Knight Lab
The Northwestern University Knight Lab features a collection of projects that “help make information meaningful and promote quality journalism, storytelling and content on the internet” (Knight Lab, 2020, para. 1). Currently (in 2020), the list of working projects includes six storytelling tools: Juxtapose, SceneVR, SoundCite, Storyline, StoryMap, and Timeline. There are also two projects in beta testing (Learn and Sensor Grid) and a number of prototypes, experimental, and past projects. The current storytelling tools can be used to incite curiosity and engage students in critical thinking and exploration of information.
Storytelling tools
Juxtapose helps storytellers compare two pieces of similar media (e.g., a historical and present-day photo) and is helpful for exploring changes over time, like the development of a building or a city skyline or the destruction of rainforest.
SoundCite lets you add inline soundbites into your story to create multimodal text.
Timeline can be used to create interactive timelines with a Google spreadsheet.
StoryMap allows you to create interactive, multimodal stories with maps.
Storyline allows anyone to build an interactive line chart. This includes charts, axis labels, and cards.
SceneVR turns panoramic and VR-ready photos into a visual story line.
Learning Activities
Geography
Using the Knight Lab StoryMap tool, students can create a multimodal, interactive map of a country, state, or other location.
Science
Using the Knight Lab Juxtapose tool, students can compare photos of forests and glaciers from 100 years ago versus today.
English/Language Arts
Using the Knight Lab Soundcite tool, students can enrich the reading experience of a text by inputting sound effects, music, interview audio files, and spoken word.
History
Using the Knight Lab Timeline tool, students can create an interactive historical timeline by embedding photos, text, maps, audio, and videos.
Math
Using the Knight Lab Storyline tool, students can create a graph showing the average cost of housing in a city throughout the years of 2009 to 2019 and annotate what may have contributed to an increase, or decrease, in the average cost each year.
How to Use Knightlabs
Click on any of the 6 tools.
The six Knight Lab Online Storytelling tools.
Each tool provides its own unique step-by-step instructions to use the respective tool. They may require you to sign in using a Google account.
The “how to” for the Juxtapose tool.