A Recent Study Demonstrates the Effect of Digital Storytelling Design on Learning Letters and Vocabulary for Kindergarten Children

Manama – AGU: A newly discussed pedagogical study at the College of Graduate Studies at the Arabian Gulf University (AGU) recommended the necessity of designing e-learning workshops for teachers to train them on how to create electronic stories for the kindergarten curriculum, and to provide an electronic virtual laboratory equipped with modern electronic devices for every kindergarten. These recommendations came from researcher Maryam Khalil Al-Ostad, who used the experimental research method, with a quasi-experimental design on two groups: one experimental group and one controlled group with a pre- and post-measurement of these two groups, and the research sample consisted of a random sample of (40) children from the second level of the kindergarten. Moreover, they were randomly divided into two groups: (20) children for the experimental group and (20) children for the control group.

The research aimed to prepare a list of designing electronic stories according to "Piaget" theory and measure the impact of this on learning the alphabet and vocabulary of kindergarten children, as mentioned by the researcher during the discussion of her thesis that she presented as part of the requirements for obtaining a master's degree in the field of distance education and training, and was titled "Designing Digital Stories According to the "Piaget" Theory and its Effect on Learning the Alphabet and Vocabulary for Kindergarten Children in the State of Kuwait."

Research tools represented by a test achievement of educational experiences based on the Ministry of Education in the kindergarten curriculum, which are three experiences "Experience of the Sea, the experience of My Country Kuwait, and the experience of Islam My religion.

”An assessment card for the digital stories was prepared, and the validity of the tools was verified and proven, as the researcher applied digital stories according to Piaget’s theory using the electronic program after installing it on their iPads; the activity started and learning educational experiences in the control group was done in the traditional way, as for the experimental group, the activity was applied and learning experiences in it were done electronically according to the proposed Piaget theory, and research tools were applied to both groups before and after the application.

The researcher carried out statistical analysis to test the validity of the hypotheses, in which the results showed that there are statistically significant differences between the average degrees of pre- and post-application of the electronic program in developing alphabet learning for kindergarten children and in favor of the post-application of the experimental group. Moreover, there are statistically significant differences between the average degrees of pre- and post-application for the electronic program in developing vocabulary learning for kindergarten children and in favor of the post-application of the experimental group.

Furthermore, this study called for raising the efficiency of female teachers in knowing how to use modern devices and merging them with electronic programs that use the design of digital stories and sending distinguished teachers in the field of educational technology outside the country to learn about new developments in this educational technology field. Additionally, the study encourages the use of digital stories in the learning process within educational institutions, including all curricula of public and private education.

The research was supervised by Associate Professor of Educational Technology and Distance Education, Dr. Alajab Mohammed Alajab, and Associate Professor of Educational Design and Technology Dr. Tayseer Alkhazali, while Associate Professor of Social Cognition Psychology Dr. Nadia Tazi was an internal examiner.

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© Press Release 2020