Formulating the problem: Digital storytelling and the development of engineering process skills

Abstract

We are exploring whether and how "DigitalStorytelling" can be used to a) attract and engage student apprentices otherwise estranged from STEM-linked career or education pathways b) help student apprentices address the complexities of ill-formed or "wicked" design problems typical of sustainable engineering. Building on preliminary evidence from a pilot 2014 study we hypothesize that apprentices who engage in digital storytelling can gain proficiency in key reasoning skills related to scientific argumentation including: 1. formulating and articulating problem statements 2. anticipating and understanding tradeoffs, limitations and contingencies of proposed solutions and 3. justifying solutions relative to requirements/specifications articulated in the problem statement. Our continuing work is in the development and validation of evaluation and assessment instruments appropriate for evaluating these skills among apprentices focused on digital storytelling and for drawing comparisons against apprentices engaged in "hands-on" sustainable design projects. Our overarching objective is to offer evidence validating digital storytelling as an alternative pedagogy for introducing and teaching STEM reasoning skills to newcomers or "outsiders".

Learning Electronics Through Storytelling

“…Though this paper is focused on delivery methods to students, it should be noted that storytelling is also found in the deliverables that engineering students are asked to submit. Digital storytelling is one form of creatively expressing technical content, such as creating a movie instead of writing a lab report [20,21]. Additionally, the use of software prototypes, dioramas, and automatons can express design concepts and simultaneously tell a story [22][23][24][25].…”

Academic Librarians Supporting Digital Storytelling in the Sciences

“…"Indeed, the story aspect of digital storytelling practice 'humanizes' technology, gives it a personal and relational aspect that stands to attract a wider and more diverse group of students" (Hill & Grinnell 2014). Other researchers have highlighted the potential for digital storytelling to help STEM students prepare to work in a more diversified environment (Daily & Eugene 2013), and to draw in STEM learners from diverse backgrounds (Ball et al 2015). In Daily and Eugene's study, researchers developed a framework that targeted three constructs for learning, two broadly associated with the humanities and one with STEM: emotional self-awareness, empathy, and computational thinking.…”

Argümantasyon Temelli FeTeMM Etkinliklerinin Öğretmen Adaylarının Argümantasyon Becerilerine ve FeTeMM Yeterliklerine Etkisi

“…Argümantasyon özellikle mühendislik alanında kullanılabilecek en etkili yöntemlerden biridir. Bunun nedeni mühendisliğin,farkında olmadan-belirlenen problem için belirtilen ihtiyaçlara ve sınırlılıklara göre çözüm ortaya koyabilmek ya da tasarımların haklılığını savunmak için argümanlara başvuran bir süreç olmasıdır (Ball, Beckett & Isaacson, 2015). Bu bağlamda ileri sürülen bu sebep ve avantajlardan ötürü çalışmada FeTeMM eğitim amaçları doğrultusunda FeTeMM'in etkililiğini artırmak için argümantasyon yöntemi ile entegre edilmesinin faydalı olacağı düşünülmektedir.…”