The Design, Development and Evaluation of a Digital Storytelling-integrated Moral Education Curriculum for Primary School Students in Singapore

• Main Authors: Liu, Ying-Tzu, 劉映孜
• Other Authors: Chou, Chien
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2012
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/57171321657706007237

碩士 === 國立交通大學 === 教育研究所 === 101 === The purposes of this study include the design and development of a digital storytelling (DST) integrated Civics and Moral Education (CME) curriculum unit, anchoring on the core value of respect, for primary 5 students in Singapore; and the formative evaluation of the new curriculum to test its feasibility and effectiveness. Through DST, the study intends to put the simple and affordable technologies in the students’ hands to facilitate them in their moral development and concurrently equip them with the essential skills of the digital era. The researcher first presented an overview of the established morality theories and the approaches to moral education, and then reviewed the use of technology, particularly DST, in the education field. Smith and Ragan’s (2005) Analysis-Strategy-Evaluation instructional design model was adopted. The analysis phase involved the analysis of instructional goal, learner characteristics learning content and environment, via document analysis and interviews. The lack of the information and communication technology (ICT) and student-oriented CME instructional approaches justified the needs and highlighted the niche of the new curriculum. In the strategy phase, with Lambert’s (2010) DST steps and Lickona’s (1991, 1993, 2001) moral life framework, the instructional package was designed and developed, in which included lessons plans, presentation slides, samples and assessment forms. The new curriculum was formatively evaluated via design reviews, expert reviews, one-to-one evaluation and field trial. The design reviews showed that most of the identified inadequacies had been rectified, and the experts revealed that the curriculum had met the design standards of congruency, relevance, accuracy and feasibility. The students involved in the one-to-one review found the activities challenging yet interesting and beneficial. The revised curriculum was administered as a field test, to a class of twenty primary 5 students. From the student participants’ work, it was found that the learners were able to grasp the meaning of the value, take perspectives to make sound moral decisions, and seek self-improvement, achieving the moral cognitive and affective objectives. For the moral behaviour performance aspect, they consistently showed respectful behaviours to their group-mates. The post-curriculum feedback revealed that the amount of time for activities seemed insufficient, but the student participants found the overall learning experience enjoyable and effective in advancing their moral development and enhancing their ICT, social and critical thinking skills. Finally, according to the research results, the researcher identified the research limitations and provided recommendations for future researchers and educators to further explore the use of digital storytelling in moral education.