The purpose of this study is to identify the effects of juvenile drama activities utilizing traditional fairy tales on moral judgment and moral behaviors of young children. In addition, it was also tried to provide basic materials for the development ...
The purpose of this study is to identify the effects of juvenile drama activities utilizing traditional fairy tales on moral judgment and moral behaviors of young children. In addition, it was also tried to provide basic materials for the development of effective teaching‐learning method and program utilizing of juvenile drama activities utilizing traditional fairy tales by analyzing the effects on moral judgment and moral behaviors of infants. The research questions of this study are as follows:
1. Are the juvenile drama activities utilizing traditional fairy tales effective to the improvement of moral judgment of young children?
2. Are the juvenile drama activities utilizing traditional fairy tales effective to the improvement of moral behaviors of young children?
2‐1. Are the juvenile drama activities utilizing traditional fairy tales effective to the improvement of behaviors in the area of moral rules and regulations?
2‐2. Are the juvenile drama activities utilizing traditional fairy tales effective to the improvement of behaviors in the area of conventional rules and regulations?
This study was performed on 48 5‐year‐old infants in Kindergarten W in Nam‐gu, G City. The experimental group was composed of 25 infants of Class A (16 males and 9 females) and the control group was composed of 23 infants of Class B in the same kindergarten (11 males and 12 females).
The experimental treatments were given 12 times for 6 weeks, twice a week (Wednesdays and Fridays) from August 13 to September 21. The juvenile drama activities utilizing traditional fairy tales were given to the experimental group and picture drawing activities utilizing fairy tales regarding everyday life themes were given to the control group.
For research tools, infants’ moral judgment test and moral behavior evaluation tool were used. For infants’ moral judgment test, the one produced by Hebble(1971) based on Piaget’s theory, translated by Lee Ki‐woo (1982) and illustrated by Choi Seong‐suk (1997) was used. For young children’s moral behavior evaluation tool, Young children’s Moral Behavior Observational Scales produced by Smetana and colleagues (1993) and reconfigured by Kim Hye‐ok (2002) based on Infant Observational scales by Ministry of Education and Kindergarten Education Evaluation Materials published by National Board of Educational Evaluation was used.
In order to identify the difference between experimental group and control group in each research question, data were processed by SPSS 15.0 statistics program. Average and standard deviation of pre and post test were calculated and ANCOVA was performed.
The followings are the summary of this study.
First, the experimental group which did not show significant difference from control group in moral judgment score in pretest showed significantly higher moral judgment score after experiencing juvenile drama activities utilizing traditional fairy tales than the control group. In other words, it can be analyzed that the juvenile drama activities utilizing traditional fairy tales have made positive effects on the moral judgment capabilities of infants.
Second, the experimental group which did not show significant difference from control group in moral behavior score in pretest showed significantly higher moral behavior score after experiencing juvenile drama activities utilizing traditional fairy tales than the control group. These results show that the juvenile drama activities utilizing traditional fairy tales have made positive effects on the sub areas of moral behavior such as moral rules and conventional rules. To make a long story short, it can be analyzed that the juvenile drama activities utilizing traditional fairy tales have made positive effects on the moral behaviors of young children.
Conclusively, the juvenile drama activities utilizing traditional fairy tales have made positive effects on the moral judgment and behaviors of young children. Therefore, the juvenile drama activities utilizing traditional fairy tales can be utilized in childhood education field as an effective teaching‐learning method to improve infants’ moral judgment and behaviors.