Abstract:

The article which is presented here is entitled «Children learn their rights». It was designed for kindergarten children 4.5-6.5 years old (duration four months) and it is in line with the goals of sustainable development. These goals address the global challenges we face in our efforts to build a better world, free from poverty, hunger and inequalities; a world with decent work and quality education, without the threat of climate change; a world which, through the principles of sustainable development, will not only care for the needs of this generation, also for the future generations. Moreover, its aim is for children to know the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to know about the UNICEF brand and actions, to take over initiatives and actions to defend and promote rights, to develop a positive attitude towards community actors, services, organizations, institutions that could support daily needs, to sensitize the local and wider community.

Based on Storyline methodology, a pedagogical strategy for “active learning” we chose the fairy tale «Life in Flower Town», a fairy tale about Children’s Rights. The young students created the setting of the story, they created the characters of the heroes, identified with them and lived their daily lives. Also, in the crucial event of the story, everyone decided together how to deal with it.

The implementation of the Storyline aproach in the classroom was a particularly enjoyable journey of knowledge and liberation for everyone involved, especially the children. Our results show that very young children are able to understand, communicate about and exercise their rights, and take action for the rights of others. Moreover, the results suggest that by using fun and creative age-appropriate techniques, very young children can learn about their rights. Additionally, young children can understand and use the language of rights in context. Last but not least, the results suggest that the reflective process entails critical thinking and has potential to support development of pupils’ democratic capabilities, including a civic dimension.

It seemed that even young children can process sensitive, serious issues that concern their lives as long as they are approached in the appropriate way, with the sensitivity that suits their age. The Storyline approach seemed to achieve all of the above objectives by providing the appropriate framework for students and the effective guidelines to the teacher.

Keywords:

Storyline, children's rights, fairy tale, critical thinking.