The Development of a Literacy Curriculum Using Activity-Based Learning, Digital Curriculum and Spatial Identity to Enhance Literacy Skills of Elementary Students

Abstract

This study uses a research and development model (R&D) that aims to develop a literacy curriculum using activity-based learning, digital curriculum and spatial identity to enhance literacy skills of elementary students under the office of education, Chiang Mai municipality. The target groups include 235 elementary students, 12 elementary teachers and 34 Thai language teaching pre-service teachers. Data were collected in the academic year 2022-2023. The main tools used include a literacy curriculum, a literacy skills assessment test for participating students, a competency assessment form for designing learning activities of Thai language teaching pre-service teachers, a teaching management competency assessment form for teachers. For the data analysis, mean values, standard deviation, and T-test dependent are used. The research findings reveal that: Firstly, the literacy curriculum is composed of the following elements: 1) principles, 2) objectives, 3) activity organization in five stages including (1) the text comprehension stage, (2) vocabulary expansion stage, (3) profound sentence comprehension stage, (4) specialized reading proficiency stage, and (5) effective written communication stage, and 4) measurement and evaluation. Secondly, the outcomes of the use of the innovative literacy curriculum show that (1) the students exhibited significantly higher literacy skills after than before studying at a statistical significance level of 0.05, (2) the Thai language teaching pre-service teachers demonstrated a high level of competency for designing learning activities, and (3) the teachers showed a high level of learning management competency.