Using Fairy Tales to Debate Ethics

Reviewed By: Patricia Arnold

REVIEW

Authority: This article contained in The Education World website was written by Elaine L. Lindy. The credits listed state that she is an “expert storyteller” and she is the CEO of the company Whootie Owl Productions, LLC and the creator of “Absolutely Whootie: Stories to Grow By”, http://www.storiestogrowby.com/, a website which contains a number of fairy tales and folktales which can be found by either doing a keyword search, search by age or tale type. There are no other credentials listed for her other than the statement “she is an expert storyteller.” An e-mail address, a business address, and a phone number where she may be contacted are listed. Her article is part of a commercial website, “Education World: The Educator’s Best Friend”. Accuracy: The information contained on this site is well written, easy to read and can be easily used in any classroom. She cites stories to use in lesson on teaching ethics using fairy tales, and provided links to the stories cited. This is very useful in creating a site where all the information can be accessed readily. Most of the stories mentioned were well known, such as “Puss in Boots”, but the examination of ethics was detailed more. Currency: The article is copyrighted 2001 and the last date listed for an update was 11/6/2000. This site has many links to other related topics and has an archive feature to do further research on other topics. Content: This article is written for the professional educators who want to incorporate fairytales and the teaching of ethical behavior through debates and discussions between students. With the increase on the emphasis of character development in the schools, this site provides valuable information with can be used in a classroom instantly. Objectivity: There are few advertisements on the site, mostly aimed at educators and items which would be of interest to them. This article is written in a very straightforward manner, with no obvious biases noticed. Access: No special software or hardware requirements are needed to view items on this website. Access is easy, free and it is a very stable, reliable site. Design: The layout and design of this site is very well done and easy to navigate. The main article is the focus of the layout and on the left side there are various links provided to go into other topics of interest. Conclusion: The Education World website contains many valuable resources for educators, and the article “Using Fairy Tales to Debate Ethics” seems to be another very useful source of reliable information.