Asian Journal of Education and Social Studies

Araling Panlipunan is one of the subjects in the elementary curriculum that students often find uninteresting. Many elementary pupils struggle to acquire necessary skills due to traditional and passive forms of instruction. Grounded in Ausubel’s meaningful learning theory, this experimental research aimed to determine whether digital story mapping can improve the historical retention of Grade 5 pupils. Data were gathered through validated pre-test and post-test questionnaires answered by 30 pupils in the experimental group from Cateel Central Elementary School for the academic year 2024–2025. The intervention lasted for eight sessions and focused on enhancing historical retention through digital story mapping in Araling Panlipunan. Results revealed that the experimental group initially performed at the "Did Not Meet Expectations" level. After the intervention, their performance improved to a "Very Satisfactory" level. Statistical analysis showed a significant difference between the pre-test and post-test scores. The positive value of t indicated that the post-test score was higher than the pre-test score. Additionally, the effect size using Cohen’s d was 3.110, indicating a large effect. Based on these findings, digital story mapping is an effective instructional approach for enhancing learners' historical retention. Furthermore, the use of digital story mapping in teaching Araling Panlipunan is recommended to ensure a more successful teaching and learning process.