Digital Storytelling Contextual Analysis

To introduce this project, I would teach my students what discrimination is and explain different instances in history where discrimination impacted certain populations. For my students’ digital storytelling projects, I would have them create a video that shows and explains one or more forms of discrimination in history. My learning objective would be for students to design a digital story that explains at least one form of discrimination in history. This project should accomplish the social studies content standard 4 of “identify and use various sources of information (e.g., artifacts, diaries, photographs, charts, biographies, paintings, architecture, songs) to develop an understanding of the past,” and technology standards 1, 2, and 3 of “collect data and information using digital tools,” “communicate the results of research and learning with others using digital tools,” and “use various digital media to share information and tell stories.” By creating a digital story, my students could get a visual representation of discrimination as well as witness the negative effects such actions have on people of all races, religions, etc. Having each student create their own project would allow students to view many examples of discrimination without having to sit through a lecture or presentation simply by me where they might not absorb as much information. If a fellow colleague challenged my idea about digital storytelling, I would argue that this method is similar to many teachers’ methods of posters or essays regarding historical topics but has the added benefit of images combined with sound and possibly text to explain discrimination and appeal to the senses. Not only does digital storytelling accomplish these aspects, but it also allows students to use technology as it incorporates historical images and sound clips students can research on the internet and use computer programs to create their actual project.