Research results: Comments and interpretations

It is estimated that the results of the research will help to improve the educational process, with beneficial effects on the learning ability and emotional intelligence of preschoolers. Because of the limited abstract and logical thinking that characterizes children at preschool age, the sterile learning and didacticism which is unfortunately the main characteristic of teaching in higher classes, cannot hopefully be applied as teaching methods in kindergarten. For this reason, the cognitive subjects in kindergarten are designed and taught through the usage of play, in order to be enjoyable and infer meaning to preschoolers.

As previously mentioned, preschoolers were asked during the interviews the same questions after the end of each presentation. Therefore, two columns will be presented for each question of the semi-structured interview. The column on the left with the indication “narration” refers to the results that concern the narration made with traditional way. The column on the right refers to the results that concern the responses provided by the preschoolers’ after they attended the digital storytelling.

The results of the research could be summarized in the following way as shown in Table 1. Regarding the first question (RQ1), preschoolers were asked about which animals are in the fairy tale. As can be seen from the following percentages, 53% of the children responded correctly after the physical storytelling of the myth. A percentage of 2% of the children stated that they did not remember. After the digital storytelling, the percentage of correct answers was 43%. This may be due to the presence of more animal images in the digital storytelling, thus preschoolers added more animals to their response. The second question (RQ2) asked preschoolers to answer what the turtle wanted to do, in order to be happy. The percentage of correct answers is the same in both cases of myth presentation. However, the wrong answers are more to the digital storytelling than to the physical storytelling, but there is no child who does not remember to answer, as happened in the same case of physical storytelling. The next question (RQ3) had two stages. Firstly, preschoolers were asked about whether the turtle was flying and then whether she managed to fly. As can be seen from the percentages below, in the first part of the question, preschoolers’ answers are common to both narrative methods.

However, there is a variation of their answers to whether she eventually flied, since in the physical storytelling 74% of preschoolers answered the question correctly, while in the digital storytelling, 70%. The difference in preschooler’s responses may be, again, due to the number of images that appear in digital storytelling, which offer too much visual data to preschoolers, who may face difficulty in processing and memorizing very quickly, in order to remember them afterwards. This does not seem to apply in the case of physical storytelling, where preschoolers rely exclusively on the narrator’s words and are not influenced by a multitude of audiovisual stimuli. In the fourth question (RQ4), which again was related to the understanding of the myth, preschoolers were asked about who raised the turtle in the sky. According to the percentages below (Table 1), the correct answers are common to both myth presentations. Preschoolers’ answers do not indicate any differences to the next question of understanding the myth (RQ5), as the correct and wrong percentages in the question of whether the turtle liked the fact that it flied, are exactly the same.

Table 1: Answers of cognitive questions Interview: Part 1 Cognitive Questions Physical Storytelling (%) Digital Storytelling (%) R1 W2 DR3 R1 W2 DR3

Answers of RQ1 “What animals exist in the fairy tale?” 52 46 2 43 57 0 Answers of RQ2 “What did the turtle want to do,

in order to be happy?” 96 2 2 94 4 0

Answers of RQ3 (stage 1) “Did the turtle try to fly?

Did she manage to?” 76 24 0 80 20 0

Answers of RQ3 (stage 2) “Did the turtle try to fly?

Did she manage 74 24 2 70 28 2

Answers of RQ4 “Who took the turtle up in the sky?” 98 2 0 98 2 0 Answers of RQ5 “Did the turtle like flying?” 68 32 0 68 32 0

R1: Right, W2: Wrong, DR3: Don’t Remember

The sixth question (RQ6) belongs to the second part of the interview, which attempts to explore the feelings the myth created to preschoolers. In this question, there were significant differences in preschoolers’ responses (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Answers of RQ6 “The turtle feels sad because she can’t fly. How do you feel?”

As it can be noticed from the above graphs, both physical and digital storytelling have created common feelings to preschoolers, but in varying degrees. The feeling of joy is more evident in the traditional method (46%) in contrast to 41% in the digital method. Regret is more pronounced in digital method (39%) than in traditional method (26%). The feeling of distress is less pronounced in physical storytelling (19%) than in digital storytelling (12%). The responses of children who felt “bad” are still almost equal in quantity in physical (7%) and in digital storytelling (8%). Finally, there was also a small percentage of 2%, who replied that they felt perfectly, only in the interview that took place after the physical storytelling.

The seventh question (RQ7) examines the feeling of jealousy, whether the preschoolers felt jealous, as the turtle felt about the eagle. The following percentages (Table 2) show that preschoolers have experienced a stronger sense of jealousy in the physical storytelling (30%) than during the digital storytelling (22%). Obviously, the role the audiovisual stimuli played has been decisive, since it appears to have affected children’s emotional state of jealousy by putting them emotionally in the position of the turtle.

The eighth question (RQ8) explores the degree of preschoolers’ empathy, who were asked if they understood the turtle’s sadness as her friends did. As in the previous question, the majority of children understood the turtle’s worry after the digital storytelling (86%), while the corresponding physical storytelling rate was 76% (Table 2).

Table 2: Answers of emotional questions

Interview: Part 2 Emotional Questions

Physical Storytelling

(%) Digital Storytelling (%)

N1 Y2 DR3 N1 Y2 DR3

Answers of RQ7 “The turtle feels jealous because

the eagle can fly. Are you?” 70 30 0 78 22 0

Answers of RQ8 “The turtle’s friends understand

her sadness. Do you?” 24 76 0 14 86 0

N1: No, Y2: Yes, DR3: Don’t Remember

In the ninth question (RQ9) preschoolers were asked to answer how they felt when the turtle realized her dream. As can be seen from the pie-charts below (Figure 2), during both types of narration the same feelings in preschoolers were created, but to a different extent. Initially, the most intense emotion was that of joy, which was reported with the same percentage in both methods of narration (80%). Then, the feeling of regret which is slightly more pronounced in the digital storytelling (10%) than that one was revealed in the physical storytelling (6%). Then the percentages of sadness (2%), happiness (2%), disgust (2%) and indifference (2%) are equal in both narrative methods. On the other hand, the percentage of preschoolers who did not feel anything is larger in traditional narration (6%) than in digital storytelling (2%), which highlights the fact that digital storytelling has once again attracted the interest of children more than physical storytelling and introduced them into the myth, causing their feelings, even if those feelings are negative, such as disgust or indifference.

Figure 2: Answers of RQ9 “The turtle made her dream come true. How do you feel?”

The tenth question (RQ10) asked the preschoolers to answer how they felt when the turtle realized that she does not have to fly to be happy. As the following pie-charts demonstrate (Figure 3), the two narrative styles have created common feelings to preschoolers, but with different intensity. It is impressive that most preschoolers did not respond by saying how they felt, but they responded as if they were giving advice to the turtle. In physical storytelling, therefore, the majority of children, i.e. 34%, replied that the turtle does not need to fly to be happy, while the corresponding percentage in the digital storytelling is 31%. The next big percentage in physical storytelling, 24% said it was happy with the turtle’s decision, while the same feeling was created by 25% in the digital storytelling. Then, in the physical storytelling, 18% of preschoolers agree with the words of the turtle, while the corresponding figure in the digital storytelling is 16%. After the physical storytelling, 6% of the children advised the turtle to stay as it is, and after the digital storytelling only 2%. Also, in the physical storytelling, 12% of preschoolers’ responses were equally divided into the following answers: “She wanted to be on the ground because she feared”, “to fly” and “I do not know”. On the other hand, the corresponding percentages in the particular answers after the digital storytelling were 4%, 10% and 2%. Some children, 6% of them, after the physical storytelling, responded “to stay as they are”, while after the digital storytelling this figure was 2%. Finally, “sad,” “no” and “walking” were answers that counted less than 2%. These percentages relate to physical storytelling. After the digital storytelling, these answers occupied respectively the following percentages: 0%, 8% and 2%.

As in the previous questions, the responses of preschoolers present variation in the range of their answers. However, referring to the different narrative methods, the differences between the rates of answers do not differ greatly.

Figure 3: Answers of RQ10 “The turtle understood that she doesn’t have to fly to be happy. What do you think?”

In the eleventh question of the interview (RQ11), preschoolers were asked about what kind of storytelling they liked most. They actually were asked “Did you like the myth as Mrs Afrodite told you or as the computer? Why?” The answers make the preschoolers’ selection more than obvious, since their overwhelming majority, 74%, said they preferred the digital storytelling from the physical storytelling. The answers given by preschoolers confirm the basic hypothesis of this research, which argued that children would be more preoccupied with digital storytelling.

4. CONCLUSIONS

Modern digital means and applications which have made their presence more evident in recent years in all areas of human existence, could not be absent from the field of education as well. Their significance can be comprehended by their introduction as a supportive subject in the Greek curriculum for the kindergarten. Taking this reality for granted, the purpose of this research, as already mentioned, was to investigate the most appropriate method of narrating a classic Aesopian myth to preschoolers. Through the technique of structured interview, responses given by preschoolers were recorded and interpreted. Those responses were the comparative criterion for the diagnosis of the suitability of each evaluated method, namely the physical or digital storytelling.

The research focused on understanding the myth and creating feelings on the basis of the two methods of narration. Researchers, based on preschoolers’ responses, have sought to quantify the preference of the method of narrating a myth. The narration of myths or fairy tales is one of the main activities within the area of kindergarten and perhaps the most popular choice of nursery teachers for the introduction of an activity. For this reason, narration should be based on children’s preferences in order to attract their interest more intensively and to achieve the greatest possible learning outcomes.

As it emerges from the analysis and commentary of research results, emotions and not understanding, are more dominantly pronounced in the digital storytelling. The degree of understanding the myth does not show great divergence between the two narrative methods. It could even be said that children understood the myth to a greater extend during physical storytelling than during digital storytelling, perhaps because digital

storytelling was an innovative way of presenting – for the modern Greek kindergarten- which perhaps surprised them and engaged them more with images and sounds than the content and allegorical meaning of the myth.

On the contrary, as for the feelings that were created, although they were common to both narrative methods, it was noticed that they were more prominent in the digital storytelling. Moreover, it was observed that throughout the digital storytelling, the interest of preschoolers remained unimpaired. Many times, preschoolers expressed their keen interest in spontaneous verbal interventions. This situation was not as noticeable during the traditional narration, where the children silently heard the narrator. Yet, according to Giannikopoulou (1998), narration has always been a very popular activity in all audiences, and even those who declare they do not like reading books do not deny listening to a well-narrated story. This fact is also confirmed by relevant bibliographic references, such as those mentioned earlier, in the introductory section of this study. In addition, Walter Scherf, at the 15th Athens International Youth Congress, states: “If we observe children while a good narrator begins to tell a truly magical folk tale, we can easily discover that he or she has captured their attention from the beginning. This fact shows that even from the moment an announcement takes place that a fairy tale is going to be narrated, the basic expectations are awakened to children while a fundamental interest of them is attracted by the very first phrases that narrator utters” (Sakellariou, 2009, p. 280). In our time, this narrator does not have to be a known person, such as a class teacher, etc. But it could be an unknown person who visited us via You Tube, as long as he or she tells a great story, impressing the children with the assistance of digital technology.

The findings of this research could not be generalized due to the varied constraints that characterize it, such as the small sample of preschoolers, the difficult conditions for the implementation of research in inadequately equipped teaching rooms, the pressure of time etc. Despite any limitations, however, research results show, albeit to a small, not statistically significant degree, the preference of preschoolers in digital means and applications. Moreover, they show a more pronounced tendency toward digital versus physical storytelling. The introduction and utilization of modern tools in education could bring improvements in the teaching effectiveness and quality of the educational work provided, working for the benefit of preschoolers and always supporting the irreplaceable role of nursery teachers.

Consequently, it is extracted from the findings of this research that the narration of myths or fairy tales in preschoolers is useful to be done with the physical storytelling, because it cultivates the imagination, due to the absence of audiovisual stimuli. At the same time, however, it is extremely important to make use of digital storytelling in class, which is a modern teaching tool, a multi-sensory mean appealing to preschoolers, an alternative and very interesting narrative technique, which can bring more and beneficial effects on learning, cognitive and emotional development of preschoolers, who, in any case, prefer it more than physical storytelling. After all, results clearly show that it would not be overwhelming to be said that the teacher who manages to equally use both narrative methods might achieve the best teaching outcomes, especially if he/she utilizes his/her voice in such way that might creates an impact on cognitive and emotional ability of preschoolers during physical and/or digital storytelling.

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Conceptualising the pedagogic and socio-cultural