Impact of Digital Storytelling on Social-Emotional Behaviours of Preschool Children

Abstract

This study aims to examine how the children’s social-emotional behaviours change within digital storytelling activities, in terms of their verbal and non-verbal interactions and narrative elements in story creation process. This is a longitudinal study on the change and development of children’s social-emotional behaviours based on qualitative data obtained through systematic observations. The study group consists of 55 children aged between 48 and 60 months, participating in three digital storytelling projects implemented in an average of 15 sessions, held in four pilot kindergartens in Istanbul. Data were obtained by teachers' systematically observing and recording the social-emotional learning behaviours of children during each project all through the academic year by using an observation grid constructed by the researchers. Teachers were also asked to state their holistic observations on children, supporting these observations with additional explanations and anecdotal records. Data were analysed based on descriptive and graphical techniques. Based on the findings, it is concluded that digital storytelling has important implications for children's social-emotional learning.