Welcome! We'd love to hear your thoughts on the StoryMaker platform, educator communities and science storytelling in general. Things we're thinking about:

• Study-buddies and other connections to strengthen StoryMaker's educator community
• Instruction resources for students to interview scientists and explore careers and career pathways
• Storytelling projects for traditional STEM classes - as capstones, reports, presentations
• Partnerships - both obvious and unexpected!

This seems like such a nice tool for educators. I can't wait to try it.

I was wondering about the STEM-specific aspects of your platform. Would love to hear more details about that.

Hello and thank you for sharing your work. Giving students the opportunity to explore STEM-related issues in their own communities using today's technology is exactly what is needed to truly engage today's students and is the essence of place-based learning. It is wonderful that students can submit their work for broadcasting or publishing, making their work that much more meaningful. From the teacher's perspective, being able to select teaching and learning goals is a great benefit.

I am curious if you offer case studies of teachers or schools that have used the platform so that someone who is thinking about using Storymaker can get a comprehensive idea of what might be involved? I also wonder if you offer any suggestions for sources of funding to purchase equipment for schools with limited funds and/or Title 1 schools?

This looks like a really great tool for the classroom! To what extent can teachers "assign" topics not listened on the STEM story maker library? Or is there a way to request upcoming project ideas? I really appreciate the idea of publishing student work and using storytelling as a way to show student learning and understanding of STEM concepts. My only concerns are with the limitations of the lessons provided in the resource library. I think the prospect of being shared on national news is very exciting for students and would be a great motivator in the classroom!

 Hi Leah and Team! Very neat project. As Channa and Cathryn point out, the real-world aspect of the creative work is key to an authentic experience for the students. This is not just “practice” or “homework”. The broader public will view and critique the work. I too am eager to give the platform a try.  

With the continued proliferation of story-based platforms, The Moth, The Story Collider, in some ways TED(x), it is good to see story take prominence in teaching and learning as well. What aspect of storytelling do you find most difficult to teach and do you find a difference between developing stories for oral, written and visual modalities? 

Thank you for sharing - this seems like a fantastic resource for an ITEST project that my colleagues are leading. I look forward to diving deeper into it!

I saw Channa's earlier comment and am also curious if you provide case studies of teachers/schools that have used the StoryMaker platform. 

Thanks for sharing this work. I love that the project takes seriously the idea that educators need mentoring too!  I agree with others that this is a wonderful way to engage youth in authentic STEM journalism, and the possibility of getting picked up by PBS seems even more motivating. And I took a look at a couple of the youth videos and was totally gripped by them.

Can you give a rough ballpark on how long it takes the teachers to go through the learning curve to use the resources effectively? Given that so many teachers are experiencing exhaustion (and screen fatigue), I'm wondering if this is something a teacher could pick up in a day, or more like a week... I guess I have the same question about the students, actually - is this a significant up-front investment of time? 

Are teachers who are already using this integrating it into their language arts teaching as well? It seems like a terrific opportunity for that.

Something else I wonder is how this approach worked with the pandemic going on... e.g. Does that make it harder for students to collaborate so they tend to feel isolated and lose momentum? Does it make it easier to reach scientists and other experts at their desks, and zoom-record interviews? etc. Thanks!

I have one more question - I'd love to know how you've assessed project outcomes - thanks.

What a great project for STEM education for students and faculty alike!

And what a fantastic opportunity for citizen research for STEM students!

Is the primary focus K-12, or does the engagement platform also go up to 2 and 4 year colleges?

Thanks for your great work here!

Great story telling.