By Patricia Holloway and Carol Mahan
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by Patricia Holloway and Carol Mahan ids and nature seem like a natural survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation, combination, but what was natu- today’s 8- to 18-year-olds spend an average ral a generation ago is different of seven hours and 38 minutes per day on today. Children are spending entertainment media such as TV, video Kless time outdoors but continue to need games, computers, and cell phones, nature for their physical, emotional, leaving little time for nature explora- and mental development. This fact has tion or much else (2010). led author Richard Louv to suggest According to Louv, children need that today’s children are suffering nature for learning and creativity from “nature-deficit disorder” (2008). (2008). A hands-on experiential Nature-deficit disorder is not a med- approach, such as nature explo- ical term, but rather a term coined ration, can have other benefits by Louv to describe the current for students, such as increased disconnect from nature. motivation and enjoyment of While there may be many learning and improved reasons today’s children are skills, including communi- not connected with nature, cation skills (Haury and a major contributor is time Rillero 1994). spent on indoor activities. According to a national Summer 2012 23 ENHANCE NATURE EXPLORATION WITH TECHNOLOGY Digital storytelling Engaging with nature Our idea was to use technology as a tool to provide or Students need to have experiences in nature in order enhance students’ connection with nature. Students to develop their stories. To spark students’ creativ- are already engaged with technology; we wanted to ity, have them read or listen to stories about nature. use that interest to foster outdoor experiences that Reading books like Water Dance (Locker 1997), The promote learning. The content of the learning can be Hunter and the Woodpecker (Crowl 1990), or one of any concept or skill in the current curriculum. For ex- the One Small Square series by Donald M. Silver and ample, if they are studying habitats, students can se- Patricia J. Wynne (1997) can set the stage for outdoor lect a habitat and photograph the animals and plants nature study. To find a quality science trade book that found in the habitat to tell a story. encourages exploration, review the list of NSTA Out- A perfect fit for our objectives was the digital story, standing Books on www.nsta.org/recommends. A sec- which combines digital photography in nature with ond way to prepare students for a nature experience telling a story (see Resources for examples of digital is to have them carefully observe natural objects you stories created by students). Storytelling has long been have brought into the classroom, such as seed pods, used by scientists and explorers to re-create the world plants, insects in a viewing box, pieces of animal fur, as they find it. It is the path taken by generations to tree bark, feathers, rocks, fossils, or other items from preserve stories of our place in the world. Everyone nature. Students can record their observations using has a story to tell (Porter 2004). words that appeal to the senses. This activity requires students to use technology to Then take students on a nature walk. Nature can be capture visual images and audio sounds and add their found in the cracks of a sidewalk, a small flower bed, a voices as they tell their stories. Students can experience grassy area, or one tree. Prior to the nature walk, teach- the connection among art, science, and the natural ers should assess the school grounds, neighboring world by developing stories of their own. True digital park, vacant lot, or grassy field for safety concerns. Get storytelling is a 21st-century creative-writing experi- to know the area by exploring it on your own first. Limit ence that is supported by images and sound. Careful the area for student exploration by setting boundaries observation and record keeping are necessary in order ahead of time. Make notes of necessary precautions; to tell a story. Technology is the tool that binds it all for example, a patch of poison ivy, student allergies, together. and proper clothing. Once you are familiar with your FIGURE 1 A storyboard example Project name: Page: 1 Date: January 24 Swamp Producers Author: PJH Frame description Media list (describe the screen): (list all of the music, songs, sounds, voice recordings, pictures, videos, text, or title transitions required for this part of the Pic of American lotus project): in the swamp Recorded sounds of croaking frogs and water dripping, picture of American lotus, recorded student narration Narration: “Carefully look at the American lotus. What producers do you see?” 24 SCIENCE SCOPE ENHANCE NATURE EXPLORATION WITH TECHNOLOGY surroundings, select observations that complement the features of the natural area. Ask students to observe FIGURE 2 Photography tips for students the clouds, sounds, birds, trees. At the end of the out- door experience, a quick formative assessment could • Get to know the camera; use it often. include small-group or class discussion of what they • Take lots of pictures. learned or what they did not understand. After reading a nature book, observing natural ob- • Zoom in close. jects, or taking a nature walk, engage students briefly • Create interest by dividing the frame into thirds and in storytelling. Pair up students and have each orally shooting the subject in one of the thirds or off center. share his or her observations and feelings as practice • Take pictures at different times of the day. telling a story. • Avoid harsh sunlight during midday. • Use a homemade screen to soften the harsh sun- Creating the digital story light during midday. The next step is to move from telling the story to writ- • Save the pictures in a file with your name. ing it down. Create cooperative learning groups of • Use a photo-editing site such as Picnik. three or four students by assigning students of dif- • Respect nature by leaving everything as it was fering abilities and learning styles to work together found. on the project; if possible, include one technologically literate student per group. The goal will be for each group to create a digital story that reflects the sci- needs. After you have created a blank storyboard, ence content students are learning. An example is to make a larger version on poster board to model for have students identify the kind of producers found in your students how to develop a storyboard. Select a swamp. Have student groups focus on inquiry skills five statements that tell a simple story. The example by creating questions that explain what they would tells the kind of producers found in a swamp. Choose like to explore further, such as the following: What 10 pictures to use in your sample story, and copy kinds of plants grow in a grassy field or forest? Are and enlarge them for ease of demonstration. Using more insects found in the school yard in September or double-sided tape, place the copies of pictures on October? What is the air temperature at the school in the storyboard with the sentence each picture sup- the morning, at noon, and in the afternoon? Where ports (see example in Figure 1). After is the hottest or coolest place in the the teacher demonstration of how to school yard? After 10 minutes, use a storyboard, have students meet schedule a meeting with each with their groups to begin the process group to ensure students select of developing their storyboard using a suitable topic. the blank storyboard you created. The At this point, teachers goal should be for student groups to should create a blank story- create a two-minute presentation that board that students will use will require approximately 200 words as a template to plan their and 20 images. Completion of story- stories. Many websites The goal will be for each group board pages can serve as an assess- provide free suggestions ment. Student groups can hand in for creating a storyboard to create a digital story that each page as new components are in Word. For example, Ja- reflects the science content added. son Ohler has instructions students are learning. Have students write the story for making a template in in the first person using blank Word by inserting a 10 cm × storyboard pages. This will 10 cm (4 in. × 4 in.) table (see become the script that stu- Resources). You can merge some dents will record in their of the cells, while resizing others to fit your own voices. Assign each Summer 2012 25 ENHANCE NATURE EXPLORATION WITH TECHNOLOGY FIGURE 3 Digital-storytelling scoring guide Student name:____________________________________________________________________________ Project name:_____________________________________________________________________________ Exceeds Meets Below Not expectations expectations expectations present Digital story 3 2 1 0 Content Information is accu- Information is clear, Information is confusing. Information is inaccu- rate, affects audience, appropriate, and cor- rate or inappropriate. cites sources, uses rect. higher-level thinking. Creativity Idea is well developed, Idea is developed, Idea is weak, ordinary Idea is lacking or inap- adds a new approach good approach to approach to story line. propriate, does not fit to the story. story line. story line. Storyboard Well-planned story line Evident that story Story line did not Planning was not was fully implemented. line was basis for the match the planning. evident. finished product. Videography: Images and sound Appropriate image Inappropriate use of Incorrect, inappro- Quality of provide relevant infor- quality and audio that copyrighted images or priate, or missing images, mation; editing adds enhances the content, audio, voice garbled, images, sound, or sound, and images unclear, edit- editing.