The use of Orff-Schulwerk approach in developing creative story writing skills of seventh grade secondary school students

In this study, it was aimed to use the 'Orff Schulwerk' approach in developing the creative story writing skills of seventh grade secondary school students. Qualitative and quantitative data were interpreted together by using mixed method in the research. Research data were collected through the creative story writing scale developed by the researcher, activity sheets, focus group interview form, researcher diary and observation form. The study group of the research consisted of 134 middle school seventh grade students. In the first stage of the study, a creative story writing skill rubric was developed by the researcher. In the scale development process, 270 middle school 7th grade students were studied and 121 middle school 7th grade students were studied in the level determination process. In the implementation process of the research, firstly, story texts were written by 13 secondary school seventh grade students, and pretest data were formed by taking the averages of the scores obtained by the students from these texts. Then, creative story writing training was given to the students for 12 weeks using the 'Orff Schulwerk' approach. The posttest data of the study were formed by averaging the scores obtained from the stories written by the students during the application process. After the application, the retention data of the research were created by taking the averages of the scores obtained from the story texts written by the students. The implementation data were analysed using the 'Dependent Sample T-Test' and the observations about the implementation process were reported with the help of the notes in the researcher's diary. Finally, the opinions of the students about the application were collected through focus group interviews and divided into themes with the thematic coding technique, and direct student expressions were reported as quotations. According to the research findings, the difference between the pre-test-post-test data and post-test-retention data scores of the study group students is statistically significant. According to the research observations, it was observed that the students were able to create more creative story texts after the application. In addition, differences were observed in the pre-implementation, during-implementation and post-implementation processes of the students in the activity process. In addition, it was observed that the students' posttest data and observation form scores overlapped relationally. Finally, it was determined that the students participated in these application activities with great enthusiasm and wanted these applications to continue. At the end of the research, it was determined that the storytelling activities created using the 'Orff Schulwerk' approach contributed positively to the development of students' creative story writing skills. Keywords: Writing, Creative Writing, Orff Schulwerk Approach.