Abstract
From a theoretical perspective, the research is meant to provide a synthesis of the main aspects concerning the students’ psychosocial development by means of stories: definition and analysis of psychosocial development; highlighting the correlation between cognitive development and psychosocial development; illustrating the stages of psychological and psychosocial development; the formative-educational functions of stories in the students’ socio-moral development. An applicative research was designed and developed on these theoretical bases. The research has the following objectives: collecting data on the impact of stories upon the psychosocial development of the students’ personality; selection and presentation of methods and instruments concerning the importance given to the formative function of stories; establishing the progress made from a cognitive, socio- affective and moral point of view, achieved through the value of stories, in the instructional-educational activity; bibliographical recommendations according to the students’ age levels (including Romanian and foreign stories for pupils from 6 to 12 years of age). The main method of research was the psycho-pedagogical experiment, the collected data being merged with the information provided by psychological observation and conversation. The analysis of the data obtained during the research confirms the general hypothesis and the specific hypotheses regarding the efficiency of the experimental programme focused on the use and value of stories in the instructive – educational activity related to the students’ cognitive, socio-affective and moral development.
Key words: formative training, heuristic didactic strategies, personality, psychosocial development, students