Digital Storytelling and Filmmaking for Improving Upper Elementary African American Science Learning

• In Event: Students, Teachers, and Young Artists: Their Burgeoning Identities and Embodied Learning

Abstract

This study examined the Digi-Stars Science Film club in an urban, parochial school. The results indicated that the digital storytelling and filmmaking improved students’ literacy, use of story elements, science vocabulary, and use of technology. The digital storytelling modified the process of narrative writing and emerged as a beneficial tool to overcome the digital divide by developing students’ new literacy perception, agency, competency, and skills. The study identified ways to enable inner city African American school students to experience success in science.

Authors

• Nile Stanley, University of North Florida

• Laurel Alva Stanley, University of North Florida