Essential Questions

1. What motivates people to make a positive change in the world?

2. How do people find connections with individuals who live and think differently than them? 

3. How can storytelling build trust and empathy?

Learning Objectives – In this Module, students will:

1. Identify and describe an important social issue that motivates them to act toward positive change in the world;

2. Generate a list of approaches for raising awareness around a particular issue.

3. Listen for and present details about how a biologist connects with people to raise awareness about trees; 

4. Facilitate a discussion with peers that aims to find common ground on an important social issue;

5. Articulate the role of storytelling in building trust and promoting action for change;

6. Create a short film that relies on storytelling to provide knowledge, raise awareness, and promote action toward positive change.

Learning Outline

This module is on the Innovative Conservation video presentation by Nalini Nadkarni. It can be used as a whole learning experience, or in chosen sections as time allows.  

• 25 minutes: Launch Activity– Finding Connections to Promote Action for Change

• 10 minutes: While Viewing– Making Connections that Promote Awareness and Interest (Part 1 of 2)

• 15 minutes: Post-Viewing– Making Connections that Promote Awareness and Interest (Part 2 of 2)

• 30 minutes: Demonstration– Storytelling for Change

• 40+ minutes: Making Connections–Creating Film to Create Connection

Launch Activity–Pre-Viewing: Finding Connections to Promote Action for Change

[25 min]

[Learning Objectives 1, 2]

Procedures:

1. Hook: Tell students about a cause you feel passionate about and how you have found ways to take action toward positive change related to that issue (e.g., girls education → donating to a particular organization; homeless pet populations → fostering dogs; immigration reform → writing letters to policymakers and leaders, etc.)

   1. Acknowledge that not everyone is motivated to action by the same causes. We each have unique passions. 

2. Think-Pair-Share: What matters to you?

   1. Think: Give students 3 minutes to free write on something that matters to them and how they do or could be agents of positive change around this issue.

   2. Pair: Put students into pairs and let them discuss their ideas for 5 minutes. Ask them to jot a list of ways they can promote change to share with the whole class.

   3. Share: When the class comes together, invite volunteers to share their ideas and get feedback from others. You might invite a few class ‘scribes’ to compile ideas in a Google doc so everyone has a record.

   4. Discuss: In our class there are so many different passions and causes that motivate each of you. Some movements for change require momentum and collective involvement - like fighting for climate justice.  How might you raise awareness about the causes you are focused on, and inspire others to be involved as agents of change around the issue?

3. Introduce the video

   1. Tell the students they are going to listen to parts of an interview with Salt Lake Biologist Nalini Nadkarni. If this is their first introduction to Nalini, read the brief blurb about her at the start of this unit. Nalini discusses ways that she finds connection with people from all walks of life to create interest for her passion - which is saving trees and forests of the world. 

While Viewing: Making Connections that Promote Awareness and Interest 

[10 min]

[Learning Objective 3]

Procedures:

1. Jigsaw Activity: Opportunity for Peer Instruction [Part 1 of 2]

   1. Divide students into 4 groups. Each group will be assigned one short clip from the interview with a focus on a particular connection point that Nalini found: religion, music, toys, and prisoner education. 

      1. Segment 1: 0:00-6:05

      2. Segment 2: 6:05-8:33

      3. Segment 3: 8:33- 11:27

      4. Segment 4: 11:27- 15:25

   2. Tell students: As you watch your clip, reflect on the following questions. Jot your ideas in a Google doc that you will use to share with peers outside your group:

      1. Who was Nalini trying to connect with? 

      2. How did she tap into the interests of that particular group?

      3. What is the potential impact on trees and forests because of her approach? 

Post-Viewing: Making Connections that Promote Awareness and Interest 

[15 min]

[Learning Objective 3]

1. Jigsaw Activity: Opportunity for Peer Instruction [Part 2 of 2] 

4. Option 1 - Reorganize students into new groups so that there is one representative from each original group. Each group member shares what they learned from their segment of the interview.  

5. Option 2 - Bring all students back together to discuss as a class. Invite one volunteer from each group to share what their group learned from their segment of the interview.

6. Discuss: Which of Nalini’s ways of connecting with individuals surprised you? 

Application: Making Connections through Dialogic Interaction

[30 min]

[Learning Objective 4]

Procedures:

1. Role Play: Put students in groups of 3-4 with people who have different primary passions (e.g. alternative energy, deforestation, animal rights, immigration, etc.). In their groups, have each person present their particular area of interest. The aim is to find connections and intersections in perhaps unlikely places. (An example is how field ecologist Nalini found connection with religious people, whose first priority wasn’t trees. She found common ground through highlighting and discussing with them the multiple references to trees in their sacred texts (Bible, Torah, Book of Mormon, etc. )) 

2. Debrief: Invite groups to share the connections they uncovered. Ask them to reflect: How can we apply this to a broader audience? How can you engage members of the local community around your interest area? Time to get creative! 

Demonstration: Storytelling for Change 

[30 min]

[Learning Objective 5]

Procedures:

1. Tell the students: Our Arts Integration Project today will be a short filmmaking & storytelling task, aimed to raise awareness about an issue we care deeply about. Before we start planning our short films, we are going to view two examples.

2. Brainstorm: Either as a class or in breakout rooms, ask students to reflect on this question: How and why do stories help to build connection?

   1. Key Points: Good stories build trust and familiarity; they allow listeners to enter the story through their own experience; they foster connection; they engage; listeners can interpret them in various ways so they can have multiple meanings. Stories can have a universal quality -- regardless of culture or language, you can find a way to relate.  

   2. Reminder: Nalini found connections with people through narratives in holy books, and music. She also developed counternarratives about girls and prisoners, challenging commonly held assumptions about each population.

3. Introduce two short films: Let’s consider the following two short videos. One was made by a group of high school students. The other consists of interviews with students around the world. As you view them, take notes on the following: 

   1. How do the filmmakers get the attention of the viewer? 

   2. What is the impact on you as a viewer? What are you feeling as you watch? 

   3. How do you connect with the stories?  

   4. What might be “universal” about this story? Something every person can relate to (family, making a living, tradition, appreciation for artistry)

Video 1 - A Tale of Two Outcomes

Video 2 - Youth Sound the Climate Alarm

4. Discuss their responses to the above questions. 

Creating Film to Create Connection 

[40+ min]

[Learning Objective 6]

Procedures:

1. Put students into small groups of 3-4 based on shared interests in a particular issue that they will address in their short film. 

2. Creating a Storyboard (20 minutes)

   1. High Tech Modality: Students will use Padlet to generate ideas for their short films. [Padlet is an online collaboration tool that allows synchronous and asynchronous brainstorming.] 

      1. Tell students that their videos should only be 3-4 minutes long. 

      2. In the Padlet platform, ask them to select the canvas template to generate ideas for their short film. With the canvas template they can post ideas and rearrange them to find flow for their narrative. 

      3. Padlet allows them to include text, links, images, drawings, voice memos, and more. Once they have a collection of ideas, they can sort them and prepare to start building their short film.

   2. Low Tech Modality: As above, only students will use poster board to draw ideas for an oral presentation to peers.

3. Creating the Films (20 minutes or complete out of class)

   1. High Tech Modality: Students will use Adobe Spark to create their short films. [Adobe Spark is a free tool for making films with images, video clips, voice over, and music. It is easy to use. Watch this brief tutorial and/or read these guidelines for teachers. *Recommended: Make your own short film as a model for students of what is expected. This will also help you be prepared to help them navigate the program.

   2. Low Tech Modality: As above, only students will create a compelling story using visuals (drawings, collage from magazine images).

4. Showcasing the Films

   1. Option 1 - Asynchronous: Use Padlet to showcase students’ videos using the Shelf Template. Students’ names are the header of each column with their video linked below. Peers can view outside of class and post written or oral responses to peers’ videos. (Low Tech Option - Students can add pictures of their posters to Padlet.)

   2. Option 2 - Synchronous: Create time in class to show each film and allow peers to share reactions and reflections. (Low Tech Option - Students present their poster/visual stories orally to peers in class.)

Invite students to “dig deeper” on these topics by providing additional options for research and reflection about the power of storytelling to build connections and compel people to action.   

Try-it-Out: Have students try their stories on friends and family members. Tell them to keep a journal about the impact of their stories on the listeners. Did stories lead to deeper conversations? Are people compelled to do something? What did you learn about yourself in the process of sharing your stories and ideas?

Exploring the Power and Impact of Storytelling:

Blog Posts

• Why Stories Matter - a post about the role of stories in helping us find our place in the world, take the perspective others, build connection, and more.

TED Talks

• The Magical Science of Storytelling - Presentations expert David JP Phillips shares key neurological findings on storytelling

• How words change minds: The science of storytelling - Nat Kendall-Taylor, PhD, explores how people think about social issues and how advocates, experts, and strategic communications professionals can use an understanding of culture, storytelling, and science to communicate about social and scientific issues, shape policy, and lead change.

Report

• How Stories Connect and Persuade Us: Unleashing the Brain Power of Narrative - This health report highlights the various processes and activities taking place in the brain as we engage with stories.

• Your Brain on Storytelling - Liz Neeley is the Executive Director of Story Collider, a nonprofit focused on telling "true, personal stories about science." She speaks to the role of storytelling in science communication.

Websites

• The Story Collider: True, Personal Stories about Science  - A collection of stories about science that bring it to life and make it accessible to many.

• Green Card Voices: This website shares stories by immigrants, not about them. The aim is to center the storyteller and stay true to the authenticity of their narrative, sharing these stories in a variety of mediums to effectively engage broad audiences, foster cultural awareness of the immigrant experience, build empathy that is critical to cross-cultural awareness, and generate a breakthrough in how immigrants are perceived, integrated, and included.

Film

The Story of Young Wadley in Haiti - Written by Edwidge Danticat and voiced by Cate Blanchet, Wadley's chapter is one of nine remarkable stories from the Girl Rising film. Wadley is just seven years old when the world comes crashing down around her. Haiti’s catastrophic earthquake destroys her home and school, but it cannot break her irrepressible spirit nor extinguish her thirst to learn.