Abstract
Digital storytelling can offer multiple benefits both to students and teachers, and new media provide multimodal ways to produce, transmit and communicate stories. In parallel, the need to engage preschool children with the creative use of technology emerges in order to address concerns that arise from the modern way of life and the need to safeguard intangible cultural heritage and to communicate its value for sustainable development. The current study presents an example of digital storytelling utilization in a preschool class to raise awareness on sustainability issues. A linear digital storytelling was created, representing a local myth about watermills, then an educational intervention was conducted, where the myth’s digital representation was used as an educational tool to raise awareness on local cultural heritage and sustainability issues and also as an example to inspire and guide teachers and students to create their own stories. Results showed that the digital storytelling was an effective educational tool to the acquisition of new knowledge and the motivation of preschool children’s interest about the cultural asset of watermills and that the production of digital storytelling is feasible in the class context. These findings prove the potential of digital storytelling and mobile technology by using low-cost devices and applying simple techniques in preschool education.
Highlights
The critical role of culture for sustainable development has been highlighted in recent years in several important policy documents [1], where the need for cultural heritage protection from various risks such as “urbanization, phenomena associated with climate change” [1] (p. 5) is emphasized
The current study aims to present the potential of storytelling and mobile technology in early childhood education, an educational level which plays a critical role on children’s development, where fewer similar studies have been conducted, compared to other educational levels [4]
An educational intervention was conducted in a public preschool class, where the myth’s digital representation was used as educational tool to raise awareness on local cultural heritage and sustainability issues
Summary
The critical role of culture for sustainable development has been highlighted in recent years in several important policy documents [1], where the need for cultural heritage protection from various risks such as “urbanization, phenomena associated with climate change” [1] (p. 5) is emphasized. A local myth about the cultural asset of watermills is used as a trigger to raise preschool children’s awareness on cultural heritage and related sustainability issues such as water management and flour production, and digital storytelling is utilized in three different approaches. Utilizing folk tradition and local cultural heritage such as traditional myths, fairytales and stories could be a valuable guide for students in creating their own digital stories. The current study highlights the potential of digital storytelling and mobile technology in the learning process and provides an example of a creative and pleasant educational activity, able to effectively engage the preschool students and teachers, a critical part of the educational community, and to draw their attention towards local cultural heritage and sustainable development by using simple devices, techniques and materials
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