[MUSIC] As we begin our exploration of digital storytelling, it makes sense to try to sort digital stories into a set of major topic areas or categories. The three main categories we will explore are personal narratives, stories that contain accounts of significant events in one's life, historical documentaries, stories that examine dramatic occurrences that help us understand the past, and content area stories designed to inform or instruct the viewer about a particular concept or practice. Digital stories as personal narratives. One of the most popular categories in digital storytelling is the personal narrative. These kinds of stories help us find meaning in the places we have lived, the people we have known, the challenges we have faced, and the defining moments in our lives. Personal narratives help us reflect on where we've been, what we've learned, and illustrate our journeys of discovery. The following two digital stories are good examples of personal narratives. In My Struggle with Mathematics, the student recounts her difficulty learning math while growing up in the strict educational system of Singapore. In The Tupac Project, a new teacher describes how he developed a lesson utilizing Tupac Shakur's song Brenda's Got a Baby to teach the narrative structure in a high school English class. Digital stories that examine historical events. Although many personal narratives may include historical information to establish the context of the story, a different kind of digital story can be created from historical material that students might explore in a classroom. This type of digital story requires a student to conduct research and synthesize a large amount of information into the most important and educationally useful information. Digital stories that examine historical events includes Spies of the Revolutionary War, which presents an overview of how Americans used cleverness and trickery to help win the Revolutionary War, and Kindertransport, The Unknown Children of the Holocaust, which explores the British rescue effort to transport Jewish children out of Nazi Germany in the months before World War II. Digital stories that inform or instruct. It can be argued that all digital stories inform or instruct in one content area or another. However, the distinction is that some digital stories can be created specifically to deliver instructional content on various topics such as history, culture, math, science, or language arts. Some good examples of digital stories that inform or instruct include, In Search of the Pythagoreans, which presents the history and meaning of the Pythagorean Theorem, with real life examples that explain the theorem and show how it is relevant to modern life. In Pump It Up, the author explores the concept of pump jacks and simple machines through the scientific research and design method. And remember that all of the digital stories shown here can be viewed in their entirety on the Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling website. [MUSIC]