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Early childhood preservice teachers often graduate with an incomplete understanding of the interplay between play and learning (Zhulamanova 2019; Zhulamanova and Raisor 2020). This mixed-methods pilot study aims to enhance early childhood teacher education by providing teacher candidates with playful, imaginative experiences through storytelling. It examines the impact of storytelling method (Abrahamson 1998) on content retention, engagement, and reflective learning. Over two semesters, pilot data were collected from six undergraduate students in a Growth and Development in Early Childhood class. The study employed qualitative and quantitative methods. Qualitative data included in-class group activities and individual homework assignments where students used storytelling to apply developmental concepts. Quantitative data were gathered through a Likert scale survey assessing the effects of storytelling and play on task focus, information retention, and real-life application of concepts. Results indicate that students found storytelling beneficial for staying on topic, retaining information, and understanding course concepts. Storytelling also allowed students to experience the playfulness and imagination that young children naturally engage in during their early years. Qualitative analysis revealed that collaborative assignments were more complex and demonstrated better grasp of material compared to individual tasks. Despite promising results, limitations due to low participant numbers necessitate further research.
Zhulamanova et al. (Thu,) studied this question.