소집단 과학 활동이 유아의 창의성과 언어능력에 미치는 영향 = The Effects of the Small Group Science Activity on the Young Children`s Creativity and Verbal Ability

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the small group science activity has an effect on young children`s creativity and verbal ability. Forty, five years old kinderg arteners in D city participated for the study. They were divided into twenty children of the experimental group and twenty children of the control group. To measure the children`s creativity and verbal ability, Torrance Test of Creative Thinking(1999) and Bak(1997)`s young children`s verbal ability tests were used. The experimental and the control group participated in the science activities two times in a week for each group, total twenty times for ten weeks. However, the experimental group was subdivided into four small groups with five children each. The control group participated in the large group science activity. Data were analyzed by SPSS 10.0 program. Followings are the results of the study; Firstly, the experimental group showed more improvement in creativity than the control group. All the sub-elements of the creativity, which are fluency, originality, abstractness, elaborateness and resistance, are all improved. Secondly, the experimental group showed more improvement in the vocabulary, verbal understanding and verbal expression than the control group. Each of the young children participating in the small group science activities explored in unique ways and tried out lots of new ideas. The verbal ability of young children improved because they participated many verbal interactions and problem solving processes with the opportunity to express their opinions spontaneously.