The purpose of this study was to examine how project activities geared toward boosting cooperation among young children affected young children from a reflective perspective in an attempt to define what roles teachers should fulfill as one who ought t...
The purpose of this study was to examine how project activities geared toward boosting cooperation among young children affected young children from a reflective perspective in an attempt to define what roles teachers should fulfill as one who ought to help them build a mutually collaborative relationship. The subjects in this study were seven young children from a daycare center located in H-dong, Seoul, who were at the age of seven. After an action research was conducted for a five- month period of time to address research questions posed in the study, the following findings were given:
1. The Influence of the Action Research Intended for Intensifying Collaborative Relations in the Project on Changes in Young Children
At the onset of the project that called for concerted efforts toward the same object, there was a standoff among the young children who weren't of the same opinion, and they graphically unveiled their mutual feelings, which resulted in heightening their conflicts. To improve the relations, they were grouped into teams and were asked to praise one another. As the project progressed, one of them who had been rejected got to be received as a member of their teams, and sometimes there was a split in opinion even between those who were on good terms with each other. Such a change in their relations served to reinforce their positive behaviors a lot and provided a chance for them to learn to behave and speak in a way to cooperate with one another. At the end of the action research, they got into a more collaborative relationship, since the frequencies of sharing mutually understandable and cooperative communication and of making a win-win decision-making were on the rise. Thus, their initially conflicting relationship gradually underwent a change and then evolved into a collaborative one.
2. The Meaning of the Action Research for the Improvement of Collaborative Relationship in the Project
1) Teacher's Broader View of Young Children
In the beginning of the action research, the teacher found herself to be biased and discriminate against some of them in the course of observing their position and mutual relationship in the group. Looking back on herself, she tried to make an objective observation of them to figure them out. And she again found herself to be more concerned about what's wrong in them, which was part of the differences between them and herself and had to be corrected. So she tried to pay more attention to their positives, to approve of them and to give them more praise. While observing and understanding each of the young children with interest, she realized that knowing the differences between them and herself denoted knowing them in a true sense.
2) Actualization of the Intrinsic Object of the Project
To heighten the cooperation of the group members, it's first needed to get an accurate grasp of their individual characteristics. The young children got to look at one another in a favorable manner by being aware of their mutual differences and strengths and by discovering that the others were good at specific things. As each of the children found that the others were good at what he or she wasn't, they made up for one another's weakness and created a community in which every member was growing up together.
To make it possible for them to achieve both of their personal and common objects at the same time, their social skills should be improved first of all. And in order to stir up their mutual cooperation, they should learn and practice how to speak and behave in the group, instead of merely having them get together for some period of time, and they were able to create a more collaborative relationship when they got used to speaking and behaving that way. When the young children were additionally helped to enhance their social skills, the object of the project was successfully attained, which was to provide integrative education.
3) The Significance of Collaboration in a Project
In case of planning on project activities geared toward the increase of cooperation, 'a common object' shouldn't be interpreted as 'a single object,' and the focus of project shouldn't be placed on producing single result only. Instead, the focus of it should be set on encouraging young children to become one in the middle of individual growth.