The effects of digital storytelling with group discussion on social and emotional intelligence among female elementary school students

Abstract

Stories can contribute to the emotional well-being of children and storytelling is one of the new methods of teaching in the classroom. The main objective of the present study is to evaluate the effects of integrating digital Storytelling on the level of social intelligence and emotional intelligence in female elementary school students. In this quasi-experimental study, all third grade female elementary school students who were studying in an elementary school in Shiraz were involved based on the census method (N = 60). A quantitative approach was taken and the levels of social intelligence and emotional intelligence were examined in all participants before the training. Tromso social intelligence scale and Bar-on emotional intelligence inventory were used to measure the respondents’ social and emotional intelligence. Simple random sampling was performed and the participants were randomly assigned to either an intervention group in which digital Storytelling was integrated with group discussion (N = 30) or a control group in which there was no intervention (N = 30) using the random allocation software. The results showed that integrating digital storytelling with group discussion led to meaningful improvement in social intelligence and emotional intelligence among the female elementary school students, whereas in the control group no meaningful changes were observed. Therefore, a combination of digital Storytelling with group discussion is a potentially beneficial educational method for female elementary school students.