Preparing Digital Stories through the Inquiry-Based Learning Approach: Its Effect on Prospective Teachers' Resistive Behaviors toward Research and Technology-Based Instruction.

As knowledge has become more easily accessible, humans have experienced an increase in information at their immediate disposal (UNESCO, 2002), leading them to have acquired a number of qualities and capabilities. Such capabilities as being able to conduct research and being able to use information and communication technologies effectively are indispensable attributes that all individuals should have (Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2010). A curriculum that not only provides individuals opportunities to be active in the learning process, to innovate, and to use information and communication technologies, but also makes them responsible for their own learning is needed to cultivate individuals with such attributes. Turkey's Higher Education Institution is currently undergoing a reorganization process at the fundamental level so that each university may determine its own program qualifications in light of the European Union Qualifications Framework as a result of the Bologna process. While program qualifications are being determined, the ability of learning how to learn as well as communication and social competencies are among the competencies all individuals should have. Therefore, individuals are expected to graduate from the university by attaining such competencies as selflearning, using information and communication technologies effectively. Owing to this, learning environments should be designed to instill in university students such competencies. Considering that students studying in schools of education will become role-models to their future students, they are expected to conduct research and design technology based learning environments in an effective way. Instilling prospective teachers with such competencies is tantamount to giving them the opportunity to conduct research and to integrate technology into their instruction while they are still university students in their respective School of Education. In the current study, the researchers expect that prospective teachers' resistive behaviors toward technology based instruction either decrease or be abandoned altogether by giving them the opportunity to prepare a digital story and to integrate it into their instruction process. Moreover, prospective teachers were asked to conduct research on their own, to use information and communication technologies while conducting their research, to take responsibility in conducting research so that they may be able to observe for themselves a difference in their own resistive behaviors toward conducting research. In short the researchers envision that not only will prospective teachers' resistance toward conducting research be precluded as a result of their having participated in inquiry based teaching activities, so will their resistance toward technology based instruction decreased after having preparing a digital story and integrating it into their own preschool and kindergarten practice. As such, this study is, in essence, a proposition on how to lessen or to remove prospective teachers' resistive behaviors.Technology Integration into Instruction and Digital StorytellingTechnology integration into instruction has become a necessity in the current age. How to integrate technology into instruction and the obstacles beyond technology integration have been discussed for years by a large quantity of educators (Lowther, Strahl, Inan, & Ross, 2008). No standard definition for technology integration may be found in the literature. Some researchers define technology integration as a teacher's high level use of computers, in which for example, students make projects with the help of multimedia tools, or low level use, in which students might conduct research on the internet (Cuban, Kirkpatrick, & Peck, 2001). Other researchers consider technology integration to be when teachers integrate technology into instruction in order to render activities more reliable and productive (Hennessy, Ruthven, & Brindley, 2005). …