The Use of Digital Storytelling in the Education of Social Studies Teacher Candidates

Abstract

The aim of this study is to determine the topics and reasons that social studies teacher candidates prefer after receiving digital story creation, use and evaluation training; to reveal their plans to integrate digital stories into social studies lessons in their future professional lives. The research is designed as a case study, which is one of the qualitative research methods. This study was carried out with 26 teacher candidates attending the Education Faculty Social Studies Teaching Program of a state university in Eastern Anatolia. Participants of this study, which is conducted with 1st grade students, have not received any training on the creation, use or evaluation of digital stories and have not prepared a digital story. Within the scope of the research, training was provided for 4 weeks on the characteristics of digital stories and their integration into social information. After the training, a semi-structured interview form was developed and used to determine the topics they preferred in the secondary school social studies curriculum and their reasons, and to determine their plans for using digital stories in their future professional lives. At the end of the research, it was determined that the most preferred subjects were in the field of active citizenship and global connections learning and that they displayed a positive approach to using digital stories effectively in their future professional lives.