Kids Walking and Talking

What kinds of media would first-graders make? USC professor Tara McPherson tackled that question in a seminar last semester with her undergrads, who were asked to think about a media-enhanced curriculum for first- and second-graders at Los Feliz Charter School for the Artsin Hollywood. "The goal was to integrate technology into LFCSA's own learning goals and methods, rather than focus on technology for technology's sake," Tara explains. "LFCSA has limited technology, so the idea was to find low-resource platforms." Tara notes that the course itself, titled "Digital Media and Learning," was a chance for students at USC "to engage in project-based learning as they studied theories of learning and media in the digital era, reviewed the 1st and 2nd grade curricula at LFCSA, and then looked for technology platforms that we could incorporate easily into the classroom." The students spent several weeks in first and second grade classrooms and worked with the younger students on tech projects that dovetailed with what the teachers were already working on. What did the younger students come up with? "For the first-graders, we focused largely on mapping and created an annotated map of the Hollywood area, based on an investigation of the school yard and the class trip to Mel's Diner." Tara notes that the class's project-based curriculum focuses on "Our Neighborhood." Next, the students took pictures and shot short videos. "These were uploaded to an online map of the area, on a site called Community Walk," continues Tara. "They then tagged or annotated some of the images that were posted. They also created VoiceThreads [Internet-based audio commentaries that are linked to form conversations] based on pictures they drew from the field trip and created avatars to use in VoiceThread; these were images of themselves that were scanned and uploaded."

Tara says that the second-graders also used VoiceThread. "The students carved totem pole symbols in soap and created a VoiceThread explaining their work, as well as one explaining their avatar images. They also worked on sock puppet plays, assisted by the USC students who then filmed the final performances and made short videos."

This effort, which invited USC students to imagine new ways of teaching and learning with various technologies, and which allowed first- and second-graders to learn through technology-enhanced storytelling, is a great example of the power of creative collaboration. And for the younger students, the use of media was integrated into several other activities - drawing pictures, telling stories, shooting videos and photographs, annotating maps and tagging images all worked together to help the students tell stories about their neighborhood and the role they play there. Indeed, as the K-12 Horizon Report (discussed in the last post) suggests, the "learning environment" here extended well beyond the classroom, and the student projects worked across multiple media.

You can view some of the student work here:
Community Walk map by first-graders

Mel's Diner VoiceThread by first-graders

Totem Carvings VoiceThreads by second-graders

Avatar VoiceThread by second-graders
Image: by Augie, from the Mel's Diner VoiceThread