Production of digital stories to nurture children’s positive values

Personality develops from a young age. Children form specific character through learning from parents, school teachers, peers, as well as the media to which they are exposed. Children’s literature, an educational medium endorsed by parents and school authorities, is considered a very powerful socialisation agent through which young children build character and develop positive values. In Hong Kong, the Education Bureau encourages schools to enrich English language learning and teaching through incorporating moral and civic education, as well as using information technology to make teaching and learning more interactive. To equip preservice teachers with these skills, this project involved the participation of 22 preservice teachers in an education university to produce original digital stories that stress values education for senior primary school children. Using Book Creator, Canva, PPT and other online tools, the student teachers produced a total of 25 digital stories for senior primary children, as well as the accompanying lesson plans and instructional materials, to facilitate school learners to develop positive values and good character, such as cultural awareness, respect, responsibility, gender equality, caring, friendship, self-acceptance, civic sense, confidence, sportsmanship, helpfulness, compassion, coping with changes and service to others. Six online mini lessons were also produced to demonstrate how to use the digital stories in classrooms. Eight selected e-books and the accompanying learning activities were tried out with Primary 5 and 6 students in a local primary school to evaluate the usefulness and impacts of the materials designed on school learners. Post-lesson questionnaire surveys and interviews were conducted with the school children. Encouraging feedback was received. Copyright © 2023 by National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University (NIE NTU), Singapore.