The purposes of this study are to develop the Values Clarification Learning Program(VCLP) and to investigate effects of the Program on Social Problem Solving Abilities and Decision Making Styles of Middle School Students.
The following research quest...
The purposes of this study are to develop the Values Clarification Learning Program(VCLP) and to investigate effects of the Program on Social Problem Solving Abilities and Decision Making Styles of Middle School Students.
The following research questions(hypotheses) were formulated based on the study objectives :
1. Does the experimental group which takes VCLP show meaningful differences on their social problem solving abilities, when compared with the control group?(The experimental group to which VCLP is applied will show meaningful differences on their social problem solving abilities, compared with the control group).
1-1. Does the experimental group show meaningful differences on their problem solving orientations after they take VCLP?(The experimental group will prove to show meaningful differences on their problem solving orientations).
1-2. Does the experimental group show meaningful differences on their problem solving skills after they take VCLP?(The experimental group will demonstrate meaningful differences on their problem solving skills).
2. Does the experimental group which takes VCLP show meaningful differences on their decision making styles, when compared with the control group?(The experimental group will show meaningful differences on their decision making styles).
2-1. Does the experimental group demonstrate meaningful differences on their rational decision making styles after they take VCLP?(The experimental group will prove to have some meaningful differences on their rational decision making styles).
2-2. Does the experimental group to which VCLP is applied demonstrate meaning differences on their intuitive decision making styles, when compared with the control group?(The experimental group will show meaningful differences on the intuitive decision making styles).
2-3. Does the experimental group show meaningful differences on the dependent decision making styles after they take VCLP?(The experimental group will prove to have meaningful differences on the dependent decision making styles).
For this research, one experimental group and one control group, composed of 20 male and female middle school students respectively, were organized and then divided into groups of 10 by Matched-Group Design. After both groups turned out to be all homogeneous by a planned comparison analysis, VCLP was applied to the experimental group while no treatment was applied to the control group. The VCLP has developed through 3 validity assessments by the researcher of this study.
The tests used in this study were Social Problem Solving Inventory and Decision Making Style Test. To prove the effects of VCLP, a pretest was given to both groups in the beginning stage of this study and a post test at the end of the study. The results of the pretest and the post test were used through coding for the statistical data. The statistical data of this research were treated by quantitative analysis using SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Science) 10.0.
The study results obtained through this process were summarized as follows :
First, from quantitative analysis of the effects of VCLP on social problem solving in middle school students, the statistics show significant differences in cognitive, emotional and behavioral problem solving orientation between the experimental group and the control group.
Also, the results of quantitative analysis for students' problem solving skills show significant differences in problem definition & formulation and generation of alternative solution between the experimental group and the control group. But on the other hand, it doesn't show any significant differences in solution implementation & verification. These results prove that the program of this study has meaningful effects on all sub factors of social problem solving abilities except for solution implementation & verification abilities of the students.
Therefore, it can be proved that VCLP of this study has significant effects on social problem solving abilities of middle school students.
Second, the result of quantitative analysis for the effects of VCLP on students' decision making styles shows significant differences in rational decision making styles and dependent decision making styles, while it shows no meaning differences in their intuitive decision making styles.
In conclusion, VCLP of this study has few effect on improving students' intuitive decision making styles. However, it has significant effects on improving rational decision making styles of middle school students and at the same time, diminishing their dependent decision making styles.