An Investigation of the Effects of Philosophy for Children-Based Digital Storytelling on the Creative and Critical Thinking Skills of Six-Year-Old Children

Abstract

The aim of this study is to examine the effect of a Philosophy for Children-Based Digital Storytelling Program on the creative and critical thinking skills of six-year-old children. The research was designed using a pretest-posttest control group experimental model. The study group consisted of 40 preschool children aged six, including 20 in the experimental group (11 girls, 9 boys) and 20 in the control group (8 girls, 12 boys). The experimental group participated in the Philosophy for Children-Based Digital Storytelling Program for 12 weeks, three days a week. Meanwhile, the control group continued with the standard preschool curriculum. To measure children's critical thinking skills in the study, the Critical Thinking Scale through Philosophical Inquiry was used, and to measure their creative thinking skills, the Integrated Creative Test was utilized. It was found that the post-test mean scores of the experimental group, which received the Philosophy for Children-Based Digital Storytelling Program, significantly differed in favor of the experimental group compared to the control group in both critical and creative thinking scales. These results indicate that Philosophy for Children-Based Digital Storytelling is effective in enhancing the creative and critical thinking skills of 6-year-old children.