Children's emotional experiences in and about nature across temporal–spatial entanglements during digital storying

Abstract

In this study, we investigate how digital storying creates opportunities for children to attend to their emotional experiences in and about nature. Following relational ontology and socio‐cultural theorising, we focus our analysis on the temporal–spatial entanglements of children's emotional experiences. Our inquiry draws on a case study of two children at a Finnish primary school. Liam and Vera engaged in digital storying in their local forest using an augmented storycrafting app, MyAR Julle. The data were collected during two storying workshops by means of observational field notes, video recordings, interviews with the children and digital artefacts. The results illustrate how engaging in the narrative plot of a fictitious augmented character invited the children to create necessary open‐endedness in the activity which further stimulated their storying. The children's experiences were imbued with emotions and distributed across human and non‐human actors. The children's digital storying not only communicated their personal emotional experiences in local surroundings, but was also grounded in broader societal narratives, such as climate change and forest conservation, with considerations of the future of the planet. The results suggest how digital storying offers a pedagogical method for early environmental education that builds on children's emotional experiences.

Emotions and digital storytelling in the educational context: A systematic review

“…DST‐R3: DST has a role as a pedagogical method/technique/strategy. For example, as a pedagogical method, DST support students in expressing and sharing their emotional experiences (Byman et al, 2022). DST‐R4: DST has a role as a pedagogical practice/exercise/experience/activity.…”

“…DST and DSs provide an emotional experience for students, teachers and families (Byman et al, 2022; Chen Hsieh, 2021; Chen Hsieh & Lee, 2023; Christiansen, 2011; Gachago, Condy, et al, 2014; Goldingay et al, 2018; Liu et al, 2018; Ng & Nicholas, 2015; Pahl, 2011; Van Galen, 2017). In particular, the story circle of DST is the step in which the most emotional experiences are conveyed and experienced as storytellers begin to articulate stories they have never told before (Van Galen, 2017).…”

“…Research foci-Type of emotional outcomes with DST intervention-DST Role in the emotional outcomes Table 4 summarises the DST role included in the outcomes for each research focus. For example ("RF1"-"O3"-"DST-R3"), DST is seen as a pedagogical method for early environmental education that builds on children's emotional experiences (Byman et al, 2022).…”

“…In the educational context, DSs as multimodal resources allow powerful expression of learners' and educators' emotions, voices and identities (Gachago, Cronje, et al, 2014; Gachago, Condy, et al, 2014; Gachago et al, 2015; Kim & Li, 2021; Lowenthal, 2009; Yang, 2012). DST is a pedagogical method that enables students to learn with and from each other, facilitates students' emotional sharing, and enables them to see each other (Byman et al, 2022; Gachago et al, 2015; Stewart & Gachago, 2016). The collaborative work through DST allows students to obtain more positive emotional experiences and better learning outcomes (Liu et al, 2018) during the DST workshop, and the incidents told in DSs impact and change learners' emotions, thoughts, understandings and actions (Çıralı Sarıca & Usluel, 2022; Thompson Long & Hall, 2018).…”

How texts teach what readers learn in a digital age

“…Children's video game play, for example, becomes part of their physical play and stories from virtual worlds become part of stories children tell and play in their material worlds (Bailey 2016;Marsh 2010;Potter and Cowan 2020). Hybrid literacy practices, where the digital and material worlds become part of one communicative event have been explored recently in innovative ways, taking account of the relationships between virtual realities and the real world (Kumpulainen et al 2021;Byman et al 2022;Burnett et al 2019). Social, cultural, material, embodied and digital literacies are part of children's everyday lives and their experiences of stories, (Colvert 2019(Colvert , 2022Stephenson, Daniel, and Storey 2022) and the concept of the "text" in all these engagements and encounters has been demonstrated to be broadly defined.…”