfying tale that holds our interest, and the purpose of the story is clear – by telling the story, the narrator makes sense of his experiences with Dominoe.
I am struck by the similarities between this classic story structure, and the structure of a learning activity that could be provided for students. The setting and problem are provided, students struggle with the learning materials, and in the end, by producing a report, make sense of their experience. (A simpler way to look at this would be to say that a satisfying lesson, like a satisfying story has a beginning, a middle, and an end.)
A story can have purpose in any of the parts of a learning activity. We can use a story to introduce an activity – to provide a context and motivation. The story can provide information, or additional complications, as students work with the materials. The students can produce stories to make sense of their learning.
Beyond their use in teaching academic subjects, stories can help to teach our students some ‘life lessons’, such as responsibility (in the case of Dominoe).
Rationale for Montreal in March
My rationale for producing Montreal in March is to introduce an activity where students plan and budget for a trip. It would lead to a discussion of the items that should be considered in planning a trip. The story introduces students to a tool (Google Maps) that they could use in planning and researching their trip. The story also provides a model for students, who may choose to use Google Maps to organize the results of their research. The story could also lead to a discussion of resourcefulness when faced with setbacks.
Telling the Story
The tools I used in authoring my story (Google Maps, Flickr and Picasa), met the basic SECTIONS criteria (not blocked by school-board filters, easy-to-use, reliable, and free), that eliminated some of the other tools. In addition, I chose Google Maps because the road trip is naturally suited to a story map, and because students could use a tool such a Google Maps to work on, and present their assignment. Flickr is a large repository of photos, searchable by keyword, and the search results can be filtered by permissions associated with the photos. I used one of my own photos for the story, and chose Picasa as the hosting site, in order to gain some familiarity with another image repository. An interesting feature of all of these tools is their interactive nature. Viewers can search the map for additional information, and can also comment on the map presentation and photos.