Introduction

__** Tackling Essential Questions through Digital Stories and Dynamic Media **__ The goal of this wiki is to allow you to explore a compilation of resources to help you to determine how best to use dynamic media in the creation of digital stories to ask and answer essential questions in your classroom. Digital stories represent a sound educational practice as they allow students to explore subject matter in depth, manipulating content through all levels of Bloom's Taxonomy, taking full ownership of their learning. The creation of digital stories will lead to higher levels of understanding and retention in students. Additionally, digital stories immerse students in the practice of 21st century skills that will benefit them for life.

__//** What is a digital story? **//__ According to the Educause Learning Initiative ([|2007]), digital stories can be defined as "the practice of combining narrative with digital content, including images, sound, and video, to create a short movie, typically with a strong emotional component." The story can be on any topic, in any content area. A story can be created by anyone, including a teacher writing a story for their students or a student creating a story of their own. It can be a collaborative or an individual effort. The final product can be shared with a class or with the whole world. Digital stories are becoming a more important classroom tool as teachers strive to meet the needs of 21st century learners.

__** Digital Story Samples **__ [|Lifecycle of an Aluminum Can] [|The Respiratory System for 4th Graders]

__//** What is dynamic media? **//__ Bull and Garafalo ([|2009]) have defined six characteristics of dynamic media, such as digital video, as follows.

Dynamic media is:
 * //Remixable // || “recombined in countless ways” ||
 * //Shareable // || “not tied to a particular site” ||
 * //Social // || “serve[s] as a springboard for… conversation” ||
 * //Interactive // || “users [can] change and control media on the fly” ||
 * //Multilayered // || “[many] representations layered on top of one another” ||
 * //Mobile // || “ubiquitously available” ||

__<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">**Dynamic Media Samples** __ <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">[|Google Earth] <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">[|Science Blog]

__//** What is an essential question? **//__ <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Essential questions can be defined as a question which requires a student to “develop a plan or course of action” or “make a decision.” This question then “guides the course of student learning.” ([|Jakes, n.d.]). A daily, weekly or unit lesson plan should be constructed around experiences that foster a student’s construction of knowledge compiled from “discrete pieces of information” discovered throughout the learning activities. Teachers should avoid the simple question and should create questions that foster a deeper understanding of the content by including the development of a plan and decision making. The simple question of “What is acid rain?” should be revised to read “What plan can you recommend to your town to reduce acid rain? Your plan can have only three strategies and you must defend why you chose those three.”

__**<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Sample Essential Questions **__


 * **//<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"> Simple //** || **//<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Revised //**  ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">What is transpiration? || <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">How could you measure the rate of transpiration in a plant? What are your expected results? ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">What is cellular respiration? || <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">What plan does your muscle cell have to follow in order to generate energy? Why is this process essential? ||