Our plan is grounded in the following two premises: 1) When purposefully synchronized with one another across
multiple forms of media («cross-media»), children's and adolescents» exposure to high quality youth - oriented social and ethical story content, i.e. stories of substance specifically about character development, compassion, and courage (CCC), is a powerful way to promote youth academic achievement and ethical values; 2) Especially if these stories, told and «read» across media, in their various genres (human interest, biography, history and historical fiction, civic engagement, coming of
age, social change, spiritual awakening, moral issues, etc.), are «
taught» by «educators» (broadly defined) using an «evidence - based» pedagogy that A) makes use of peer to peer, and adult facilitated
group discussion and debate as a primary form of instruction, and B) takes advantage of access to the texts of the story that are made available cross-media (narratives, scripts, videos, etc.) to foster students» critical thinking and ethical reflection skills.
The LST program is guided by a comprehensive theoretical framework that addresses
multiple risk and protective factors, provides developmentally appropriate information relevant to the target
age group and the important life transitions they face, includes comprehensive personal and social skills training to build resilience and help students navigate developmental tasks, and uses interactive
teaching methods (e.g., facilitated discussion, structured small
group activities, role - playing scenarios) to stimulate participation and promote the acquisition of skills.