Problem of the Study

Art education is an essential part of education. Therefore, many people believe that it has a good influence on education after which the personality of the learner gets developed and formed that takes place through all the cognitive, emotional, sensory and motor action. Pupils’ artistic drawing of the content of schooling in art education classes and their enjoyment helps achieve educational and pedagogical aims, such as refinement of the pupil’s aesthetic taste and imagination, enabling them to enjoy and appreciate art.

Pupils' drawing of the content of schooling in art education classes and its enjoyment helps achieve the educational and pedagogical aims, such as refinement of the pupil's aesthetic taste and imagination, enabling them to enjoy and appreciate art. As a result, curriculum developers must observe the pupils’ stage of development and need, especially since art teaching recently adopts new and various approaches to accomplish educational aims.

Storytelling has often been shown to be one of the best ways to facilitate and deepen learning through an intimate, enjoyable and engaging environment. The story is a literary form that helps to cultivate moral values and it enters the child’s world and impacts his mind and heart. Kids love to hear stories. They get entertained and get pleasure. Moreover, stories help in the emotional and moral development of kids. A story is successful when it enriches the experiences of children culturally, emotionally, psychologically and behaviorally [1].

Kids of primary school age and below are inquisitive and enjoy exploring and playing with their new world. 

They usually move freely through their environment and engage in spontaneous and imaginative activities with fluency and flexibility. Children can come up with new ideas and not become stuck in patterns like an adult [2].

From imagining the impossible to creating something that does not exist, childhood is the time we do this all. As chil7dren, we move beyond the reality we exist in and make up an alternative world that resonates with our dreams. The mental faculties of children are improved by fantasy stories other than just entertaining them. Furthermore, these stories also teach them to solve problems using thinking and reasoning.

Based on the imagination of children that has psychological effect which is one of the resources employed to create creative mental imagery as well as widen the emotional perception of children, the researchers found it important to study the effect of fantasy story on artistic expression.

The research problem can be formulated in the following question, from this perspective:

Is There Any Effect of Fantastic Story on the Development of Artistic Expression of Primary School Pupils?

Importance of the Study: The present study is important for the following reasons: 

• This study will help art teachers enhance their teaching skills by focusing their attention to the instructional methods and strategies that enable pupils to express with art”

• A story may engage pupils by putting them in a position to creatively respond to the story thereby motivating them

• The results of this study could be helpful for researchers in the field of children’s arts. They could also offer insights into the development of skills for the expression of the artistic

Objective of the Study

The present study aims to examine the effect of the fantasy story on developing artistic expression among primary school pupils.

Hypothesis of the Study

There are no statistically significant differences at the 0.05 level of significance between the mean scores of the experimental group pupils in artistic expression before and after the intervention

Limits of the Study

The current study is limited to the following:

• Temporal Scope: Academic year 2016–2017

• Spatial Scope: Applied to third-grade pupils at Al-Safi Al-Najafi School, under the General Directorate of Education in Najaf Al-Ashraf

• Subject Scope: Examining the effect of the fantasy story on developing artistic expression in third-grade pupils within the subject of drawing

Definition of Terms

Effect

• Al-Jurjani: Defined it as “the result, i.e., what is obtained from something [3]”

• Jameel Sliiba: Described it as “the effect is the result of something and has several meanings [4]:

• As the outcome or what is produced from something

• As a sign, i.e., a feature indicating something

• As knowledge, which refers to the sayings of the predecessors, not their understanding

• What follows or results from something”

• Operational Definition Adopted in This Study: The effect is the influence that the fantasy story leaves on the minds of third-grade pupils, which helps them in artistic expression

Fantasy Story (Fictional Story)

• Fathi: Defines fantasy stories as “literary works that are imaginative and creative. They may or may not be based on history or conventional rules. Their distinctive feature is that they primarily aim to entertain. The term usually applies to novels, short stories, drama, epic, moral tales, jinn stories and folklore, all containing elements of fantasy [5]”

• Wahba & Al-Muhandis: Define fantasy stories as: “a literary genre that includes stories written in prose, portraying events and situations from the author’s imagination, even if they may closely resemble real-life situations and characters [6]”

• Operational Definition Adopted in This Study: The study adopts the definition of Wahba & Al-Muhandis, as it aligns with the research objective

Artistic Expression

• Al-Husseini: Defines artistic expression as: “the true manifestation of an idea, from its conception to becoming tangible, perceptible and visually observable. The material used accompanies and conveys the idea [7]”

• Hassan: Defines it as: “the child’s expression of their inner thoughts in their own way, translating personal feelings freely without pressure or interference, while maintaining their style, personality and nature. Through this free expression, the child’s experiences, emotions, imagination, tendencies, interests and attitudes develop [8]”

• Operational Definition Adopted in This Study: The study adopts Hassan’s definition, as it aligns with the research topic

Children’s Painting

• Joudy: Defines it as “original creative drawings in which the child goes through multiple stages, differing from the beginning to the end. They are subject to cognitive processes and sensory perceptions reflecting the child’s artistic and mental development, revealing what occurs in the child’s mind and self [9]”

• Hassan: Defines it as “all visual artistic production, whether colored or not. The term is no longer limited to two-dimensional linear drawings without colors or shading, but includes all forms of children’s expression on different surfaces [8]”

• Operational Definition Adopted in This Study: Children’s painting is defined as the individual artworks produced by third-grade pupils of the current study sample on A4 sheets, expressing their artistic ideas after listening to the fantasy story, using colored pencils

The Theoretical Framework

A Reading in the Concept of Imagination in Children: Imagination has received wide attention in philosophical and psychological schools of thought, as well as in literature and the arts. This attention stems from the essential role that imagination plays in human achievements. The initial focus on the phenomenon of imagination emerged within the context of philosophical and psychological doctrines and later extended to the fields of literature and the arts. Despite the diversity of philosophies and theories, imagination remains a phenomenon through which humanity realizes its freedom and will.

Accordingly, imagination, from the perspective of philosophy, is considered a vision, an illusion, or a delusion. It is the image that remains in the soul after the absence of the perceived object. It represents something external that has been perceived visually, aurally, olfactorily, gustatorily, or tactilely. For our ancient philosophers, imagination is a faculty of the soul that preserves what the common sense perceives of the forms of sensible things after the material object has disappeared. We call this process imagination and it takes two forms: representational and creative [4].

Imagination cannot go beyond the limits of nature, for it does not possess the power to transcend the realm of sensory perception. Therefore, imagination is capable of inventing and combining even the most disparate things into a single whole through relations and structures that are activated in moments of pleasure and contemplation for the perceiver [10].

Imagination in Children

Imagination is considered a necessary and essential need for children. One of the characteristics of childhood is the boundless imagination, which transports them from the reality in which they live and the environment to which they belong, to a world closer to their inclinations and perceptions. Imagination is defined as an internal capacity that develops gradually. It cannot be simply independent of external circumstances in which the individual is placed in, but it also reproduces subjective states of the person. Imagination is a complicated psychological process, inherently made up of the child developing in his or her surrounding [11].

Imagination is a unique human character that makes Homo sapiens stand out of other organisms. It involves the aptitude to change external phenomena, which are perceived by means of the senses, to new non-physical perceptions which are created through a variety of intellectual activities. Imagination, therefore, is a critical tool of human progress, growth and development since it empowers people to realize constructs in the aspirations. It is a mental portrayal of objects and things that have never yet happened, been perceived or experienced in the antecedent past [12].

The art education instructor needs to nurture, nourish and nurture the imagination of the child because the child in his nature has the ability to develop the power of imagining things (particularly through interesting stories and appealing and thought-provoking topics). Imagination grows with individuals from an early age. When a child is forced to draw realistic representations like nature, he or she relies solely on visual images and loses the effectiveness of imagination. Conversely, if we train the child’s imagination correctly, provide them with the freedom to use it expansively and encourage them, they become capable of mentally visualizing and drawing things quickly without seeing them physically present. In the process of imagination, there is a close relationship between mentality and thinking, characterized by a higher level of abstraction [13].

According to Rashid [12], the importance of developing imagination lies in its contribution to nurturing many aspects in children, such as:

• Developing Creativity in the Child: Which makes the child innovative in thought; imagination enhances children’s ability to envision how things and events might be

• Developing Critical Thinking Skills: Reading activities play an important role in forming opinions and critiquing ideas, as imagination provides various types of ideas and stimulates questioning through possible future predictions

• Developing Problem-Solving Skills: When children engage in reading activities, they imagine and visualize the events they read about and the problems the hero faces; through these stories, children can experience such problems and find solutions for them

• Developing Cultural Awareness: Culture connects what children learn from knowledge and concepts in school, the family and the media

• Encouraging Children to Read and Satisfy Their Curiosity: Children desire to increase their knowledge about the world and anticipate possible future events, which in turn motivates them to explore further

Childhood is the stage during which innovation and creativity in children should be discovered. Imagination is connected to sensation, perception and memory; when a child engages in imagination, he or she arranges events and ideas to form a new image according to personal conception. Imagination is therefore an important factor in the process of thinking. The first seeds of a child’s imagination appear during the preschool period and the child’s imagination gradually progresses from simple activities to more complex ones. Imagination is considered a means of exercising creative thought, as it needs stimulation and training in order to develop within the individual from early childhood. Creativity cannot emerge without imagination; the deeper the imagination, the greater the individual’s creative and visual capacity. Imagination helps in establishing new relationships among previous experiences and reshaping them in a new and unfamiliar form. Imagination is the evocation of images that have not been perceived sensorially before, for imaginative images are substitutes created by the mind when it manipulates mental images and reconstructs them in a new form [11].

From the aforementioned discussion, it becomes clear that imagination grows and develops along with the child’s growth. When the child is in the early years of life, his or her imagination is limited to the immediate environment in which they live-the family and the neighborhood. As the child grows older, their aspirations increase and their environment expands to include the school, friends and teachers. At the age of six to nine years, children’s imagination surpasses the limits of the immediate environment, thus taking on a directed creative character, which is referred to as the stage of free imagination, where children are transported into strange and unfamiliar realms [11].

Children’s Stories

The story is the most popular and widespread of all literary genres. It has a history as long as mankind. From ancient times, early man returned home in the evening after hunting all day long. Early man used to sit near the fire and tell his friends and family about the day’s events. Moreover, they also told stories about wild animals. In its oldest forms, the story was a report, anecdote, or myth (often “primitive” or “pre-logical”), a deep need for telling. In Europe, interest in children’s stories began emerging in the seventeenth century in particular. The first instances of children’s fairy tales appeared between 1690 and 1710. Italian writer Catherine de’ Medici was among the first to have fairies enter narrative literature which she pioneered [14]. During the later years of the nineteenth century, attention to Arab children’s literature started to take shape. Most children’s stories during that point in time were adaptations or translations from other cultures. In 1846, after the Danish author Hans Christian Anderson published his works, the interest in writing original stories for children was witnessed. Following this was Lewis Carroll whose book Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland appeared in 1865 [15].

According to Khalaf [16], children’s stories play an important educational function aimed at refining the child’s personality and broadening his horizon. Educational games are very beneficial in children’s life. They help in the growth of cognitive, social, emotional and psychological. In fact, children’s stories have multiple teaching objectives, which we can summarize as follows:

• Developing aesthetic understanding innovation and creativity

• Improving children’s capacity to think critically and make judgments

• We should tell children stories where they meet literary, historical and religious figures

• Capitalize on your free time for maximum enjoyment and productivity

• Nurturing abilities and educating children in various ways of expression

• Enhances observing, concentrating and focusing skills that support cognitive, emotional and social development

• Encouraging skill in gathering and solving problems

• The process of observing and assessing children (Primary Purpose)

• By providing children with new words and sentence structures, it enriches their linguistic competence

• Encouraging self-beliefs and self-confidence

• The giving of knowledge, experience and skill to children

• Inspiring children’s imagination and stimulating intellectual and creative development

Characteristics of Children’s Stories

According to Al-Ali (2002: 82), the children’s stories have specific characteristics which differentiate them from other literary art forms. The above stated characteristics can be summed up as follows:

• The story should use easy language in both words and expressions so that the child can follow and listen to it easily till the end

• The tale should be brief enough not to bore a child before it ends

• The story should feature an interesting event or thought that attracts and holds the child’s interest

• The story should not have any unpleasant frightening or emotionally distressing situations for example incidents of painful and humiliating punishments because they adversely affect the cognitive and emotional development of children. Consequently, one should choose stories with joyful, loving and cheerful emotions

Types of Stories Presented to Children

There are various types of stories offered to children, including religious stories, social stories, scientific and science-fiction stories, historical stories, animal stories, humorous stories, heroism, adventure and fantasy.

Fantasy stories are a type of narrative that contains magical and miraculous themes, as well as elements related to rituals, folklore, myth and the supernatural. These stories are often referred to as wonder tales or fairy tales [14]. The characters in such stories are typically strange or mythical beings endowed with extraordinary powers. Fantasy stories help children expand their knowledge of the universe, natural creatures and vocabulary and they make them more aware of the surrounding world. Moreover, fantasy literature has specific psychological aspects since they develop a non-realistic vision of the world that unites material and imaginary aspects of life [17].

Many works have been carried out to determine the suitability of one type of story on a child, adolescent and adult at different stages of development. Therefore, stories should vary in their themes and events to correspond with the child’s intellectual and emotional growth. These developmental stages often overlap and the duration of each stage differs among children depending on individual differences, interests and inclinations. Sometimes, a child’s preference for a certain type of story may continue even after transitioning to a new developmental stage characterized by different tendencies and interests [15].

Every stage of development of a child is characterized by certain cognitive and linguistic features. Consequently, a teacher should have knowledge of students’ developmental characteristics and issues. When a teacher selects a story, he needs to assess the interests, needs, preferences and level of development of the learners.

In this sense, it is possible to classify the stages relevant to kindergarten and primary school into three phases:

• The realistic setting

• The imaginative (fantasy) stage

• The journey that brings out a hero in a person

The present study concentrates on the second phase, covering the age group of five years to nine years. At this stage, the child interacts with his family, school and neighborhood. Children do not ask for facts at this age. They have a vibrant imagination and want to know what lies beyond. Consequently, they become captivated by tales of fairies, giants and other fantastic individuals [18]. In the retelling of ancient Arabic myths and legends, a stage can be reached when the children’s appeal is meaningful. Furthermore, children are curious and willing to learn at this age and like storytelling and repetition [19]. Jabir notes that at this age, the stories that are popular with children have their own distinct features, aspects that are considered here:

• Tales that spark children’s imagination and are beyond reality

• Stories that expose them to strange things, beings and characters

• Folktales displaying fanciful or imaginative elements like Sinbad the Sailor and other stories from One Thousand and One Nights

• Stories that show good people in different situations of their lives.

Each story serves a specific educational and developmental purpose. There are also various methods of storytelling, which depend on the type and theme of the story. In cases where storytelling relies primarily on oral narration, the language of narration and communication goes beyond ordinary spoken language. It comes out as a specific form of expressive language that is dependent on the act of narration, a kind of stories telling where words are pronounced with intonation, rhythm and vitality with facial expressions and body movements which adds emotional and aesthetic effects to the story told [20].

Artistic Expression in Children

Children artistic activity is a system of education aimed at their aesthetic faculties and predispositions development and orientation. The creative expression is spontaneous in the child and is a cognitively profound process, which determines the developmental and maturational patterns. The illustrations created by children the visual artefacts that are executed on the heterogeneous surface with the help of pencils, coloring materials and similar tools become a central object of examination. Recent research has placed an increased emphasis on the idiosyncratic qualities that are intrinsic to the drawings of the individual and arguing that such qualities are embodied consciousness of the multi-faceted nature of childhood [21].

The drawings of children form formative and visual language with the help of which children convey their ideas and feelings. They are associated with the developmental changes as well as changes in the environment in which children interact. It is in their socialization that is expressed by their mode of drawing which reflects a tendency toward stability and emphasizes the harmonious growth [22].

The need to express oneself artistically is one of the immediate and urgent needs of children. This is not a need that is exhibited in the case of repressed children who are deprived of freedom.

Children are delicate creatures who interact freely with the aspects of the surrounding world. This form of interaction differs between children. A child can be involved with objects that he/she can look at, see in his/her vision, or he/she may be involved with objects, but this time mentally with the help of imaginary involvement. Certain objects grab the attention of a child when they are in that area of visualization and they will be imprinted in their minds.

The child still forms these items by the sense perception and can remember and reproduce them in detail with the help of drawing. In the event of a failure in a memory, the child re-invents imaginary reconstruction. As a result, some children have a high level of imagination and memory as compared to others who have a relatively lower level [23].

Stages of Artistic Expression

Children are not homogenous, but they vary in the developmental patterns in the cognitive, physical, psychological and motor dimensions. Therefore, the order in which children learn to express themselves artistically is different. In addition, the differences in the social and environmental background, as well as individuality, have an added effect on the course of their artistic growth. Therefore, at every stage of development children exhibit different traits, needs and ways of expression. The artistic manifestations vary depending on the children in accordance to the way the children perceive the images and how they conceptualize the surrounding world and they change with the knowledge advancement and cognitive development of the child and the inner processes of the way the child interprets the world.

In that regard, researchers have examined artistic development among children and have provided links between each stage of development and the developmental traits that are associated with them and the respective age group. Several classification systems have been developed, some of which include the one by Piaget, Viktor Lowenfeld, Herbert Read and Alfi.Lowenfeld classification has been chosen by the researcher in the current research study since it is closest to the objective of the research. The age group studied in this paper is that of visual perception stage that includes children between 7 and 9 years old. The drawings created by children at this stage are usually characterized by such features as repetition, exaggeration, omission, presence of a combination of several temporal and spatial references in one picture field, use of ground lines, planar flattening, graphical transparency and ability to combine several planes into one spatial field. 

For Al-Anani [21], these characteristics can be detailed as follows:

• Repetition: At this stage, it is observed that the child has settled on a certain number of shapes that he continuously repeats. His depiction of a tree, for instance, has become a fixed symbol to which he resorts whenever he is asked to express it

• Exaggeration and Omission: During this stage, the child often tends to modify his symbols according to his various emotional states. For example, when asked to depict a person eating or drinking, the hands and faces are the parts exaggerated in size, while the legs are minimized. The child does this to emphasize the elements that hold significance for him and to reduce the importance of those that he does not feel are essential during expression

• Combining Different Times and Places in a Single Space: One of the child’s tendencies is that he does not adhere to the actual times and places where things exist. He expresses himself as if presenting a visual filmstrip of events, regardless of their spatial or temporal contexts

• The Ground Line: In this tendency, when the child expresses certain scenes from his environment, he draws a horizontal line at the end of each element to represent the ground on which it rests. For example, if the scene depicts a rural or urban marketplace, he portrays people, animals and trees, placing a horizontal line beneath each to represent the ground they stand or move upon

• Flattening: This refers to the child’s drawing of nearly isolated forms, in which elements do not overlap or obscure one another. For instance, when drawing a table, he depicts all four legs, or when drawing a house, he shows all four sides without hiding any part

• Transparency: This means that in his drawings, the child does not acknowledge visual or optical realities as much as he recognizes intellectual or cognitive truths in his expression

• Combining Different Planes in a Single Space: This refers to the child’s depiction of objects as if moving around them, combining the aspects that appeal to him from various angles in one space. For example, when drawing a face, he may combine both the profile and the frontal views. Through this, the child aims to represent objects in their most comprehensible and complete form

Previous Studies and Their Discussion

Al-Kinani et al. conducted a study entitled “The Effectiveness of the Cartoon Story in Developing Artistic Expression among Kindergarten Children.”

This study was carried out at the University of Baghdad, College of Fine Arts. It aimed to identify the effectiveness of using children’s stories as a source for artistic expression among kindergarten children.

Within its theoretical framework, the study addressed the concept of the story, its importance and types, as well as the concept of artistic expression. The researcher adopted the experimental method and conducted the study on children from Al-A’zamiyah Kindergarten, which belongs to the First Rusafa Directorate of Education in Baghdad. The total number of children was 191 (boys and girls). From this population, a random sample of 20 children (from the preparatory stage) was selected.

The researcher devised a tool to use in the analysis of drawings that were created by children in the age range of five to six years in the experimental group. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to show statistically significant differences in favor of the post-test. The researcher concluded that the cartoon story broadcast on television had a substantial impact through the visual observation method employed in teaching the story. This, in turn, had a clear influence on the successful responses exhibited by the target children, which was reflected in their artistic expressions in the drawings they produced.

The current study is similar to this previous research in part of its theoretical framework specifically regarding the theme of the story and the stages of artistic expression and in adopting a one-group experimental design. However, it differs in terms of its objective, sample type and size and research procedures.

Procedural Framework

Research Population: The population of the present study consisted of third-grade students from Al-Safi Al-Najafi Boys’ School, affiliated with the Directorate of Education in Al-Najaf Al-Ashraf. The total number of students in the selected class was 20.

Research Sample

The researcher selected the population of their study from third-grade students at Al-Safi Al-Najafi Boys’ School, affiliated with the Directorate of Education in Al-Najaf Al-Ashraf. This group was chosen as a sample of the experiment. The participants were eventually narrowed down to eighteen students after the elimination of absent participants.

This study took the form of an experiment, with the researcher employing a quasi-experimental design with pre-test and post-test since this was considered the most appropriate in achieving the objectives of the study.

Research Instrument

The current study required the application of a dedicated tool to the analysis of the drawings of students. An in-depth survey of the literature that can be examined showed that there was no proper ready tool; hence, the researcher came up with a custom-made instrument to draw analysis.

Drawing Analysis Form

Drawing Analysis Form was created to assess the drawings created by third-grade students (ages eight and nine years) in an experimental group. The instrument was built under the influence of an in-depth analysis of the art education literature and other sources related to it. Based on the gathered information, the concluding instrument was designed with twenty-eight items; each of the items described features of artistic expression.

Description of the Form

Drawing Analysis Form was divided into two main domains and each of these was further broken down into twenty subordinate ones and each of these had eleven discrete secondary dimensions.

Scoring System According to the Scale Alternatives

To analyses the drawings of children, the researchers used a three-point scale of rating the level of artistic expression: High degree, Moderate degree, Absent. All the artistic characteristics were considered as distinct items and rated in the following way:

• A characteristic that was recurring in the artwork received two points

• If a characteristic emerged as moderate, it was allocated one point

• In the case of a characteristic that was not present, the characteristic was given a zero

• In cases where multiple characteristics appeared within secondary categories, each was scored individually according to the same three-point scale

• The analysis results were recorded in the final analysis sheet and the total score for all characteristics was computed quantitatively

Instrument Validity

The authors will present a preliminary version of the Drawing Analysis Form to a panel of experts in art, art education and psychology to check whether the items are suitable and clear. Some items were modified, added, or deleted based on their feedback. The instrument’s final version was prepared for analysis. At 95.17%, the ratio of expert agreement indicated a very valid instrument.

Instrument Reliability

To measure the reliability of the instrument, the researcher used intra-rater reliability (the same rater consistent over time). A random sample of five drawings was first analyzed and after two weeks the re-analysed by the researcher. The scores obtained from both analyses were statistically correlated using the Pearson correlation coefficient (r), resulting in a reliability of 0.903. The reliability of the instrument is considered to be high [24].

Experimental Procedures

After confirming the validity of the instrument, the researcher conducted the experimental phase of the study on the selected sample of eighteen students. The implementation procedures were carried out as follows:

• The researcher differentiated all the factors that could have affected the students so that only the impact of the independent variable- the fantasy story was quantified in the experimental group. The extraneous variables were controlled in the following manner:

• All the students in the experimental group were given the same drawing materials and tools. It was provided with a sheet of A4 to each student to draw on

• The students were given a box of colored pencils each with twelve coolers

• The researcher created an atmosphere in the classroom that would be supportive of active listening and participation so that students could be open and willing to listen to the fantasy story as it was being told

• An experimental group received a pre-test, where the students were to draw a drawing on a free theme, to determine their level of artistic expression initially

• The same was used in the post-test that was administered after reading the chosen fantasy story of Alice in Wonderland to the experimental group

• The postings that were made by the students in the experimental group were gathered, examined and processed statistically. The researcher added the cumulative score of every student in the pre-test and the post-test on a scale of 100 points

To confirm the validity of the research hypothesis, the researcher utilized the T-test to test the influence of the fantasy story on the artistic expression of students of the age 8-9 years. The scores of the students were computed and statistically manipulated.

The average and standard deviation were calculated to be used in one sample T-test. The findings showed that the mean difference between the pre-test and post-test scores were 11.027 and the mean standard deviation was 6.040. The T-test was used to derive the t value of 7.745 and the critical value is 1.96 in the table with a significance level of 0.05. This means that the null hypothesis, as follows, was rejected:

No statistically significant difference at the 0.05 level of significance is found between mean pre-test and post-test scores of the experimental group in terms of artistic expression.

The alternative hypothesis is therefore accepted and this means that there are statistically significant differences in favor of the post-test. This finding supports the effect of the fantasy tale used in the present research on the improvement of artistic expression among elementary learners. The story managed to correlate the ideas and concepts in its text with the information seen in the practical performance of the course requirements by the students. These findings are shown in Table 1.

Table 1: Results of the T-Test

Resting on the analysis made by the researcher based on the data and information received by the artist in the form of the artistic expression of the elementary school students of 8-9 years old, the following conclusions were appended:

• The form of telling fantasy tales contributes greatly towards artistic expression. This can be explained by the fact that students are willing to listen to the story and this makes them motivated and enthusiastic about artistic expression

• The results also revealed a certain level of motivation and willingness among students to discuss various imaginative aspects with the researcher. Students engaged in discussions about some of the mental images formed in their minds, making the experience both a self-guided and guided activity that contributed to improving their drawing performance

Recommendations

Considering the conclusions, the researcher recommends the following:

• Integrating the use of fantasy stories into the art education curriculum, based on the results demonstrating their effectiveness in stimulating students’ motivation and desire for artistic expression

• Professionally preparing and training teachers on the method of using fantasy stories and incorporating them effectively during the teaching process

• Employing fantasy stories across all educational institutions and in other subjects to reinforce the learning impact

Suggestions for Future Research

The researcher proposes conducting the following studies:

• The effect of fantasy stories on enhancing artistic expression among middle school students

• The effect of fantasy stories on artistic expression among male and female elementary students (a comparative study)

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