The purpose of this study is to look into the influence of planning and performance of a series of safety education activities necessary for young children in early childhood kindergarten on children's unsafe behavior.
Research questions are as follow...
The purpose of this study is to look into the influence of planning and performance of a series of safety education activities necessary for young children in early childhood kindergarten on children's unsafe behavior.
Research questions are as follows:
1. How about the planning and performance of safety education activities necessary for young children in early childhood kindergarten?
2. How about the effect of safety education activities necessary for young children in early childhood kindergarten?
Field study was made to solve the researcher's problem recognition in this study, and the study process was as follows:
Firstly, the causes of children's unsafe behaviors were investigated and based on them, a list of unsafe behaviors was prepared. The researcher referred to 'A List of Unsafe Behaviors for Young Children' by Gwak Eun-bok(2003), 'Safety Behavior Checklist for Young Children‘ by Korea Occupational Safety & Health Agency(2003), and 'Safety Rules for Play’ by Lee Gi-sook(2002) to make the list, and the list was corrected for the current condition of the kindergarten. Unsafe behaviors were divided into three situations - Indoor free activity, outdoor activity and transfer activity. Then prior observation was conducted to understand the current condition of children's unsafe behaviors. After prior observation, safety education activities were set based on the results of the type and frequency of unsafe behaviors. The activities were planned into five of integrated activity by subject selection, fairy tale and play activity, explanation and demonstration activity, situation-based activity and discussion activity. Safety education activities planned on the basis of the result of investigating children's unsafe behaviors were carried out for about 4 weeks. Teachers observed children's behaviors after each activity and continuously conducted safety education especially for unchanged unsafe behaviors through discussion with children. Lastly, post observation was conducted in same manner as prior observation to evaluate the effect of safety education activities, and the frequency of children's unsafe behaviors was measured.
The effect of safety education activities is as follows:
First, the frequency of children's unsafe behaviors in several interest areas during indoor free activity decreased from 166 times for 16 items of unsafe behaviors to 28 times for 10 items after safety education activities. Second, the frequency of children's unsafe behaviors in a playground during outdoor play activity greatly decreased from 136 times for 21 items of unsafe behaviors to 15 times for 8 items after safety education activities. Lastly, the frequency of children's unsafe behaviors in a corridor, stairs and toilet during transfer activity decreased from 140 times for 13 items to 30 times for 6 items after safety education activities.
In conclusion, children's safety education in early childhood kindergarten was conducted through the procedure of looking into the current condition of unsafe behaviors, selecting educational content and activity, and execution of activity. Means of safety education were categorized into integrated activity by subject selection, fairy tale and play activity, explanation and demonstration activity, situation-based activity and discussion activity, and it was found that they much influenced children's behavioral changes. In other words, integrated and experience-oriented children's safety education activities under systematic planning had a positive effect on decrease of children's unsafe behaviors.