Experiential learning for preservice teachers: Building gender and cultural awareness with children's e-books

Experiential learning has been an important component of teacher education programmes. In addition to the teaching practicum, experiential learning can take place through non-formal education. This presentation introduces a way of engaging volunteer student teachers in non-formal experiential learning activities, which involved the production of children's digital stories that stress equality, cultural awareness and values education. Some previous studies have revealed the presence of overt and covert biases and stereotypes in children's books. If children are constantly exposed to these inequalities, their perceptions of themselves and others will be affected. The major goal of this project is to promote gender equality, cultural respect and positive values among student teachers as well as school children through producing and reading e-books, respectively. The project provided opportunities for participating student teachers to go through an experiential learning cycle, including writing scripts, creating visuals, integrating education technology, designing lesson plans and materials, and trying out the books produced in a local school. During the process, feedback was received from the project supervisor and peers for further revision. Pre-project and post-project surveys were conducted to measure the learning gains of both the participating student teachers and the school learners. Positive learning outcomes were noted. Copyright © 2022 SEAMEO Regional Language Centre.