Development of a Storytelling Manual to Promote Executive Function Skills for Life Management Toward Success in Early Childhood
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Abstract
This study aimed to: (1) design and develop a storytelling manual set to promote executive function skills for life management toward success among preschool children; (2) examine the development of children’s executive functions after participating in activities based on the manual; (3) compare children’s executive function levels before and after the intervention; and (4) investigate preschool teachers’ satisfaction with the storytelling manual. The research employed an experimental one-group pretest–posttest design. The sample comprised 20 preschool teachers and 60 children drawn through multistage sampling from schools under the Loei Primary Educational Service Area Office 1. The research instruments were: (1) a storytelling manual structured around three phases: pre-storytelling activation, storytelling, and post-storytelling activities—implemented over eight consecutive weeks; (2) an Executive Functions (EF) assessment scale for successful life management; and (3) a teacher satisfaction questionnaire. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) and the paired-samples t-test.
The findings revealed that: (1) the storytelling manual demonstrated content validity, with item–objective congruence (IOC) indices ≥ 0.67 for all items, and high reliability (α = 0.92), indicating its suitability for early childhood learning contexts; (2) children who participated in the manual-based activities showed improvements in all EF domains—working memory, inhibitory control, and emotion regulation; (3) EF levels after the intervention were significantly higher than before at the .01 level, specifically for working memory (𝑥̄pre = 3.43 ± 0.73; 𝑥̄post = 4.43 ± 0.90), inhibitory control (𝑥̄pre = 1.83 ± 0.38; 𝑥̄post = 3.60 ± 0.62), and emotion regulation (𝑥̄pre = 1.70 ± 0.47; 𝑥̄post = 3.63 ± 0.49); and (4) teachers reported a high level of satisfaction with the storytelling manual (𝑥̄ = 4.21 ± 0.51 out of 5), reflecting the appropriateness and effectiveness of the activities in promoting executive functions skills for life management toward success in early childhood settings.
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