This study was conducted to young children in the M Class aged five year old as action research for the cultivation of early childhood character education using picture books, in order to find out the problems of early childhood character education of the M Class, seek the action plans for its improvement, and examine the changes in the young children and teachers.
To this end, the research questions were set as follows. First, what is the plan for cultivating early childhood character using picture books? Second, what is the change in young children and teachers according to the cultivation of early childhood character using picture books?
This study was conducted to 28 children aged five year old in the M Class of H Kindergarten located in Jeju Island. The research period was from August 19, 2019 to November 1, 2019, and a qualitative study was performed for early childhood character education using picture books. The researcher recognized the problem of early childhood character education for the M group aged five year old, and felt the need for conducting practice-based early childhood character education activities suitable for young children.
Therefore, the activities were conducted in order of finding the ways to solve
these issues, the first implementation, the first implementation evaluation, and seeking the second implementation plan, the second implementation, and the second implementation evaluation. The researcher executed curriculum planning, implementing and evaluating, and video-recorded, recorded and transcribed it into a field note. The data were collected and analyzed through the participatory observation, the photos of children’s activity process, children’s activity results, research journal, and the field note. The results obtained through this study were as follows.
First, early childhood character education using picture books should be practical based on their interest and attention. This is because early childhood character education using picture books promoted young children’s caring, respectful, and cooperative attitude. Young children could positively interact with their peers as they prepared for a dramatic play, and they were able to develop a caring, respectful, and cooperative attitude.
Second, early childhood character education using picture books should be practice-based to lead the participation of young children. There were positive changes in the children when children were not unilaterally educated by teachers, and when children participated as the main characters in picture books, talked about their thoughts, and selected. Therefore, early childhood character education should not be uniform and temporary but practical, so that children can experience, feel and put it into their life.
Third, in early childhood character education using picture books, it is necessary for teachers to bring about changes in their roles. The plans for early childhood character education using picture books lead the change in various roles of the teachers, such as monitoring young children’s behavior, thinking from young children’s viewpoint, reflecting on themselves, and enhancing the ability to interact with young children, as well as the changes in the teachers’ practical teaching method.
Based on the above conclusions, some suggestions for a follow-up study are as follows.
First, since this study was action research to observe the children in the
M Class of H Kindergarten and look into the process, there is a limit to generalize the research results.
Second, this study was conducted from August to November, so it had limits that it could not examine the subsequent changes in the young children and teachers as it was not continuously performed. Therefore, follow-up action research on how to cultivate early childhood character education using picture books needs to be continuously conducted for one year to examine the changes in young children and teachers.
Third, this study implemented a plan for cultivating children's character by means of a picture book. It was hoped that a follow-up study would conduct action research on early childhood character education connected to various areas, such as art collaboration activities, physical activities and games, and families.
This study attempted to find an effective action plan for young children through action research on early childhood character education using picture books, and to bring about changes in young children and teachers. It was hoped that this study will provide the concrete materials for teachers in the field who are considering early childhood character education using picture books and help them to manage it effectively.
* Key words: Children, Character, early Childhood Character education, Picture book, Action research
<부록 1> 그림책을 활용한 유아인성교육활동 참가 동의서
그림책을 활용한 유아 인성 함양을 위한 교육활동 참가 동의서
안녕하세요.
항상 00 유치원에 사랑으로 지켜봐주시는 학부모님께 감사를 드립니다.
본 연구자는 석사학위 논문의 과제인 ‘그림책을 활용한 유아 인성 함양을 위한 실행연 구’를 수행하고자 합니다. 이를 위해 유아들과 인성교육활동을 실시할 것입니다.
본 연구에 응답하고 수집된 모든 정보는 무기명으로 처리될 것이며 어떠한 경우라도 개 인정보는 누출되지 않을 것입니다. 또한 연구결과는 학문적인 조건으로만 사용될 것임을 약속드리며, 연구의 결과는 요청에 의해 복사본을 보실 수 있음을 알려드립니다.
바쁘신 가운데에도 소중한 시간을 내어 협조하여 주셔서 진심으로 감사드립니다.
제주대학교 교육대학원 교육행정 및 교육 컨설팅 전공
지도교수: 이인회 교수님 연구자: 정지혜 (e-mail: [email protected])
<절 취 선> ---본인은 그림책을 활용한 인성교육활동에 대한 설명을 충분히 이해하였으며, 자발적인 의지에 의해 연구에 참여할 것을 동의합니다. 또한 본인은 자녀가 본 활동에 참여하는 동 안 실시되는 관련된 사진 촬영을 허락하며, 연구에 관련한 정보를 제공해 줄 것을 동의합 니다.
유아 이름 : 부모 이름 : (인)
<부록 2> 그림책을 활용한 인성교육활동 1차 실행 프로그램의 활동계획안
<부록 3> 그림책을 활용한 인성교육활동 2차 실행 프로그램의 활동계획안