| In this study, student engagement was studied in the context of authoring digital media that incorporates the use of historical images. The study employed a qualitative and quantitative design involving observations, the collection of student artifacts and interviews. The findings demonstrated the following: the manner in which engagement was manifested by the students varied based on the type of task they performed (storyboarding versus essay writing), as well as by their interest in the historical content; differences in higher-order thinking emerged through student artifacts created in the storyboard and essay conditions; differences in performance on a standards-based, multiple choice test did not exist between students in each of the engagement profiles, nor between the essay and storyboard conditions as a whole. The study highlighted the relationship between student engagement and higher-order thinking and content area knowledge in a sixth grade history class. Engagement with the digital media task was manifested through more time on task, the amount of detail put into the artifact, the presence of a theme and a willingness to go beyond the basic guidelines of the assignment. Students who manifested higher levels of engagement with the technology, learning task and content demonstrated more higher-order thinking and creativity in their artifacts. Applications of these findings and directions for future studies are discussed. |
